About

Onyx Ewa (they/them)

www.onyxewa.com

Onyx's career as an activist blossomed during their freshman year of high school, when they revived their school's dormant Gender and Sexuality Alliance (GSA) club. Two years later, their experience leading the GSA led them to found the Central Texas GSA Coalition, an organization that brings together students, educators, community members, and nonprofit organizations to support the life-changing and life-saving work of GSAs. With the support of the Texas GSA Network, the GSA Coalition model has expanded to three regional chapters throughout the state.

Onyx's experience as a student and marginalized activist in educational spaces made it starkly clear that mainstream education is not addressing the topics that are most important to LGBTQ+, Black, Brown, POC, disabled, and otherwise marginalized young people. As a result, Onyx organized an SXSW panel and subsequent digital project entitled Q+ EDU. Over the course of summer 2020, they hosted 40 live sessions with speakers who discussed everything from navigating job searches as a queer person, to histories of queer involvement in prison abolition, to the impact of art on children's gender identity development, and more. Q+ EDU will return this August with a new slate of topics.

Since age nine, Onyx has been designing and sewing many of their own clothes, and their interest in fashion has never ceased. They view fashion as a means of building confidence, facilitating self-expression, and embodying beauty. Onyx plans to use their background in activism to advocate for racial and gender diversity, size inclusivity, overall accessibility, and environmental consciousness in the fashion industry and in the world at large.

Onyx is a rising sophomore at Harvard University. They are also a Point Foundation Scholar and a GLSEN Student Advocate of the Year Award Recipient.

Kathryn Gonzales (she/her)

Kathryn Gonzales, The Lone Star Diva, is a transgender speaker, educator, and advocate for the LGBTQIA+ community. Kathryn is the co-author of Trans+: Love, Sex, Romance, and Being You, a growing up guide for trans and non-binary youth, and the Operations & Programs Director at Out Youth, an Austin-based nonprofit that has served LGBTQIA+ youth for 30 years.

Kathryn has worked in the nonprofit sector, specifically youth advocacy and organizing, for 15 years. She has facilitated state-wide youth lobby days, organized state-wide conferences on youth leadership and empowerment, and created the Queer Youth Media Project during her time at the Austin Gay & Lesbian International Film Festival. In 2017, Kathryn co-founded the Central Texas Transgender Health Coalition, which supports the health and well-being of the transgender and gender non-binary community. She also serves as the Vice-Chair of the City of Austin’s LGBTQ Quality of Life Commission, which advises the Austin City Council on issues relating to the quality of life of queer people in the City of Austin.

Kathryn's research into the evolutionary importance of storytelling in our everyday lives heavily influences her work, and always seeks new ways for youth to share their stories with the world.

Frederick Heather (they/them/elle)

Frederick Heather (they/them/elle) has been the Texas Gender & Sexuality Alliance (GSA) Network Coordinator for Out Youth since 2018. Originally from a tiny, rural town in Northern California, Frederick co-founded their high school’s first GSA while obtaining their International Baccalaureate Diploma and editing the school newspaper. They earned Bachelor of Arts degrees in Spanish, Women’s Studies, and Linguistics from San Diego State University, and a Master of Arts in Gender & Peacebuilding from the UN-Mandated University for Peace in Costa Rica. They have lived in Austin for more than a decade, committed to serving their community in nonprofit organizations supporting LGBTQIA2+ folks, helping survivors of domestic violence, and assisting Central Texans accessing reproductive healthcare. 

Fiercely bisexual and genderqueer, Frederick is working to destroy the gender binary... and capitalism, white supremacy and ableism, among other systems of oppression. When they’re not engaged in activism and social justice work, Frederick loves to write, read, travel, eat, dance with friends, and dote on their adorable dog. They consider themself a semi-professional booper of snoots, and yes, they do want to see a picture of your furbaby. They’d also be thrilled to compare birth charts with you, chat about self-improvement over a mani/pedi, or hear about your favorite musician or artist.

Grant E. Loveless

Grant E. Loveless (they/them) is a native of Austin, Texas and is a proud AfroQueer non-binary social entrepreneur and student activist in the City of Austin. They are a current junior at Texas State University dual-majoring in Psychology & Public Relations | Mass Communications Fall of 2020.

As an award-winning spoken-word poet and well-recognized public speaker they focus on creating dialogues centering: social and economic equity, cultural preservation and representation, Black and Brown student success and pathways to promote academic and professional opportunities for students of color. Their mission is to bridge the gaps between communities , their role in a students’ development while enrolled in college and creating institutional power on college campuses for student voices to be amplified.

During their time at Austin Community College as a Student Ambassador and Engagement Specialist for ACC’s Career Services department they contributed articles to Catch the Next as a John Siceloff Journalism Intern and spearheaded various projects, one being the development of ACC’s BlACCk Student Success Committee. With momentum being created from his work at ACC, Loveless became a two-time Youth and Education nominee for Austin Under 40’s, won Student of the Year by DivInc, being the first ACC student to be given the honor and was spotlighted by ReignBeaux as “Young, Black and Gifted” in their 2019 November issue, being the first student to be in their digital magazine issue.

Now, Loveless currently serves as the Social Media Manager and Digital Storyteller for MEASURE Austin and is a part of various local and national task forces and executive board teams as a College Student Liaison for Austin Community College.

Loveless continues to serve their communities as a member, partner & student liaison of several non-profit & college student-led organizations. Through this they creates equitable & inclusive spaces for students of the global majority to feel brave, celebrated and dismantle structures of inequity and exclusivity.