Kasha Snyder McDonald is the founder of the West Virginia Black Pride Foundation.

As part of that work, she has created the state’s first LGBTQ+ drop-in center, located in Charleston, West Virginia, where she now lives. As part of that work, and in her day-to-day life, she extends love to everyone she meets.

Kasha hails from Ashland, Kentucky, and is a transgender woman who is a frequent entertainer in the Mountain State’s LGBTQ+ community.

“It’s crucial for every Black woman to understand the experience of Black transgender women, to recognize our struggles, and to see that our fight is no different from that of Black cisgender women,” she said in a call for unity. “We must come together in sisterhood to protect all our sisters, especially our Black trans sisters and brothers.” “Black Joy, to me, is being surrounded by my people, treated with the same respect and kindness that’s extended to everyone else,” Kasha said. “In my vision of utopia, Black Joy means everyone in our community loving each other for who we are, without judgment.”