Meet Trae, BAE’s new Program Manger!

Hello BAE fam! My name is Trae (she/they) and I’m so excited to join BAE. It is truly a dream come true. I’m drawn to BAE’s mission of using arts education to dismantle systemic barriers and I am eager to bring my background in anti-violence work into the world of arts education. I’m looking forward to developing a curriculum that decolonizes the classroom through arts education, facilitates student empowerment, and helps students conceptualize a better tomorrow while being trauma-sensitive. 

My goal is to nurture our community of young people to courageously to create a better world, starting with understanding and challenging their place in it. I believe a world without violence is possible, and creativity and radical imagination through the arts are the first step. 

I was born and raised in Wichita, Kansas - the perfect place to start my work in reproductive justice, abortion access, and a lifelong fight for bodily automony. After graduating from the International Baccalaureate program at East High, I attended Wichita State University where I double majored in Psychology and Women’s Studies, received a minor in University Honors, and certificates in Diversity Studies and Community Psychology. I’m currently pursuing my Masters of Science in Applied Social Research at Hunter College. 

Before joining BAE, I devoted my time to working in various social justice initiatives and projects, specifically in anti-sexual violence and comprehensive sexual education work with the long term goal of supporting survivors of childhood sexual abuse. Before moving to New York, I was named a 2018 Kansas Civic Health Hero and won the Next Generation Award from Kansas Voices for Choice for my advocacy for reproductive justice and comprehensive sexual education. I’ve organized social justice projects and conversations as a 2017 Fellow with Young People For, 2018 Member of the Young Women of Color for Reproductive Justice Leadership Council with Advocates for Youth, and 2018 Real Change Fellow with RESULTS. I currently serve as Vice President of Abortion Conversation Projects and write poetry, prose, and critical essays in my spare time. I’ve recently been published in the Journal of Black Sexuality and National Harm Reduction Coalition’s mini-course Black Becoming: A Legacy of HERstory.

You can catch me at Wingstop, with big earrings and even bigger hair! I cannot wait to contribute to the amazing work happening here at BAE.