As queer, trans, intersex, and non-binary people, we often experience a constant negotiation of who we are in most, if not all, spaces. Not here.
There is no part of you that you need to negotiate with us.
By centering Black and Indigenous knowledge of collectivism, we reject transactional relationships and the obligatory means and modes of productivity created under the gaze of racial capitalism.
Consulting and Contributions Include:
National American Society for the Sociology of Sport (NASSS), National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), Nike LGBT Sports Summit, Elms College, Metro Wellness St. Petersburg, Happy Nappy and Fit (HNF), American International College (AIC), USF Intercultural Student Leadership Conference (ISLC), New York University, University of Hartford, REVIVED: Tampa’s Most Influential Black Owned Magazine.
THE CREATOR:
the seed that started it all
Roc is a transmasculine practitioner and founder of Rooted Resistance a grassroots community-based program that is reimagining embodied movement and physical activity for trans, gender non-binary, gender non-conforming, and queer people in the rural US South. Movement outdoors is our form of refusal to commercialized and exploitive notions of the body and an alternative ancestral and intergenerational healing space for the queer and trans* Black, Indigenous, and people of color (QTBIPOC). Roc comes to this work as a former student-athlete and grassroots racial and gender justice organizer. Roc’s work formerly was through the Undoing Racism Organizing Collective (UROC) in Amherst, MA and GO! Athletes: a network of present and former student athletes who advocated for education and equity in sport for LGBTQ+ athletes. Roc values collective responsibility and is committed to reimagining spaces for generative movement for Queer and Transgender communities.
Roc received their Bachelor of Science in Sports & Leisure Management from Eastern Connecticut State University and received a M.Ed. in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of South Florida. Currently, Roc is pursuing a PhD in Sport Management on the ancestral territory of the Apalachee Nation, Muscogee Creek Nation, the Miccosukee Tribe of Florida, and the Seminole Tribe of Florida. Roc’s focus is on critical sport studies and physical culture that centers the body, land, and embodied healing movement through decolonial/anti-colonial methodologies.
Formerly, Roc served as the Director of Educational Leadership for GO! Athletes: a network of present and former student athletes who advocated for education and inclusion in sport for LGBTQ athletes. Additionally, Roc served in a full-time capacity in Higher Education within Student Affairs leading Social Justice Program for residential students.
DIRECTOR OF GRANTS
Sam(ira) Obeid
Poet. Indian. Activist. Lesbian. Scholar. Immigrant. Warrior.
I am a lot of things (read identities). But most importantly, I’m all heart. I live and breathe in words and justice. I write lines everywhere, words everywhere. On mirrors, post-its, toilet paper, brown paper bags, notepad, Instagram and in my head. I live in the work I do. Faces I photograph are pinned to my walls. Maps of subways in cities I love and notes to places I haven’t yet visited cover my workspace. I don’t believe in boxes or borders. I believe the human heart is fluid as is its body. We become who we build ourselves to be. And this is why the world fears us. This is resistance.
A little history. I was born and raised in India, moved to the U.S. in 2007. I went to the University of South Florida where I received Masters degrees in Multimedia Journalism and Women’s & Gender Studies. My full-time job is in non-discrimination work as Program Director at Community Tampa Bay. My other full-time job is as a spoken word poet. The love of my life is my pitbull, Sherlock.
If you’re unsure of my pronouns, just ask 🙂 Really, it’s that simple.