Alix Adrian (they/he) is a white queer transmasc parent of two young adults raised in Durham NC. He co-facilitates Transforming Families NC, a program of the LGBTQ Center of Durham, which serves families with transgender and gender diverse youth across the state. Alix also keeps the balls in the air as the Operations Manager at the LGBTQ Center of Durham.

Alix celebrates all kinds of families. They recognize that identities develop and change over a lifetime. Whether a parent, cousin, or child’s identity shifts, when humans are raised to be inclusive, anti-racist, and anti-ableist, every family member has safe and equitable space to explore their authentic self. One thing is for certain, we won’t know until it happens, so let’s prepare for an amazing fluid world.

Josué D. Cordova is a Latinx Queer leader and immigration and refugee advocate. He was born in El Salvador, grew up in San Francisco, California, and recently moved to Durham. Currently, Josue serves as the Operations Coordinator for “Immersion for Spanish Language Acquisition” (ISLA NC), a non-profit based in Durham, N.C.building leadership and community through Spanish educational language and cultural immersion programs for underserved Latinx families. As operations coordinator, Josue assists in implementing processes and systems to serve Latinx families better while enhancing the mission and vision of the organization. He is passionate about amplifying the voices of newly arrived Latinx students while helping them navigate the American school system,vocalizing the barriers impacting immigrants, refugees, and asylum seekers, as they integrate into a new host society. He encourages a more active and responsive role from education institutions in attending the needs of newly arrived Latinx students and families in areas that include identity, language acquisition, sexual orientation, gender identity, ego formation, and liminal immigration status.

Josué has a B.A. in International Relations and a Minor in Human Rights and Global Peace from San Francisco State University. He is a Willie L. Brown Fellow and a Humanitarian Crisis, Refugee, and Human Rights Fellow from Duke Global Policy Program in Geneva, Switzerland. . Served at the City of San Francisco Human Rights Commission, assisting during the listening sessions of the Juvenile Justice Reform.

Currently Josué is pursuing an M.A. in Global Studies & Global Migration from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Tisha (she/her) is a second generation Indian-American who grew up in Raleigh/Durham and is deeply connected to the LGBTQ+ and neurodiverse communities. She is a speech-language pathologist and part-time adjunct faculty at North Carolina Central University. She has also recently co-founded a local non-profit alongside an occupational therapist, TheraFriends Community Partnership, focused on providing inclusive and accessible pediatric therapy services and related programs. She spends much of her time supporting diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts in schools and in the greater community. She is passionate about social justice and is continuously listening and learning on her journey to becoming more aware of people's lived experiences and to guide her work and advocacy.

Kaliq (he/him) is a black transman, Early Childhood Educator and Supervisor. As an early childhood educator, he is using his time with young children to express themselves through creative projects and introduces them to a diverse types of people and cultures. He has a desire to continue to be part of the evolution of inclusive generations and liberated systems. Currently, Kaliq is working on a Dual Degree Masters in Clinical Mental Health and School Counseling, with hopes to work with LGBTQIA+ children and their families. A long term goal of his is to open a community center that serves all family types and offers them gender-inclusive childcare, healthcare, and more.

In his free time, Kaliq operates his own manny (man nanny) business known as Kaliq Kare. He also enjoys creating art, and offering information about his transition on his youtube channel “Kaliq Josiah”.

Abby (she/her) is a queer, white family physician who works at a community health center(or FQHC) in Burlington, NC. Her career focus and passion is providing high quality healthcare to individuals that do not have equitable access to care with the goal of working toward closing significant healthcare outcome gaps for the BIPOC and LGBTQIA communities. Abby speaks Spanish and has a large Latine patient population, and provides gender affirming care to the transgender/gender diverse community. She is also very passionate about increasing access to reproductive health for all people with a uterus.

Abby has a B.A in Spanish and a B.S in biology from University of Dayton, in Ohio, and an MD from University of Cincinnati. Her residency training was focused on caring for international and under resourced populations. She has traveled to Latin America(Honduras and Ecuador) on many occasions to help set up sustainable access to care for people in remote locations. Her involvement in Rainbow Collective for Change started as advocacy for change in school board policy concerning LGBTQIA children, and now includes organizing monthly meet ups for 8-12 year old youth in the LGBTQIA community.

Abby lives in Durham with her two favorite people, her brave and creative nonbinary and cisgender kiddos. When she isn't reading, she loves to travel, hike, bike, and indoor rock climb.

Adrian Williams (they/them) earned their B.A. in Sociology and M.S. in Counseling Psychology. In addition to their role at RCC, Adrian founded and owns a small business, AW DEI Consulting Inc. Adrian’s professional and educational background demonstrates their commitment to creating positive societal change. They have earned certificates in Diversity and Inclusion, Inclusive Excellence, Women’s Leadership, and Interprofessional Education and have training in mental health, trauma-informed practices, and racial equity. When Adrian is not working and running their small business, they explore the world, travel, and spend time with their family, friends, and pup LaMelo.

Anne is married to their wife, Allyson, and they have two young kids. Their family recently moved back to Durham, North Carolina from Napa, California.

Anne is the Founder and Director of Rainbow Collective for Change (RCC) – a grassroots organization that uses human centered design to develop initiatives and programs aiming to build support, safety, and connection for LGBTQ families in Durham (and beyond). Many of RCC’s initiatives utilize diverse children’s books to help educators and parents/caregivers have conversations with their children about gender, diverse families, race, social and racial justice, and speaking up against unfairness.

Prior to moving to Durham, Anne co-founded and directed the Rainbow Action Network of Napa Valley (RAN). For RAN, they led human centered design community work to build support, safety, and connection for LGBTQ families and efforts to engage families in anti-racist education and advocacy.

Anne has 20 years of program and curriculum development, coordination and management, and research and evaluation experience. She obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology and a Master of Public Health degree at UCLA. Her career has always focused on prevention of mental illness, substance abuse, and suicide. Anne’s passion for LGBTQ and Gender Inclusion work is fueled by her two children, the children of her close friends, and her personal experience as a queer parent navigating a culture and systems that are not LGBTQ and Gender Inclusive.

Raafe-Ahmaad Purnsley (he/they) is a black non binary Community Organizer, Science Educator, and local drag performer. As the Community outreach Coordinator for Durham Co-op Market they have worked with many youth groups and community initiatives to create space for families in need of representation, resources, and connections to greater durham culture and peoples. With a background in Environmental and Ecological Science (B.S.) from Elon University, Raafe has a long history of community work based in education with a focus on NC history and local environment. They started their formative work with two environmental based nonprofits that focused on education to improve representation, success, or knowledge of science, agriculture, and nature for marginalized groups. They have worked with minority small farmers by introducing them to more sustainable practices or connecting them to resources. Their focus when working with children has always been to increase representation and opportunities for children of color in accessing science education and exploring nature.

In more recent years they have shifted their focus to work with LGBTQ families and doing the work of making safe spaces to affirm, validate, and educate queer children and families. As Stormie Daie, Durham’s tempest on stage and in the classroom, Raafe has been able to provide greater oppurtunities to connect families of color and queer children to community and each other through working with groups like Alamance Pride, the Durham LGBTQ/Youth Center, and Drag Queen Story Hour.

As a North Carolinian and Durhamite with deep roots in the triangle and the coastal plains of our fair state, Raafe is always looking to better the city of Durham through community engagement and progressive and creative initiatives like RCC.

Arlo (they/them) is a white nonbinary 5th grade student in Durham. Arlo became involved with Rainbow Collective for Change to support our efforts to make social connections for preteen LGBTQIA kids. They are also very aware and engaged with advocacy efforts regarding school board policy and state laws affecting LGBTQIA children. They hope to continue to engage with these same efforts as the first student member of RCC's leadership team. They have lots of great ideas to make Rainbow Collective for Change a great organization.

When they aren't at school or RCC events, they like to indoor rock climb, play violin, and read ALL the books.