Actress Laverne Cox, perhaps best known for her role on the Netflix hit Orange Is the New Black, has partnered with skincare brand Gold Bond on the new marketing campaign #ChampionYourSkin and is using the platform to highlight the transgender community and the non-profit Trans Wellness Center in California.
"Trans folks, just by being ourselves, are skin champions," said Cox. "We go out into the world and face all kinds of discrimination, all kinds of violence, and, sort of, attempts to invalidate who we are."
Cox touted the work of the Trans Wellness Center amid such damaging obstacles. The Los Angeles-based center, established in a collaboration between six local organizations, provides help with housing, employment, and health care for transgender people.
"Our unemployment rate is three times the national average, four times that for trans people of color, and so employment referrals are things that you can get at the Trans Wellness Center, which is so important," she said.
Cox also made the case that people who wish to help the transgender community should donate to organizations like the Trans Wellness Center. She explained that, while national groups do important work, funding local organizations that directly affect people's lives is critical.
The four-time Emmy-nominated actress also expressed how important her work was amid the coronavirus and touched on the push for greater diversity for the awards show and the television industry as a whole.
"There have to continue to be roles that exist for trans people, that exist for people of color, for people with disabilities, for people of various backgrounds," Cox noted.
"The onus is on us as artists too, to ask ourselves questions about the stories we tell, who's in the room. I think there's questions about who are in leadership positions at production companies, at television networks, so these are all the questions that we have to ask and then take action around."
Laverne Cox will be appearing in the horror satire movie Bad Hair directed by 'Dear White People' director Justin Simien to begin streaming on Hulu on October 23.
