This week on All Ears, Abby is joined by Imara Jones. Imara is an activist, journalist, and the creator of TransLash Media, a cross-platform journalism, storytelling, and narrative project. She’s also the host of the TransLash podcast, a show that centers trans narratives and experience. Imara’s and Abby’s conversation was so rich and varied, we decided to split it up into two episodes. In this week’s conversation, she discusses the love and acceptance she found in her family after transitioning, the immense and intractable power of storytelling, and what went wrong in Dave Chappelle’s most recent Netflix special, ‘The Closer.’ Tune in for a compelling and insightful conversation about why we should all be invested in the fight to protect black trans women.
Special Guest
Imara Jones (Part 1)
Journalist, Activist, Creator of TransLash Media
Imara, whose work has won Emmy and Peabody Awards, is the creator of TransLash Media, a cross-platform journalism, personal storytelling, and narrative project, which produces content to shift the current culture of hostility towards transgender people in the US. As part of work at TransLash, Imara hosts the WEBBY-nominated, TransLash Podcast with Imara Jones. In 2020 Imara was featured on the cover of Time Magazine as part of its New American Revolution special edition. In 2019 she chaired the first-ever UN High-Level Meeting on Gender Diversity with over 600 participants. Imara’s work as a host, on-air news analyst, and writer focuses on the full range of social justice and equity issues. Imara was also the first Journalist-in-Residence at WNYC’s The Greene Space where she hosted the monthly program Lives At Stake. Imara has been featured regularly in The Guardian, The Nation, MSNBC, CNBC, NPR, Mic, Colorlines, and is a frequent guest host of the In The Thick podcast. Imara has held economic policy posts in the Clinton White House and communications positions at Viacom. Imara holds degrees from the London School of Economics and Columbia. Imara is a 2019 Soros Equality Fellow and on the board of the Anti-violence Project, GLSEN, and the LGBTQ+ Museum. She goes by the pronouns she/her.