Laverne Cox
The Visionary
The future, and what is barely possible, reads round the next corner.
Laverne Cox is The Visionary because her leadership is organised around futures that do not yet exist for those coming behind her. She traces the impulse to age six, imagining how her artistry could make things better for others, and has claimed each milestone since, first trans Emmy nominee, first trans Barbie, not as personal triumph but as deliberate possibility-making. She leads through conviction about what representation can become, and pushes the boundary accordingly.
“I wanted to dance, and so at five years old I was begging my mother for dance classes. How cool would it be if through my work as an artist, I could make things better for people who follow me? This idea enters my head at six years old.”
“It's the first trans person to be nominated for Primetime Emmy, all the things — because it hadn't been done before. But I was the first, but I'm not the last. And that really is the thing that I'm most proud of.”
“Genocide can only happen through dehumanization. So we rehumanize by connecting with people's stories and their lived experiences. When it's hard to dehumanize someone you like, sit here, and you're real.”
Angie Martinez IRL: “Laverne Cox: Stop Earning Love and Start Deserving It”
LISTEN AT THE SOURCE ↗THE RECORD IS CHECKABLE