Jephtha Prempeh

They/She

Activist-in-Residence Fellow

Raised in NYC’s independent school environment, Jephtha nurtured their voice speaking publicly against anti-Black violence, gentrification, and queer exclusion. During her university years at USC, she continued to develop her activism, eventually taking on a frontline leadership role in 2020 BLM protests as a campus advocate. Burnout led them to formally blend their creative practice and political activism, with the creation of Proud of Everything We Make (PEWM), an arts and politics magazine amplifying the voices of her community. In 2022, Jephtha’s organisation secured the financial support of Portland-based social change funder, Seeding Justice. In September 2023, Jephtha deepened their work, as Director of Community Engagement at BTFA. In one year, they ideated, marketed, and produced 18 community events, engaging over 150 Black trans femmes in personal and communal creative healing and exploration.

Jules Diaz Petta

She/They

Activist-in-Residence Fellow

Jules is an artist and activist, whose practice is rooted in representation, visibility, and uplifting marginalized voices. Their work centers BIPOC and LGBTQ+ communities, using photography as a tool for resistance and preservation. Through printed projects such as PERMANENCE, Queer Love, and FEMME, v., Jules documents identity and belonging, framing queer existence as living history rather than exception. Her activism began from a need to see her community reflected with care and dignity and has grown into a community-based practice grounded in collaboration, trust, and shared authorship. Jules’ time at The Center deepened their commitment to community care and advocacy, supporting programs focused on queer visibility and creative access. Her background in Music, Psychology, and Photography informs her approach to visual storytelling as a political act that challenges erasure and affirms presence.

KT Kennedy

They/Them

Activist-in-Residence Fellow

KT is a multidisciplinary artist, art educator, and community organizer based in Brooklyn, NY. They are the Associate Director of Youth Programming at Recess Art, leading Assembly, an arts diversion program supporting system-impacted youth. KT is also the founder of Black Education Matters, a national resource hub supporting Black youth, and QueerAid-NYC, a queer resource commons and living archive building localized systems of care and safety for queer New Yorkers. They also organize with Red Afro Cubana Trans (RACT), supporting international trans-led mutual aid efforts, and work alongside Brooklyn Jail Support, contributing to community-based responses to the carceral system. Rooted in care, accountability, abolition, and accessibility, their work centers and connects trans and gender-expansive BIPOC communities to intentional resourcing and community-based safety strategies. KT’s practice focuses on creating sustainable models of collective care that can be shared and replicated -infrastructure to keep each other safe, abundant, and thriving.

Myasia Mack

She/Her

Activist-in-Residence Fellow

Myasia is a New York-born artist. Her work uses printmaking and design as a tool for zines that explore fashion and culture. In 2022, she completed an Emerging Artist Residency at ArtStart, an organization dedicated to creative youth in New York. During her residency, she published the first issue of Myasiazine, titled The Discotheque Volume, inspired by the 1970s fashion and counterculture in New York City. Taking on the role of wardrobe stylist, art director, and designer, she collaborated with a team of photographers and black LGBTQ+ models to publish a 32-page zine featuring campy beauty and fashion editorials

Umi Khokhar

She/They

Activist-in-Residence Fellow

Umi’s journey as an activist is rooted in the necessity of care. Umi is a trans woman of color, a lifelong New Yorker, and a child of Pakistani immigrants. This has guided their work to help queer-disabled folks get the accessible, accommodating care they deserve. Since founding Queer Disability Aid (QDA) in 2024, her journey to advocate for disabled queers has brought her invaluable networks of mutual care. Umi’s conceptions of mutual aid expanded: it can look like gender-affirming haircuts for a housebound trans person, or packing someone’s belongings as they leave an abusive household. Beyond building a network of volunteers (often also queer, BIPOC, and/or disabled themselves!), Umi has planned events ranging from grief support groups to queer joy-affirming photoshoots, taken on leadership roles in inter-org collaborations, and collaborated with government officials on government advisory boards.

Yösel Nadik

She/Her

Activist-in-Residence Fellow

Yösel is a Bhutanese trans mental health advocate and founder of Project Sel, based in Queens, New York. As a third culture kid, Yösel is passionate about uplifting trans and queer immigrant voices and dismantling the stigma around mental health in immigrant communities. Her own therapeutic journey inspires this initiative, highlighting the transformative impact of effective therapy. Project Sel is a mental health support group and resource hub connecting trans and queer immigrants to low-cost, language-accessible therapists throughout NYC, working in partnership with private therapists and centers such as G&STC. This project is dedicated to the life and legacy of Pemasel Tobgay, a gifted artist and loving friend.