Tori Cooper
Human Rights Campaign
Atlanta, GA USA
"I advocate for everybody. I want everybody to win."
Career Roadmap
Tori's work combines: Politics, Non-Profit Organizations, and Helping People
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Day In The Life
Skills &
Education
Here's the path I took:
High School
Bachelor's Degree
Human Services
Life & Career Milestones
I've taken a lot of twists and turns
1.
I always knew I wasn’t like other little girls or boys.
2.
I really got to start exploring my gender identity and sexuality when I left home for college—I had a group of friends and we would all go out and party together as a community.
3.
When I started taking hormonal therapies, I didn’t feel the need to share that with anyone because it was a very personal journey for me and I didn’t think others would understand.
4.
A few years later, HIV and AIDS started ravaging my community.
5.
I kept going out and living my best life fully expecting to be taken down by HIV or HIV stigma, yet I wasn’t.
6.
In my forties, as a Black trans woman, I felt called to work to fight for my community as a health and equity consultant advocating for trans people, Black people, and people living with HIV.
7.
I currently work as the Human Rights Campaign’s director of community engagement for the Transgender Justice Initiative.
Defining Moments
Experiences and challenges that shaped me
I've always known I was different than other little girls or boys. As a Black trans woman, I've faced a lot of stigma and discrimination. I've been working for decades as an advocate for the health, safety, and equity of my community.
As a Black trans woman, reporting on the disproportionate deaths of Black trans women all the time is traumatic. If I didn't know that woman, someone I know did. I have to keep fighting and doing the work because the alternative is much worse.