Meet The Team

Dylan Wilder Quinn
they/them

Dylan believes closeness is necessary to dismantle oppression. Their combination of life experiences as a childhood abuse survivor and holding both oppressed and oppressor identities informs their liberation work. They believe that undoing oppression and allyship can be deeply healing for both ourselves and others.

Dylan is passionate about working with cisgender people to more fully hear and hold transgender people's stories, and building all people's resilience for systemic change. They founded TransLiterate in 2015 and TransIntimate in 2020, to build connection and skill-building for cisgender people who want to be close to transgender people to know us beyond our pronouns. They have been working closely with parents of trans and gender expansive youth for three years.

Dylan mentors trans and nonbinary youth and adults to survive oppression, build capacity for social justice, see their own greatness and bring their work into the world.

They are a part of a Black-led team called Holistic Resistance, founded by Aaron Johnson and Porsha Beed, focused on lifting up People of Color and supporting white people who want to learn to undo their racism.

Chelsea Meney
they/them

Chelsea is a Black, Trans masculine, Queer, social justice facilitator. They earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from The University of Maryland, College Park and work as a Trauma informed Licensed Massage Therapist. They are a lifelong student of somatic embodiment teachings Alchemical Alignment and have devoted their life to fighting for BIPOC folks having a birth right to access land, mentorship, ancestral earth building skills and healing - body first, mind second. They are a ground holder that values staying human as the veils between the unseen and seen, not yet felt and deeply felt, melt, metabolize and integrate into the body. They believe reaching for heart centered relating, deep listening and striving to accurately see ourselves and each other is at the root of dismantling racism & white supremacy.

Chelsea’s intersectional oppression pairedwith their practitioner skills has softened them to be a teacher of unwavering empathy with a vast capacity to sit with and move through white trauma stories, complexity, grief, and shame without judgment or blame. Life is my teacher, love is my intention, and balance is my baseline.

Jennie Pearl
she/her

Jennie is a facilitator, yoga teacher, and bodyworker who leads with emotion and embodiment in liberation work. Coming into her queer identity in her adult life, she feels dedicated to creating brave space for youth and their caretakers to explore what makes them feel most whole. Jennie’s experience teaching in public schools, at universities, and in juvenile detention centers has deepened her appreciation and connection with youth of all ages. Through deep inquiry and presence, Jennie is continually curious about how folx who hold privileged identities can begin to hold more complexity. She is in intimate partnership with a transgender person, and has been doing advocacy work with cisgender folks for the past three years. She works with other cisgender people and white people to build resilency and community. She’s dedicated to reimagining a world where we see each other’s humanity, repair when we cause harm, and build skills for long-term connection.

Jennie founded and facilitates Wake Up: a group for white-identified people who want to unlearn their racism and white supremacy culture from the inside out. She is part of a larger team of liberation activists...for more info visit www.holisticresistance.com

What People Say

As a mental health professional working with and teaching gender diverse clients and students, I came to my work with Dylan with the sense that I was missing something. I didn’t know what I didn’t know. As a white, cisgender, heterosexual, able-bodied woman, I knew that I had some gaps, wanted some help to see more clearly, and ultimately avoid unintentionally causing harm and pain in my personal and professional relationships. After sessions with Dylan, I feel more spaciousness in my understanding of self and others in this way. Dylan helps me not only shift perspectives but paradigms so that I can more confidently connect with others who experience the world from a different place than I do.

Dylan has specifically helped me work more competently with clients who are in the process of questioning, exploring, expanding, better understanding their gender identities, sexual orientation, and trauma. Dylan has helped me slow down, think through, and better understand my clients in a more systemic, multifaceted, and holistic way. They have also allowed me the space and time to freely process through some of my own emotional reactions, responses, and internalized “isms”. Overall, I feel much more confident in my work as a mental health professional knowing that I have the continual support of Dylan to guide, support and kindly challenge me to grow and learn alongside my clients.

Laura Durkin, MA, LMFT

Working with Dylan has been a truly life-altering experience for me. Their ability to hold space, listen, share and dig from a deep well of compassion makes for such a nourishing environment for connection and growth. Their honesty and care is palpable. Every single call and workshop that I have done with Dylan springboards so much important processing/dialogue during and after the call as to all that I can be doing to peel back the layers of my own cishet white able-bodied privilege…. connecting on the ways in which systems of oppression function and how important and necessary it is for cis folx like myself to slow down, notice, feel, pay attention, and most importantly, to listen. Thank you, Dylan for teaching me that the learning and growing will never end and doing so in such a nurturing and heartfelt way.

Mandy Fer, Sway Wild

Every time I work with Dylan, they are here, present, and engaged with me. Even on Zoom I feel deeply connected and that is saying a lot. But here's where Dylan is in a different class of counselor: empathy. I witness this in their listening, their visible emotions and truly feeling me. It is quite amazing to witness and experience the love that is flowing--even over the internet. I feel so cared for and held. It isn't often that I personally share and emote with others--because I sadly, and rarely, feel received in America. Being with Dylan in any medium is such a gift for my well-being and feeling good about myself.

Jonathan, Parenting Program

“My wife and I are new to transgender parenting and the classes run by Dylan and Jennie were a true lifesaver. Dylan and Jennie walked us through the many and complex aspects of transgender parenting in the two classes we took. We felt safe in the confidentiality and learned a lot from the other parents in the class. We’ve made many connections to friends and resources within this community through these classes. We feel so much more prepared, confident and supported for the journey ahead. Thanks Dylan and Jennie.”