Mia McKenzie Amplifies the Voices of People of Color

Mia McKenzie is an activist, award-winning writer, and founder of Black Girl Dangerous Media, an independent media company that seeks to include and amplify the voices and experiences of people of color, particularly queer and trans people of color. The birth of this company was a clear response by McKenzie, who saw this critical lacking of black and queer representation in popular culture and responded by creating the organization to fill in the gaps herself.

“As Black women, we are always so cognizant of people’s perceptions of us, and always having to modify ourselves–our tones of voice, the language we use–to make other people feel less threatened by us,” explains McKenzie in an interview with Elixher on one reasoning behind the origins of Black Girl Dangerous as a blog. “I decided that I would, instead, embrace my own dangerousness–remake it and reshape it and retell it–and use it as a tool of self-expression.

McKenzie has also written two books, The Summer We Got Free and Black Girl Dangerous on Race, Queerness, Class and Gender.

Cover image courtesy of Mia McKenzie.

By Caroline Liu on February 22, 2016
Caroline Liu is a freelance writer, graphic designer, and computer programmer studying at Wesleyan University. She is pursuing majors in Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies and Computer Science in order to bridge her passions for tech, design, and social justice. Learn more about Caroline on her website or follow her on Twitter.