D Smith
Disruptors
D. Smith
Meet one of the artists, disruptors, educators, groundbreakers, innovators, and storytellers who all helped make the world a better place for LGBTQ+ people.
Before the black-and-white documentary Kokomo City came out this year, there weren’t many examples of Black trans women getting to be their unfiltered selves on-screen. But thanks to D. Smith in her directorial debut, four Black trans sex workers in New York and Atlanta — Daniella Carter, Koko Da Doll, Liyah Mitchell, and Dominique Silver — were able to speak their minds and not hold anything back.
Before making Kokomo City, Smith was a Grammy-nominated producer and songwriter who worked with artists like Lil Wayne, Andre 3000, Ciara, Monica, and Katy Perry. But when she came out as a woman in 2014, the music industry stopped returning her calls.
Smith became homeless and was sleeping on couches and floors while she looked for what was next. It was then that she started working on Kokomo City. Eventually, Smith was able to finish the film with help from producers Harris Doran and Bill Butler; Lena Waithe also signed on as an executive producer. And it debuted at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival.
“This year was literally filled with wonderful accomplishments,” she says, “but by far the proudest I’ve been this year was watching the girls in Kokomo City see the film for the first time. It premiered at Sundance. I’ll never forget the look on their faces!”
Smith’s work is a vital breath of fresh air for trans art, and she wants Black trans women to know that they’re not alone, no matter how bad things might look right now. “One thing I’ve learned from watching video games is that, when you start to see the enemies, you know you’re heading in the right direction,” she says. “Trust the process and know that us being able to fight is a good thing.” @truedsmith
Disruptors
Duncan Crabtree-Ireland
Meet one of the artists, disruptors, educators, groundbreakers, innovators, and storytellers who all helped make the world a better place for LGBTQ+ people.
Photo by Luke Fontana
Duncan Crabtree-Ireland — the national executive director and chief negotiator for SAG-AFTRA — oversees the world’s largest entertainment union, which boasts over 160,000 members. And along with SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher, he’s one of the faces of their strike over a labor dispute with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.
As one of the few out leaders of a major entertainment group, Crabtree-Ireland knows that the fight for labor and LGBTQ+ equality go hand in hand. “One of the things that we’re fighting for is basic equity, inclusion, and fairness in the industry,” he says. “And I’m proud to say that SAG-AFTRA has been at the forefront of making sure that the entire American scene is represented on film, television, and streaming — and that’s a fight that we’re in for the long run.”
And there is a lesson to be learned from the strike to advance change, which is the power of solidarity. “When we stand together and when we fight together, that’s how we win,” he says. “Division always weakens us. Unity strengthens us.”
The outcome of Crabtree-Ireland’s advocacy through the SAG-AFTRA strike will determine the future of how actors and other entertainment professionals are treated in show business, as technological advances like streaming services and AI impact their careers and livelihoods. But the country’s largest strike in 26 years has also helped fuel a revolution for workers in hospitality, the automotive industry, and beyond.
This revolution shows the power of a compelling narrative. In fact, one of his biggest challenges during the strike was the task of clearly communicating SAG-AFTRA’s message “with the rest of the community, the industry, and the world so that everyone understood why we’re in the fight that we’re in, and how it was going to change everything for the better.” Clearly, the message has gotten through.
This year, Crabtree-Ireland is proud “to fight against the biggest companies in the world and say we demand to be treated with respect and fairness.” @duncanci