About Jordyn
Jordyn Jay (she/her/hers) is a visionary working to impact arts and culture by centering the voices and contributions of Black trans femmes. A brilliant and multi-talented change-maker, she is a director, writer, producer, public speaker and community leader.
Jordyn is the founder and executive director of the BTFA (Black Trans Femmes in the Arts) Collective and the executive producer of BTFA Productions– a worldwide movement that seeks to produce and preserve the artistic innovations and creations of Black trans femmes and address systemic inequality through advocacy and action.
During global uprisings and calls for racial justice in June 2020, BTFA alongside the Black Trans Travel Fund, For the Gworls, and the Okra Project raised $1 million in one week to support Black trans protesters and organizations on the ground with support from influential voices including Laverne Cox, Indya Moore, Janet Mock, Charli XCX, Neil Patrick Harris, Troye Sivan, and Hunter Schaffer.
Jordyn is currently based in Brooklyn, New York where she received her master’s degree in Art Politics from New York University’s (NYU) Tisch School of the Arts and her B.A. in Imagining Abolition – a major she created at the NYU Gallatin School of Individualized Study that focuses on how art can be used as a tool for building a world without police and prisons and prioritizes healing over punishment and disposability. But it was what she learned outside the classroom that counts. The lack of representation and meaningful inclusivity within her program pushed her to study and navigate the world off campus and begin the work of seeking out and protecting Black trans femme lives and contributions.
“I conceptualized BTFA in response to the lack of representation of Black trans femmes in art history, contemporary art spaces, and art scholarship, because I understood that lack of representation as a symptom of a greater lack of resources and opportunities.”
Jordyn’s Southern roots have allowed her to blossom into the leader she is today. A native of Jacksonville, Florida, she learned the value of collective care and community at an early age from her large and loving family. A proud graduate of Douglas Anderson School of the Arts, which opened in 1922 as a primary school for Black students during The Segregation Era in America, Jordyn credits her experiences there as the gateway to helping her find her voice through theater while navigating and discovering her identity.
An advocate for real and meaningful social impact, Jordyn is an adamant believer in inspiring systemic and sociopolitical change. She maintains an active role in issues impacting Black trans communities from the criminal legal system to arts and culture.
Jordyn’s contributions to make an impact on the world have not gone unnoticed. She has been awarded the Octavia St. Laurent Vision of Excellence Award and the Marsha P. Johnson Institute Legacy Award. In 2023, she was selected as an LGBTQ+ Power Player by PoliticsNY, and was elected to the Brooklyn Arts
Leadership Council. She has also served on the Innovation, Art, and Technology subcommittee for NYU BeTogether and hosted NYC PrideFest.
Jordyn has been featured in ESSENCE, Bloomberg Business Insider, Forbes, on The Grio TV, SiriusXM Radio, New York Public Radio, and more. She has led workshops and been a keynote speaker at New York University, Dartmouth University, the Tate Modern, The Ford Foundation, and SXSW.
She was also featured in the docuseries “Artistic Legacies” by Trans Lash and “Flowers” – a media project by Sage Dolan-Sandrino that celebrates Black trans women in New York City.
Jordyn not only dreams of Black trans liberation; she is bending the arc of justice to make it real.