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Vanessa Rochelle Lewis
Born and raised in South Central, Los Angeles, Vanessa Rochelle Lewis (MFA) is a Queer, Fat, Black, Femme performer, facilitator, educator, writer, activist, healer, joyful weirdo, and Faerie Princess Mermaid Gangsta for The Revolution.
Vanessa has danced across many professional and creative stages. She has been a Writer and Managing Editor for acclaimed feminist magazines, Everyday Feminism & Black Girl Dangerous; an Adjunct Instructor at multiple Bay Area community colleagues (including College of Alameda, Merrit College, and Chabot Community College); a Fundraiser and Events Coordinator for the Queer Women of Color Media Arts Project; the Artist-Facilitator In Residence for the Young Women Freedom Center; and a core team member for Creating Freedom Movements (an 18 month long social education project that supports grassroots visionary leaders to incubate healing and joy projects while learning more about the art, theory, and practice of social justice movements). She is the Director of Programming for the Positive Results Center (the PRC addresses trauma from a cultural and age perspective by creating awareness to prevent and end teen dating, domestic and interpersonal violence, sexual assault, bullying, sex trafficking, and other social and interpersonal violences within marginalized communities). Vanessa has spoken at UC Berkeley, UC Davis, Hampshire College, The 5 Colleges Queer Conference, Saint Mary's College of California, UC Riverside, California College of the Arts, California Institute of Integral Studies, Mills College, The SF Dyke March, Florida Council Against Sexual Violence, Women’s Policy Center, and more. In 2021, she was included in The Root 100, a list of the 100 most influential African Americans between the ages of 25-45. After experiencing her appearance being weaponized against her on too many occasions, Vanessa began writing articles about what it means to exist in a body that the others perceive as ugly and why people choose to look at others and perceive them as ugly. Many people responded with their own stories of being bullied and harmed due to their appearance. This exchange inspired Vanessa to create the organization, Reclaim UGLY: Uplift Glorify Love Yourself – And Create A World Where Others Can As Well! Her vision is to co-create a world where everyone knows that they are a safe, welcomed, and valued member of their communities; has the support to dream authentically and exist in their truths; and knows that there is no face, no body, and no person who is ugly or unworthy of love and acceptance. In 2019 Reclaim UGLY hosted their first Ugly Conference. In 2020, Reclaim UGLY hosted Solidarity Healing September (an online, month long, racial justice heal-in/teach-in that was a fundraiser and heart raiser for Black Healing October) and Black Healing October (a month of daily FREE online healing workshops for Black people by Black people). Please visit www.reclaimugly.org to learn more. When she’s not trying to save the world, Vanessa loves listening to audiobooks; making friends with strangers; attending local performances; fun-venturing with her friends, partners, and colleagues; and swimming in every body of water she can find. |