Renata Hill is currently a full-time student on the path to earn an Associates degree in Human Services at the Borough of Manhattan Community College and will then work to get her master’s degree in Social Work. She has toured the country speaking out for this case and also for all women who are incarcerated for defending themselves. She spoke to a room of over 1600 people at the national INCITE! Color Of Violence Conference in Chicago in March 2015. Renata won the 2015 Beyond Measure Award co-presented with DapperQ and New York Fashion Week for her dedication to activism and social justice. Most recently she was asked to speak at the Sadie Nash Leadership Project as well the National Convening of Black Lives, organized by the Black Lives Matter national movement. She is a sought after by universities and colleges nationwide to continue speaking as an advocate. Renata is ferociously protective of people around her and she has an incredible sense of humor that has probably been her greatest source of strength throughout her life.
Renata has spoken at a dozen colleges and universities including the University of Seattle Washington, the University of California – San Diego for The Nicholas Papadopoulos Endowed Lecture in Gay & Lesbian Studies, the College of Mount Saint Vincent, University of California Irvine, Stanford University, George Mason University, Johns Hopkins University, the University of Wisconsin – Eau Claire, University of Chicago University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Toshi Reagon’s Word*Rock*Sword Festival, the Athena Film Festival, Human Rights Watch Film Festival and at the Envision screening with the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights, as well as dozens of film festivals.
Patreese Johnson is a femme-identified poet. She is the youngest of four brothers and one sister. She grew up as the youngest on the block in her tight-knit community in Newark, New Jersey. She is fiercely empathetic with a big heart. While incarcerated she received her GED and ran a support group for women who were survivors of domestic violence. Since her release, she has enrolled at Essex County Community College, studying for Associates degree in Liberal Arts. She has been touring nationally with the film and spoke at the Creating Change Conference in Denver in February 2015. Most recently, Patreese was asked to speak at the Sadie Nash Leadership Project in Newark, NJ. Patreese dreams of opening a spa one day “so that women will have a place to take a break from the every- day struggles of life.” She is currently working two part-time jobs, one as a personal assistant to children’s author, Jacqueline Woodson.
Patreese has spoken at the Los Angeles Film Festival, Frameline LGBT Film Festival, ImageOut, the University of California – San Diego for The Nicholas Papadopoulos Endowed Lecture in Gay & Lesbian Studies, Baltimore LGBT Film Festival, the Malcolm X Library in San Diego, New York City’s Maysles Cinema, Toshi Reagon’s Word*Rock*Sword Festival, the Athena Film Festival, Human Rights Watch Film Festival, Washington DC’s Reel Affirmations, No Selves to Defend exhibit in Philadelphia, Columbia Universities African American Policy Forum and at the Envision screening with the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights, as well as dozens of film festivals.
Venice Brown earned her GED from Cape Fear Community College. She received her Cosmetology License from the College of Wilmington, North Carolina where she lives and works part-time at a hair salon and at Cape Fear College. She had a baby boy, Jasiah, who just turned four and co-parents with her girlfriend whom she has known since they were twelve years old. As Venice’s mom says, “Venice would give you the shirt off her back, but do not disrespect her friends.”
Venice has spoken at the University of California – San Diego for The Nicholas Papadopoulos Endowed Lecture in Gay & Lesbian Studies, the Malcolm X Library in San Diego, the Human Rights Watch Film Festival and she will be speaking at the University of North Carolina – Wilmington this fall.
Terrain Dandridge is gender non-conforming and uses both male and female pronouns. Terrain is working full-time as a security guard in New Jersey and has enrolled in Essex County Community College to study Science and Respiratory Care, with hopes of becoming a Respiratory Specialist. He has had a long- time dream of opening a boys and girls club in Newark, where she believes youth are not receiving the resources that are desperately needed. Terrain tours with the film and spoke at the annual One Billion Been Rising event in Pittsburgh in February 2015. Most recently she was asked to speak at the Sadie Nash Leadership Project in Newark, NJ. Terrain comes from a strong matriarchal family, is incredibly sweet, terribly shy, and her mother Kimma considers her the “Casanova” of the NJ4.
Terrain has spoken the University of Seattle Washington, the University of California – San Diego for The Nicholas Papadopoulos Endowed Lecture in Gay & Lesbian Studies, the University of California – Irvine, Frameline LGBT Film Festival, ImageOut, New York City’s Maysles Cinema, Toshi Reagon’s Word*Rock*Sword Festival, the Athena Film Festival, Terrain has traveled with the Human Rights Watch Film Festival, the Interference Archives Inside/Out in New York and at Columbia Universities African American Policy Forum.
