Harvard University has named transgender activist and advocate Janet Mock as the 2019 Harvard University Artist of the Year.
Mock is well known for her activism for transgender rights and empowering transgender women. The award will be presented during the university’s annual Cultural Rhythms festival in Memorial Hall’s Sanders Theatre on March 9.
A journalism graduate from New York University, Mock was also named one of Time magazine’s “100 Most Influential People of 2018”, one of Variety’s “Power of Women” in 2017, and one of Fast Company’s “most creative people in business” in 2015. Her two memoirs, “Redefining Realness” and “Surpassing Certainty”, were both New York Times best-sellers.
In 2018, Mock became the first transgender woman of color in television history to write, directed and produced a television series. Throughout her work on “POSE,” she also assembled the largest-ever cast of transgender actors holding regular roles within a scripted series.
In the past, Mock has received additional honors from the Ms. Foundation, Planned Parenthood, Feminist Press, GLSEN, Shorty Awards, and the Sylvia Rivera Law Project for her work.