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
See more careers and stories that connect to your interests.
Take Roadmap Quiz
Day In The Life
Skills &
Education
Advice for getting started
Do something. The people protesting on the front lines are the ones who will be named and recognized. But there are many, many different roles that are behind the scenes but just as important. There are people organizing, people cooking for those who are marching, people buying ink for printing our causes. Don't do it for name recognition—do it because it's the right thing to do. Just make sure you do something.
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.