Meet Milan Sherry
Founder & Executive Director
Milan Nicole Sherry is a Black and Indigenous Transgender woman, organizer, fighter, and mother from New Orleans.
In 2009, become a youth organizer and was a founding member of BreakOUT! In direct response to killings of Black transgender women, Milan created #BlackTransLivesMatter, a campaign that became a national movement. She additionally organized the first New Orleans Trans March and organized NOLA’s Trans March of Resilience. Milan has also helped the Department of Justice reduce racial and gender profiling by the NOPD and has contributed to a Human Rights Watch report linking discriminatory policing to HIV transmission.
Recipient of the 2013 NOLA Unity Award and the 2015 Rising Star Award, presented by EQLA Quality, Milan has been involved with the American Bar Association’s Opening Doors Project and featured on PBS’ In the Life and in VOGUE Magazine, ABC News, BuzzFeed News, EBONY, The New Yorker, South Florida Gay News and more local and national news outlets. Her activism is also featured in of "Cans Can't Stand," a New Yorker documentary directed by Matt Nadel and Megan Plotka.
Milan served as the co-coordinator and outreach specialist at the Trans Equity Project in Philadelphia, a national board member of Positively Trans and the Founder, Director of Community Support and Outreach of House of Tulip. House of Tulip is an organization centered around providing housing, social services, and community spaces for Transgender and gender non-conforming folks living in New Orleans.
Milan is now the Founder and Executive Director of Egypt's Garden which is a Trans-led, community-based organization dedicated to creating and maintaining a safer, supportive, affirming, and non-judgmental environment for all members of the TLGBTQIA+ community, with a focus on centering and uplifting Black and Brown Trans individuals.
“Don’t Say You Love Me If You Won’t Stand With Me. Don’t Grieve Me Later If You Won’t Fight For Me Now. Black Trans Lives Matter — while we are breathing.” -MILAN SHERRY
Redefining Possibility & Breaking Stigma
Milan Nicole Sherry, former co-director of House of Tulip in New Orleans, supports the Transgender community through her advocacy and leadership. After her HIV diagnosis, she discovered that the virus doesn’t limit her dreams - including the possibility of becoming a parent.