June is National LGBTQ Pride Month, and as such OUTMemphis will be spotlighting one LGBTQ person who changed the world each week. This week, we will be spotlighting Dominique Jackson.
Dominique Jackson
Dominique Jackson is a trans model, actor, advocate, author, and nonprofit director. Dominique emigrated to the US in 1993 at the age of 18. She was not accepted by her family in Tobago for being transgender, and found the need to flee her home country. She lived off of sex work and credit cards for a period, and eventually found a home in the “ballroom” scene of New York City, where she was taken in by the House of Sinclair.
Jackson found her big break as a model in 2009 when she became a resident model for fashion designer Adrian Alicea and walked for the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week. She also had a photoshoot in Vogue España. Jackson is best known for her role as Elektra Abundance in the FX series Pose, which has the distinguishing feature of having the most transgender cast members ever of a scripted television show: over 50! Jackson has been instrumental in bringing the intersection of trans, black, woman, and immigrant to the screen, providing magnificent representation for those who rarely see themselves reflected back on television.
For more information on Dominique Jackson, check out these links:
For past LGBTQ leaders that have been spotlighted, check out these links:
