Cherishing ballroom history, building connections, teaching financial literacy, and inspiring community change.
The Crystal LaBeija Organizing Fellowship (CLOF) is an intensive, 1-year fellowship, open to Black and Brown, trans, gender non-conforming, and non-binary individuals who belong to the ballroom community.
CLOF aims to empower fellows across the nation to address the issues impacting the lives of transgender women, transgender men, gender non-conforming, and non-binary people in the house ball community via community building, economic empowerment, advocacy, and activism through wellness and social justice lenses.
Jennifer Barnes-Balenciaga
Director
Jennifer Barnes-Balenciaga (she/her) is the Director of the Crystal La'Beija Organizing Fellowship (CLOF) a national fellowship program that empowers recipients to address issues impacting the lives of transgender women, transgender men, gender non-conforming, and non-binary people in the house ball community.
Jennifer was an 11-year resident of the City of Atlanta where she was appointed the first LGBTQ+ liaison in Atlanta, Georgia by State Representative Park Cannon of District 58 in January 2018 and served in that capacity until September 2022. During her tenure, Jennifer contributed to many Atlanta political and governmental legislation like HB290, collaborated to commemorate many Georgia LGBTQ+ leaders, including Miss Lawrence Balenciaga, and helped lead many queer movements within her community—World AIDS Day events, HIV testing initiatives, Black/LGBTQ+Pride/rallies, etc.
Jennifer was an on-the-ground HIV Prevention Specialist and continues volunteering for many HIV-related initiatives. She has also been a Youth Policy HIV Advisor for Georgia Equality. She has presented at HIV-related conferences such as NAESM, USCA, and congressional gatherings through AIDSWatch.
The multi-awarded Barnes-Balenciaga hails from Cincinnati, Ohio, and has been seen on Season 2 of POSE FX. She has published in many distinguished publications, such as The New York Times, TEENVogue, Harvard Public Health, and VeryWellHealth, among others. She holds numerous organizational and committee affiliations–Co-Investigator for RESPND-MI (MPX-NYC), Vice President of Cincinnati Black Pride, a Board Member for The National Center for Civil and Human Rights: LGBTQ+ Institute and Social Media Committee Chair for Sankofa Black Women's Conference. She is a member of the illustrious House of Balenciaga, a leading institution in the House and Ballroom Scene.
Jennifer is a resident of Manhattan and has an Associate of Arts in Political Science from Borough of Manhattan Community College (BMCC). Jennifer is now pursuing a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Sociology with a minor in Law at Baruch College.
DeShay. Brown
Program Coordinator
DeShay Brown also known as Cherry Bomb, is a Black transgender woman from Gary, Indiana. She currently resides in Bronx, NY hailing from Indianapolis, IN where she participates in various LGBT community initiatives, including Ballroom Ambassador in the Red Ribbon Rumble program, an HIV prevention program focused on cultivating ballroom leaders. She first became involved in ballroom in 2001 when she attended the very first ball hosted in Indianapolis, the House of Glory Ball. Cherry has been working with Brother’s United in Minneapolis, Indiana. She participated as a Ballroom Ambassador as part of Indiana’s PrEP grant. As part of this campaign, she hosted a series vogue nights and partnered with the local sex worker community to connect trans and cis women to health and wellness resources. Through the Crystal Labeija Organizing Fellowship Cherry advocated on issues around Indiana’s policy regarding changing names and gender markers.
2022 Crystal LaBeija Organizing Fellowship
Applications for the 2022 cohort are open! Applications are due November 15th, 2021. Submit your application today! Highlights of the program include:
Professional mentorship
Holistic leadership development by ballroom community members
Join a national network of community organizers, activists, scholars, and more
All fellow will be trans and gender-nonconforming people of color who are also ballroom community members.
Click here to access the application
Visit CrystalLaBeijaof.org or send us an email at clofellowship@gmail.com for more information!
