Today we’d like to introduce you to Deb Coffy.
Hi Deb, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
Growing up with working class Haitian parents, I always had conversations with my parents about politics and society. My parents both worked at UPMC which is a healthcare company in Western PA/ Greater Pittsburgh area. After my mom left UPMC, she worked at a domestic violence shelter called VOICE. I knew at a young age the importance of social issues. I remember in Philly or New Jersey, my dad taking my sister and I to see President Obama speak when he was the democratic candidate back in 2008 and phone banking as a kid for Obama’s 2012 re-election campaign and seeing my dad and sister volunteer.
I was a quiet kid in school, but when it came to politics or social justice I would speak up when I could which sometimes got me into some tense convos with kids who were more conservative because of living in a more conservative area.
Eventually, after I finished 8th grade, my family moved to Florida and I lived in the Tampa Bay Area. After I graduated early from high school, my family relocated to Orlando where I went to UCF. I would say UCF was definitely a turning point for my activism and allowed me to actually put in the work in my beliefs. I wrote a lot of social and political articles when I was a writer for Her Campus UCF. I also was an intern and volunteer for Stephanie Murphy’s re-election campaign, was a communications director for Nicolette Springer’s City of Orlando Campaign, and canvassed for Carlos G Smith’s re-election campaign in 2022 for state house. Those roles led me to Ruth’s List Florida, Emilys List, Black Health Commission, Reproductive Freedom For All, Equality Florida, the League of Women Voters, the Black and Missing Foundation, Greater Orlando NOW, Black in Repro, and more.
Outside of politics, I got involved with the National Association of Black Journalists. I became secretary and was on that board for two years. I also became a culture director and assistant student director for the Multicultural Student Center where I did events that amplified social justice, race, religion, sexuality, gender, body type, disabilities, etc. It was there I grew in my event planning skills which helped me co-planned Take Back the Night in 2022, which focuses on sexual assault survivors, a role I did as a treasurer for National Organization for Women.
The Multicultural Student Center and NABJ made me a stronger planner for BIPOC folks and gave me so many different ways to engage with community at UCF and in the Greater Orlando area. They both allowed me to find a sense of safety and community, where I couldn’t historically during earlier parts of my UCF journey.
Mental health wise, I worked at Aspire Health Partners through a collaboration between UCF and Aspire as a Recovery Support Specialist intern. I was at Kate’s Clubhouse which served folks with co-concurring disorders. After, I got involved with Peer Support Space where I became a facilitator for the Black LGBTQ+ Space and am currently a Respite Peer Supporter at Peer Support Space’s Eva’s Casita, the first peer respite in Central Florida. I am a youth leader council member under Mental Health America and a junior advisory member for Black Girls Smile.
Now in addition to Eva’s Casita, I am a board member for the Queer Trans Project a Black, Trans, and Queer led organization that provides gender affirming items across the country. Im a drag curator intern for the Mahogany Project a Black and Trans led organization in Houston, Texas. I’m a Reproductive Justice Activist where I’m a Southeast Co-lead for Advocates for Youth’s Abortion Support Collective, a former digital organizing intern for Reproductive Freedom For All, a former communications lead for Progress Florida through the Floridians for Reproductive Freedom Coalition, and the former Engagement Coordinator for Mobilize Black which mobilized Black Floridians to learn about the Black Repro Landscape in Florida and the importance of voting for Amendment 4 which sought to codify abortion in the Florida Constitution.
My work isn’t only limited to Orlando, but regionally and nationwide where I’ve contributed to different states’ organizations through digital organizing and Repro work. I’m growing in my creative work as a writer, poet, and through film-making where I’m co-creating a docu-series with my friend, Britney Avila, on Black Sapphics and Black Trans third spaces across the country. I’m trying to find my way through music since I used to be in choir growing up.
I have a lot of appreciation for Orlando even though I wasn’t raised here. It has opened my perspective in so many ways. It has allowed me to meet so many people and to grow stronger in my beliefs to fight for a better world especially in a red state and a very conservative time period. It’s not easy but very necessary.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
It hasn’t been a smooth road. I don’t come from money for one. I have had to carry multiple hats to make ends meet for not only myself, but for my family while navigating health challenges, housing challenges, familial loss, balancing between my home culture and American culture, navigating my queerness and being non-binary, neurodivergent, all while being in a world or country that is Anti-Black, Anti-Fat, Anti-people, period. I think it can be easy to see that someone does a lot of things and be like damn, thats a hustler—which true. But I do it for the love of my community, but also because it needs to be done and to survive. I’ve always had more than one job or thing I was balancing ever since I could work back in high school and that’s still something I navigate to this day.
I’ve also had to navigate with my health which has been a life long journey for myself that I feel only now I’ve been able to manage and really consistently focus on that has been on the back burner for so long. With the stress of life, which I know so many folks in Orlando and in this country face. Ever since I’ve relocated I gained a lot of weight that I’m only now consistently losing now which has impacted my energy, my health.
I think times are getting easier at times but sometimes not. But I’m grateful for the people I’ve meet along the way especially friends who have supported me. Because without community survival truly isn’t possible. This isn’t a type of work you can do by yourself.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I’m proud of so much of my work, especially the work I was able to collaborate with other people. I specialize in digital organizing, communications, event planning, and peer support. I’m proud to be part of the founding team for Peer Support Space’s respite, Eva’s Casita. I’m proud of the articles I wrote as a communications fellow for Community Change and Community Change Action’s ChangeWire an online publication focusing on social justice and low income issues. I’m proud of the zine, I co-created under Black Girls Smile focusing on mental health. Im proud of helping with bringing a revival for NABJ UCF. I’m proud for bringing events at MSC that led to important conversations and celebrations of a plethora of folks with intersecting identities.
I’m excited to be part of the Riley’s Way Foundation’s Call for Kindness Fellowship with Mari Tomlinson where we will be planning Black Queer events that celebrate Black and Queer folks through Ballroom.
I think what sets me apart from others are the many hats I wear. I’m always wanting to learn something new, grow in my craft, and be involved in something. There’s a joke with some of my friends that I’m always trying something new or being in a new area. I’m a very curious person and I think that’s something that has taken me really far and allowed me to be recognized for some of the work I’ve done with awards such as the Dorothy Walker Ruggles Scholarship, the Dively-Dupuis Scholarship, and the Legacy Award which i have received during my later years at UCF.
What was your favorite childhood memory?
My favorite childhood memories was when I I got to visit my family in Montreal during Winter and Summer breaks.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.deborahcoffy.com
- Instagram: @debapalooza
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/deborahcoffy2021
