Grammy's Place Board of Directors
Kayla Rena Gore
Kayla Rena Gore is a Black transgender woman, advocate, and community organizer based in Memphis, Tennessee. She is best known as the co-founder and executive director of My Sistah’s House, a grassroots nonprofit dedicated to providing emergency housing, advocacy, and resources for transgender women and queer people of color experiencing homelessness and housing insecurity. Gore’s work is rooted in her own lived experience — she has personally navigated homelessness and discrimination in shelters, which shaped her commitment to creating safe, affirming spaces for others facing similar struggles.
Gore helped launch My Sistah’s House in 2016 after recognizing the lack of safe shelter options for transgender people in Memphis. The organization provides shelter, support services, meals, and access to healthcare resources, and it has also led the Tiny House Project — an initiative to build zero-barrier tiny homes and create ownership pathways for Black trans women and gender-nonconforming individuals.
In addition to her work with My Sistah’s House, Gore has served in leadership roles with other LGBTQ and housing justice groups, including work with the Transgender Law Center as a Southern regional organizer and program roles addressing housing equity, law enforcement discrimination, and systemic barriers facing transgender communities in the U.S. South.
Her advocacy has been featured in national media and documentary projects highlighting creative, community-based responses to homelessness and housing injustice, including series like American Problems, Trans Solutions.
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Ebony Williams
A LITTLE ABOUT EBONY COMING SOON!
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Pattie Shaw
Ms. Patti Denise Shaw is a 62 years old post-op transgender activist in the DMV area. She has worked at several non-profit organizations to help empower the underserved transgender population in the DMV since 1990.
She was a facilitator of the first of its kind - transgender support group called T.A.D.D (Transgenders Against Discrimination and Defamation) in the early 90s. Ms Shaw started the outreach program for the Washington Free Clinic of DC under the leadership of director Cynthia Green. S
he has also been a guest speaker at different fundraisers for the transgender community while speaking on Housing, HIV/AIDS and addiction. That work led her to where she worked at “Power safehouse” in Winchester VA. She has played an intricate role in changing a few Washington, DC policies on Transgender rights during an arrest and incarceration.
Following that initiative she hosted a transgender sensitivity training for the John Marshall Court building in Washington, DC which included the probation officers and the metropolitan Police department. Ms. Shaw has been a guest speaker at “May is: All About Trans” where she spoke on mental health issues within the transgender community.
She is also a Co-Founder of Shugg's place, another Transgender led organization in the DMV area focusing on housing and healthcare for all Trans Individuals of color in partnership with Damien Ministries . She has served on the Board of Directors for Different Avenue in the early '90s.
Despite being a veteran in the advocacy and organizing world, Ms. Shaw’s fight for equality is far from over; she continues to improve her legacy and strengthen her platform - advocating for all her trans brothers and sisters.
