neonadmin – Breakthrough U.S.

Cheyenne Leonard | Accessibility Advocate

Cheyenne is a Latina, former Junior Paralympian, actress/model, student, and accessibility advocate from the West Coast. Drawing from her mother’s unyielding support, she began to combat systemic injustices during her youth. When faced with a school district’s discriminatory policy that prevented her from participating in track and field, with the claim that her disability was…

Summer | A Musician From Hawaii

Summer, Our Stories In Vivid Color Storyteller

Summer (she/her) is an Armenian, Japanese and Jewish musician from Hawaii who studied in a predominately white university. Being from Hawaii, where only 2% of the population is white and mainly comprises people of color, the transition to a primarily white university made Summer hyper-aware of racial inequality and white ignorance. Deciding to pursue a…

Ta’Lor | Nonbinary Model Creating Affirming Spaces for BIPOC and LGBTQ+ Folks

Ta'Lor, D’Yonna Mosley with We Speak Models

Ta’Lor (They/Them) is a young actor, model with We Speak Models, writer, and artist living in New York City. Creativity and community are core elements that help them stay grounded and connected. Whether it’s acting, modeling or photography, Ta’Lor will utilize creativity as an outlet for self-expression and healing, “I have a love for art…

What the 1995 Beijing Women’s Conference Was Really Like With Mallika Dutt

In 1995, the Fourth World Conference for Women in Beijing resulted in a global agenda for change from a feminist standpoint. Breakthrough’s founder and leader in the feminist movement, Mallika Dutt, meets with Ponny White, a child care policy analyst and reproductive justice activist from Minnesota, to discuss takeaways from this historic event. In this…

Commemorating Pride with Nia

During our #QueerYourPride campaign, Breakthrough uplifted the joy, determination and activism of the LGBTQIA+ communities with a Digital Quilt. By & For contributor Nia Asemota produced this beautiful artwork highlighting the essence of Pride Month. Nia sought to depict “the power of loving without limits” and she has done so successfully with 3 visible examples…

Allies Promise by Caela Collins

I may not say all the right things. I won’t always be the first to know or understand. I will never feel the true weight of your burdens or carry your individualistic fears. But I will not abide by any pride that human nature has allowed to reside within me. I won’t use loving words…

The Depression Came (Comic) by Anna Nguyen

The American Psychiatric Association notes that BIPOC adults generally have a harder time locating and receiving mental health services, having found that 48% of whites received mental health services, compared with 31% of Blacks and Hispanics, and 22% of Asians in 2015. This is something comic artists, Anna Nguyen is well aware of and explores…

M.O.T.H.E.R. by Caela Collins

by Caela Collins (in dedication to my mother Valerie) Childhood Mother, mother there is no Other Together we share the same color Hair Even though there’s a lot of Rules So what I think you’re cool!I Love You! Adulthood Most of all, I want to say thank-you. No matter how Overly elaborate the words of…

Galactic Gaia: Earth Month Illustration by Kai Ibarra

This Earth Month 2021, we take inspiration from Kai Ibarra and their piece depicting goddess of the earth, Gaia. Selecting a muse was straightforward for Kai, “love goddesses and their stories of divinity, so Gaia, mother of Earth was who I thought of instantly.” Kai utilizes Gaia to highlight that ancestral knowledge may provide a…

Introducing By & For Featured Writer: Caela Collins:

Caela Collins’ is a young writer and contributor to By & For. Her piece most recent piece, Tree Girl’s Budding Thoughts combines her love and appreciation of nature with the personal journey she has taken in young adulthood thus far. Collins uses this opportunity to discuss the views of a tree suddenly transformed into a…