Venus Selenite is a poet, writer, performance artist, social critic, editor, educator, and technologist based in Washington, D.C. The author of a poetry collection, trigger, she is a native of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where she began her career on the youth slam and spoken word circuits. After working with the National Center for Transgender Equality on the 2015 U.S. Trans Survey, she became devoted to her art and mission full-time. Venus works as the Trans Voices Columnist for Wear Your Voice Magazine, serves on the leadership team of Trans Women of Color Collective, is an editor for Trans Women Writers Collective, and is the Communications Coordinator for The Future Foundation. She has performed and spoken at venues such as the Kennedy Center, Anacostia Playhouse, New York University-DC, American University, the Capturing Fire Queer Poetry Slam, and the Brave New Voices International Youth Poetry Slam. Venus will be publishing her first novella, Istrouma, and co-editing Nameless Women: An Anthology of Fiction by Trans Women of Color, both eyeing publication in early 2017.