Virtual Event: Shayda Kafai

Lilac Vylette Maldonado

Lilac Vylette Maldonado (she/they) is a community organizer and culture worker who identifies as sick & disabled, neurodivergent, Two-Spirit, Chicanx femme. Since 2009, she has been actively organizing around many intersectional social justice issues such as racial justice, gender justice, disability justice, LGBTQIA+ issues, and body autonomy and acceptance. They are an avid zinester who has written and created artwork for various academic and social justice-themed DIY booklets. She is a co-founding member of the Los Angeles Spoonie Collective, a grassroots Disability Justice group connecting disabled activists and artists to community organizing and education opportunities. They are a part of the education team at Fireweed Collective, offering mental health education and mutual aid through a Healing Justice lens. She is also a core member of Mirror Memoirs, an oral history project centering on the narratives, healing, and leadership of LGBTQ survivors of color in the movement to end child sexual abuse. Lastly, they are the social media and communications manager for Reclaim UGLY, the intergenerational, multi-racial, LGBTQIA+, and Black-led organization that serves social justice-minded communities and centers the voices and needs of marginalized people. You can follow Lilac on Instagram at @chronically.femme, or at @boldly.femme for her artwork.

Image Description: The black and white photograph depicts a bespectacled Two Spirit trans woman of Purepécha & Spanish heritage smirking playfully, and peering out inquisitively toward the right. She is coiffed neatly in a parted cascade of waves, adorned with lipstick, wears a gingham shirtdress with rolled-up sleeves under a pin- and button-laden vest, and a heather grey scarf. The background is stark black, and the overhead light casts shadows across her face and body.

Shayda Kafai

Shayda Kafai is an Assistant Professor of Gender and Sexuality Studies at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. As a queer, Mad, femme of colour, she commits to enacting the many ways we can reclaim our bodyminds from intersecting systems of oppression. She lives in Pomona, California with her wife, Amy.

Vanessa Durand

Vanessa Durand, better known as V, is a thirty-something, non-binary Queer Fat Femme born and raised in Los Angeles. She has been documenting and sharing her love of make-up through mixed media art and on social media platforms for over 15 years. Their work navigates the complexities of being an autistic, mixed-race, disabled & chronically ill glitter goddess who was sent by their ancestors to break generational curses. V is particularly passionate about combining their love for makeup artistry and photography with writing. In 2012, V earned a B.A. in Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies from CSULB and in 2018 became the self-published author of two books titled, “I Am Still Blooming: a Live Flower Make-up Series on Healing and Becoming” and “Make-up + Creative Advice, Tips, and Affirmations: How to Trust Yourself and Your Unique Process and Purpose.” While in quarantine, they recently created a YouTube series titled "Make-up and Messages from the Universe," where the inseparable healing energies of spirituality, divine purpose, and human connection come together to be honored, celebrated, and shared with the global community. Follow them on YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok @glitteryfemme.

Image description: A light skinned person with dramatic eye makeup and glossy mauve lipstick looks at the camera with their head tilted and a subtle smile. Their golden brown wavy hair sits on either side of their shoulders, where a deep v-neck green dress is peeking through underneath.