CD Forum's Randy Ford Kicks off new ‘We Live In Color’ Season with Deaunte Damper
Photos by Susan Fried
Season two of "We Live in Color," hosted by Deaunte Damper, launched its premiere featuring the remarkable Randy Ford (She/Her/Goddess). In this segment, Ford delves into her beginnings, career, and role as the newest Executive Director of CD Forum. Ford was born and raised in Columbia City, Seattle, with a religious background. Ford's youth was marked by nomadic transitions throughout South King County, all while navigating her gender identity.
"I wasn't always like this growing up. A lot of people don't know that. I was definitely navigating boyhood. Raquel Willis actually said this recently. She is a woman who had a boyhood," Ford said, emphasizing similarities in their stories.
She continued, "I was the man of the house growing up. My parents were separated when I was young, so I had to be the man of the house. Me and my younger brother were called the Ford brothers growing up, so it was very much giving like you all are all you got."
Ford traversed her childhood and early adolescence under the weight of familial and religious expectations, grappling with the predetermined notions of who she was supposed to become. In her tenure at the University of Washington, or perhaps after her departure, she embarked on a profound journey of self-discovery.
"When I dropped out, I didn't understand. I was majoring in what I wanted to major in, [and I] had the social groups that liked me ... but I still was unhappy," Ford said. "After college, I found out that I was non-binary."
Even this revelation still caused conflicted emotions at the time.
"At the time, I knew I wasn't trans, or at least I didn't want to be. Because all you saw was Jerry Springer, Maury, the narrative," Ford said. "If you're nonbinary trying to be trans, that was definitely like a, 'either you're going to do it or you're not.' A lot of questions were forming in my head. A lot of conflict was happening that I didn't realize was conflict was thinking, 'Oh, like, is this depression? I'm not sure why. Why am I depressed? I have everything essentially that I want. I'm doing the things I shouldn't be doing. I wasn't happy."
During this phase of her life, Ford began immersing herself in various dance collectives across Seattle and was invited by a friend to join Au Collective, a dance organization dedicated to amplifying the voices of BIPOC members of the LGBTQ+ community. Here, Ford found herself in an environment free from the constraints of white-centric choreography, fostering an atmosphere of inclusion and authenticity. She also became involved in Dani Tirrell's groundbreaking performance piece, "Black Bois."
"It was really like a love letter to our younger selves," Ford said. "It was an acknowledgment of our upbringings, and that show, I was the only trans-identified person and part of the cast at the time."
During this showcase, Ford still grappled with the complexities of pronouns and her identity. A profound line penned by 'Black Bois' writer J Mase III brought her clarity and acceptance: "He had to die so that she could live."
"For the longest time, I thought that quote was for someone else in the part of the cast. But Danny looked at me and was like, I think that line is for you, and I was starting to take hormones, but I wasn't really in the thick of it yet," Ford said. "I remember after that production being like, I am dropping my key pronoun, and I'm only going to use she or they to describe myself, and that was really when I embraced that I am a trans woman.."
She continued, "I am a nonbinary trans woman. I am a feminine-of-center person. I honor my divine femininity, and it looks different than the white woman. It looks different than the black woman. It just looks like it is for me."
Between 2019 and 2021, Ford experienced a whirlwind of pivotal moments that shaped her trajectory—collaborating with Tirrell, making music, experiencing the pandemic, and initiating her project, Queen Street. It was also when she began her position at Lavender Rights Project (LRP) in 2019, catalyzed by Jaelynn Scott, the LRP's Executive Director.
"We changed this historically white organization, legal service organization into a buy-in for Black and trans organization for Black communities but prioritizing Black trans communities," Ford said.
Under Scott's leadership, Ford joined forces with a group of Black trans women to form the Washington Black Trans Task Force. Their mission was to confront the violence plaguing the Black trans community in King County. While relatively new to fundraising, Ford leveraged her extensive network to cultivate a robust donor base, ascending from a Development Associate to Development Director.
"From there, [I] was really just pushing the need to find people to prioritize B lack trans people because in order for black liberation to ever happen, you need to prioritize the most marginalized," Ford. "Black trans women and fems are the most marginalized in our community, And so if you liberate them, everyone else's liberation will come."
Despite her success on the team, Ford found herself missing the creative spark that had always been present in her life. When former Executive Director Sharon Nyree Williams extended the offer for her to assume the role of ED at the Central District (CD) Forum, an organization committed to empowering emerging Black artists, she eagerly seized the opportunity. Ford acknowledges the instrumental role of both Williams and Scott in guiding her towards leadership positions within their respective organizations, crediting them for illuminating her path to professional growth.
"The fact that there were Black people, Black women, for me at the helm of both of these organizations when I entered this was very important because I got to see Black women in these leadership roles and kind of have more confidence stepping into this now role as CD Forum like it's possible for me," Ford said. "I don't have to have the linear career trajectory to make it to this point. My lived experience has brought me to this point, so honoring my experience has been a big thing, and not discrediting it just because I'm a college dropout or never had a full-time job until now."
Since assuming leadership roles at CD Forum and LRP, Ford has openly discussed the ongoing challenge of balancing her life amidst work demands and artistic pursuits.
"It's really important that when you do juggle things, you equally prioritize your rest, and leisure and all of that because we can always get so caught up in the business of it, so caught up in the many deadlines, so caught up in the politics of nonprofit life," Ford said. "Prioritizing rest has been big for me; prioritizing joy has been big. Prioritizing things outside of being an artist has been good for me because it reminds me that I am human and still need to do things to care for myself."
Having served as the Executive Director for a year now, Ford has set her sights on guiding CD Forum toward a future centered on bolstering infrastructure and ensuring sustainability for an organization that has served its community for over two decades.
"The resources weren't always there, and particularly, I'm more familiar with Sharon's trajectory. She had to restart the organization three times during her ten years, and she was the only staff member for a lot of it and had to contract and find help," Ford said. "I would rather have it be sustainable and then pass it to the next one. Right now, we're working on sustainability and getting the community to reinvest in another 25-year legacy that may not involve me at the helm anymore but for the next generations to come so we can keep it going."
Expanding beyond the Central District, Ford envisions a broader reach for CD Forum. "
"Our community doesn't live in the Central District anymore. We're also thinking about expanding our reach outside of just the CD. How do we go national? How do we find more national resources and funding? How do we bring other folks who've never stepped foot in Seattle or know there was a Black community in Seattle and get exchanges going," Ford said. "How do we send artists and bring artists here? So infrastructure, fundraising, and a big 25-year party are pretty much what's on the priority list right now."
Join Deaunte next Thursday on all Converge Media Platforms to meet Reverend Jermell Witherspoon, a Seattle Pastor of Liberation UCC., as he shares his journey and commitment to diversity and LGBTQ+ inclusivity in his congregation!
