This Houston woman is empowering trans women of color
Atlantis Narcisse started Save Our Sisters United in 2016. It's a nonprofit that empowers trans women of color while providing a space to belong.
HOUSTON — All this month, we're sharing stories of Pride, stories of people who are a part of and support the LGBTQ+ community.
They say seeing is believing and for Houston native Atlantis Narcisse believing in herself has been a tall order.
"It took me 15 years to get a job as Atlantis, even though I have college education, excellent work resume," she said. "I had people challenge my parent authority and me, being that I stand 6'3", there's definitely no way that somebody is going to look down on me, right? So I kind of looked at what people call challenges as, 'Oh, I'm going to show you I can get through it.'"
For more than 20 years, she's been at the forefront of the fight for transgender rights in Houston, acknowledging the needs of those seemingly forgotten.
"No one was doing what I was doing before this, right?" she said. "No one was thinking about trans wellness and the fullness outside of being connected with gay men, are going in there teaching doctors how to take care of you, are not being heard."
That led her to launch Save Our Sisters United in 2016, a nonprofit empowering trans women of color while providing a space to belong.
"To shed our shame, see our strength, share our stories," she said.
It's work that hasn't gone unnoticed by the Greater Houston LGBTQ+ Chamber of Commerce.
"I have worked alongside the Chamber for quite a while," she said.
It's a partnership she takes great pride in as this year's recipient of the Chamber's Community Legacy Award.
"I get to be seen when Black trans women have been so far on the totem pole underground," she said. "I get to be honored by my community, and I get to show me in a different light."
"When you talk about being seen, did you ever have any doubt in your mind that this moment in time would come?" we asked her.
"I never came into it to be seen in the matter to get accolades," she said. "But now I am glad that now I am no longer a silhouette in the corner. People will see your body of work and celebrate that, but not understand it's the body that's doing the work that needs to be celebrated."
It's work creating a lasting legacy that future generations will one day see so they, too, can believe.
"We have to realize that quality of life is not a one-size-fits-all," Narcisse said. "And we have to say, though we are built as a collective, we still have individual needs that don't mirror the same."
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