André Pérez (He/They)

Andre is a Trans Latine community organizer and nonprofit consultant with 17 years of experience in storytelling and mobilizing resources for social justice. After founding the Trans Oral History Project in 2007, he recorded 600 interviews as part of Storycorps (2011-2012), served as the first Director of Development and Communications at the Trans Lifeline (2015-2017), and produced intersectional documentaries (2018-2024) supported by Sundance, PBS, and Creative Capital. He helps visionary leaders and artists bring new worlds into being through Andre Perez Consulting and Trans Bloom, an intergenerational trans and BIPOC-centered cultural hub that he founded in Northern California.

Working at the Trans Lifeline helped Andre see how accessing resources could enable trans folks to care for one another on an unprecedented scale. He spearheaded a strategy that raised the annual revenue from $125K in 2015 to $1.14M in 2017 by doubling their online presence, securing their first grants, fostering corporate relationships (Google and Twilio), and strategically leveraging influencers (Tegan and Sarah and Miley Cyrus). After recieving a grant from Sundance, he left to direct America in Transition, an award-wining documentary series about BIPOC trans folks and lead a social impact campaign that brought difficult conversations to the South and Midwest through 65+ public programs at colleges, community centers, and art spaces.

While producing A Run for More (2022, PBS) and Desire Lines (2024, Sundance Special Jury Award), Andre contuniued to foster movement building by serving as Interim Director of Development at the Lighthouse Foundation, a Black-led organization that creates healing spaces for Black LGBTQ+ folks and pursues racial equity in the LGBTQ+ community. He helped the organization grow from a budget of less than $100K in 2020 to over a million in 2024. André is passionate about working with nonprofits, networks, conferences, and philanthropy to grow a thriving ecosystem of social justice change makers.