I am an author, activist, beauty explorer and mother of 5. I hold the position of Chair of the Human Rights Campaign Foundation Board, our nation’s largest LGBT organization. As a globally recognized activist, I speak on topics of radical parenting, identity, and gender.

When my son announced at the age of 3 “Mama I’m not a girl. I’m a boy”, I set out to inform myself, shift my own bias and change the way my community understood gender. I chronicle that journey in my memoir, The Bold World: A Memoir of Family and Transformation – hailed by Alice Walker as “Marvelous”. Cosmopolitan Magazine filmed a mini documentary on my family in 2016 – reaching over 11 million views.

My second book, Born Ready: The True Story Of A Boy Named Penelope allows my children’s voice to be heard. They show us how an entire community can be flexible and change for those they love.

I’m also a long-standing entrepreneur, co-founding two beauty companies and receiving Beauty Skin Expert of the Year award by Cosmopolitan Magazine. I co-own the live performance venue Joe’s Pub at the Public Theater.

Along with the work I do with the Human Rights Campaign, I’m on Mount Sinai’s Institute for Health Equity Research Task Force, the Advisory Board of the Ackerman Institute’s Gender & Family Project, and Mount Sinai’s Center for Transgender Medicine and Surgery Advisory Board. The United Nations has recognized me as a Champion of Change.

I live in Brooklyn where I co-raises my children with love, education and family solidarity.