Raquel Willis is a writer, organizer, and narrative strategist based in Atlanta, Georgia, working at the intersection of storytelling, movement building, and civic engagement. She is co-founder and executive director of the Gender Liberation Movement. Her memoir, The Risk It Takes to Bloom, chronicles her path through grief, self-discovery, and political awakening as a Black trans woman shaped by the South. She is the host and creator of Afterlives, a podcast on trans legacy and memory. Previously, she was executive editor of Out magazine, director of communications at the Ms. Foundation for Women, a national organizer at the Transgender Law Center, where she founded Black Trans Circles. She also created and hosted the Trans Youth Town Hall and served as a founding executive producer of iHeartMedia's OutSpoken network. Willis has been named to the TIME 100 and TIME Women of the Year and continues to build platforms and infrastructure for gender liberation movements to shift restrictive narratives.