Nuka

I’m Nuka, a 21 year old nonbinary activist from Slovenia. I’m an art student and my wish is to tackle queer themes with the medium of art. Currently I’m volunteering at TransAkcija, the only trans specific organisation in Slovenia. We aim to increase visibility and assure rights of queer people.

Michaela

My name is Michaela and I am 26 years old LGBTIQA+ and vegan activist, feminist, languages enthusiast and traveller originally from Slovakia. Currently I am volunteering at Društvo DIH in Ljubljana, Slovenia as an EVS volunteer. Through my studies of South-East European studies I’ve got many opportunities to get to know different cultures and in the end found my home in Ljubljana.

I am very excited about different types of activism, especially using arts to express ourselves and convey the message using creative methods. I would like to learn a lot about videomaking, graphic design and animation for activists purposes. Last but not least, I would like to continue improving my skills towards becoming a succesful youth worker who will be empowering others to be initiative.

Kaja

I’m a 24-year-old student of social work from Slovenia. I got familiar with LGBT+ activism through informal education I received at different projects and trainings around Europe. Since then I have been active in two LGBT+ associations in Ljubljana, as an intern and a volunteer. I love people, I like working with them and advocating for them when their human rights are violated. Besides that, I’m obsessed with concerts and most of the time you will find me travelling.

Dzvenyslava

My name is Dzvenyslava, I’m 18 and I live in Ukraine. Now I’m an activist at Amnesty International Ukraine and a volunteer at the LGBTIQ organization “Insight”. This year I was also a volunteer during the Pride Week and Equality March at KyivPride. I also moderate a Facebook-group about women’s rights and organize educational events about LGBTIQ+ rights at my university.

I’m really concerned about human rights, women rights and LGBTIQ+ rights, so I try to take action and change something. There’s a problem of far-right violence in Ukraine, but I think that we have no right to stay silent and tolerate it. So, inspite of opponents’ attacks and conservative environment in my family, I try to be engaged in activism as much as it’s possible and fight for equal rights and opportunities in Ukraine. I’m sure that the future is in equality, visibility and acceptance.

Alex

I’m Alex, 23 years old from Croatia. I identify as Pansexual, Demiromantic and Non binary. I was born in a small town Dubrovnik, but later due to close minded people who live there and bullying I moved to our capital Zagreb. Big activist for human rights and love volunteering for different organizations like Red Cross, Trans Aid and Hollaback, along side Zagreb Pride with whom I’ve been working on organizing and holding up Pride month and march for three years now.

I love breaking gender norms and my fashion sense varies for what I tend to confuse people, but also educate them on the fact that gender does not equal gender expression. I love helping people trough talking about my experience as a young person who was born into a strict Jehovah Witness family, but now is a strong activist and breaks social norms daily.

Very excited to be participating in this years Activist Academy, as it will help me improve my activist work and help me learn new skills.

IGLYO is co-funded by the Rights Equality and Citizenship (REC) programme 2014-2020 of the European Union and the Government of the Netherlands. The contents of this publication are the sole responsibility of IGLYO and can in no way be taken to reflect the views of the European Commission or the Government of the Netherlands.