Black Girl's Guide to Surviving Menopause

“I am not free while any woman is unfree, even when her shackles are very different from my own.” ― audre lorde

 When I started this podcast last year, I started with a vision of centering the narratives of Black women around menopause and ageing that resonated with me. Of course that meant that as cisgender, Black, heterosexual woman born and raised in the American South I needed to check myself on the fact that menopause, and all of the complexities that comes with it and ageing, doesn't just happen to cis hetero women. If this was going to to truly be a liberatory healing space of transformation for all my siblings (and some nibblings too) on this journey, it's critical to include the voices and stories of those who identify as femmes, gender non-conforming, or non-binary as well. We all have a story to tell.  I am so honored and excited that my dear friend Mo George agreed to have conversation with me around how she experiences menopause as a queer butch lesbian. Enjoy!  

Mo George 

Monique George or Mo (as she is often called) is currently the Program Officer  for the NYC Equity Initiative at Open Society Foundations, where she co-manages a portfolio of $3 million dollars. She is also the cofounder of Workers 4 Racial Equity/W4 which launched in 2016 to address racial equity for black workers, as well as connect the issues of affordable housing with the issues of access to quality jobs.  Mo's over 25 years of organizing experience begun in college where she worked locally with NYPIRG on varies environmental issues. Upon graduation, Mo began working with SEIU Local 1199 for close to 10 years. 

After leaving 1199, Mo moved on to become the Lead Organizer at the Empire State Pride Agenda, where she fought for the rights of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. At Pride Agenda, Mo worked on various statewide campaigns including expanding their annual lobby day to over 1000 attendees and also being on the team that developed the organizing strategies that won Marriage Equality in New York State.   After moved on from Pride Agenda, Mo joined Community Voices Heard (CVH) as the New York Chapter Director of Organizing. As a proud product of public housing, she felt that her past work at CVH helped to preserve public housing, and the campaign won over $700 million towards that preservation during her tenure. Mo joined Picture The Homeless (PTH) as the Executive Director in January 2017. Mo's organizing work has led her from meetings at the White House, to becoming a Professional Fellow with the U.S. Department of State through their work with the Greater Lakes Consortium out of Toledo Ohio. 

This work has allowed her to travel across Eastern Europe to places such as Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria, to teach community organizing as well as learn about challenges facing varies Eastern European communities.  Mo holds her Bachelor’s degree in Black Studies from SUNY New Paltz and is completing her Master’s in Public Administration. When not working to save the world, she can be found reading a good book, traveling or just relaxing with her partner of over 10 years.  

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