Dior Vargas is an American Latina feminist mental health activist and the instigator of a project focused on creating a community to eradicate the stigma of mental illness for people of color. She is based in her native New York City. She is currently the outreach coordinator for Project Urok, as well as serving as a crisis counselor for

Crisis Text Line Crisis Text Line is a global not-for-profit organization providing free mental health texting service through confidential crisis intervention via SMS message. The organization's services are available 24 hours a day, every day, throughout the Un ...

and a facilitator for the Young Adult Support Group at NAMI-NYC Metro.

Background and education

Dior Vargas was born in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. She graduated from

Smith College Smith College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts Women's colleges in the United States, women's college in Northampton, Massachusetts. It was chartered in 1871 by Sophia Smith (Smith College ...

in 2009 with a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

in Women and Gender Studies. She went on to earn a

Master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

in Publishing from

Pace University Pace University is a private university with its main campus in New York City and secondary campuses in Westchester County, New York. It was established in 1906 by the brothers Homer St. Clair Pace and Charles A. Pace as a business school. Pac ...

in 2011. Her thesis was on the publishing industry's changing landscape from print to digital and its impact on

The Feminist Press The Feminist Press (officially The Feminist Press at CUNY) is an American independent nonprofit literary publisher that promotes freedom of expression and social justice. It publishes writing by people who share an activist spirit and a belief in ...

Activist work

Dior Vargas began her career as an activist while studying at Smith College, while interning for STEPS to End Family Violence, a holistic program of services for victims of gender-based violence. She was an editorial intern at

- an educational nonprofit organization founded to advance

women's rights Women's rights are the rights and entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st centuries. In some countries, ...

and amplify

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...

perspectives. She worked as a marketing intern for

Gloria Feldt Gloria Feldt (born April 13, 1942) is a ''New York Times'' best-selling author, speaker, commentator, and feminist activist who gained national recognition as a social and political advocate of women's rights. In 2013, she and Amy Litzenberger ...

, former CEO and president of

Planned Parenthood The Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Inc. (PPFA), or simply Planned Parenthood, is a nonprofit organization that provides reproductive health care in the United States and globally. It is a tax-exempt corporation under Internal Reve ...

. She is a CrisisTextLine crisis counselor and a facilitator for the Young Adult Support Group at NAMI-NYC Metro. She currently serves as Outreach Coordinator at "Project UROK", which is "a nonprofit organization that aims to destigmatize mental illness, create community and reduce teen suicide through online content."

People of Color and Mental Illness Photo Project

Dior Vargas is the creator of the "People of Color and Mental Illness Photo Project". The project focuses on the lack of representation of people of color who deal with mental illnesses. "The project, so far, includes over 60 photos of men and women of color. These individuals submitted photos of themselves to Vargas holding signs that identify their name, the mental health issue they battle and, if they wished to share, an important message they want to express." Illnesses such as

PTSD Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental and behavioral disorder that can develop because of exposure to a traumatic event, such as sexual assault, warfare, traffic collisions, child abuse, domestic violence, or other threats on a ...

, depression,

obsessive compulsive disorder Obsession may refer to: Psychology * Celebrity worship syndrome, obsessive addictive disorder to a celebrity's personal and professional life * Fixation (psychology), a persistent attachment to an object or idea * Idée fixe (psychology), a preo ...

anxiety disorder Anxiety disorders are a cluster of mental disorders characterized by significant and uncontrollable feelings of anxiety and fear such that a person's social, occupational, and personal function are significantly impaired. Anxiety may cause physi ...

and more, are all represented by photos sent in and posted on the project's website. The idea is to address and overcome the belief, which is strongly set by the media, that mental illness is a "white persons disease." Vargas has stated the project stemmed from her own experiences as a person of color battling mental illness. "'Mental health awareness is extremely personal and important to me, because I identify as a person of color and I live with depression and anxiety,' she said. “ his projectis a response to the exclusion of people of color in the media's representation of mental illness.'" Her strong role as an activist and personal experience led her to launch the project and create a resource and sense of community for people who share a similar experience. The project utilizes the tools of social media and has taken advantage of the hashtags #NoStigma and #NoDiscrimination in order to encourage people to submit their own photos as well as provide a community of support for other people of color. An exhibit and panel discussion was held at La Casa Azu bookstore in

Harlem Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street (Manhattan), 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and 110th Street (Manhattan), ...

as a way to begin discussions in diverse neighborhoods. The panel was made up of Imade Nibokun ( "Depressed While Black"); Terrell Jermaine Starr (

AlterNet AlterNet is a left-leaning online news outlet. It was launched in 1997 by the Independent Media Institute. In 2018, the website was acquired by owners of ''Raw Story''. Coverage Coverage is divided into several special sections related to progre ...

); Ingrid Gomez, a licensed clinical social worker; and Allie Hill (

National Alliance on Mental Illness The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) is a United States-based nonprofit organization originally founded as a grassroots group by family members of people diagnosed with mental illness. NAMI identifies its mission as "providing advoca ...

, Mid-Hudson). On June 18 Vargas launched a

Kickstarter Kickstarter is an American public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative projects to life". As of July 2021, ...

campaign to raise money to hire photographers and studio space in order to take higher quality photos of participants. After a month of the campaign Vargas raised $500 over her goal of $6,000 in order to support the next phase of her project which is currently underway.

Participation and honors

* Participant in "Out in Front New York", a training and community-building program aimed at preparing

LGBTQ ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is a ...

people to be the next generation of Movement leaders. * Participant in "Progressive Women’s Voices", a media and leadership training program for women in the country * Champion of Change for Disability Advocacy Across Generations at

The White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800. ...

. * Advisory Board Member for

Suzanne Lacy Suzanne Lacy (born 1945) is an American artist, educator, writer, and professor at the USC Roski School of Art and Design. She has worked in a variety of media, including installation, video, performance, public art, photography, and art books, i ...

for "Between the Door and the Street" * Crisis Counselor on the

* Young Adult Support Group Facilitator NAMI-NYC Metro * Voices of the Year Honoree for Impact * Cookie Gant and Bill Compton

LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is a ...

Leadership Award at the Alternatives Conference

References

External links

People of Color and Mental Illness Photo Project

Project UROKProgressive Women’s Voices#BlogHer15

Depressed While Black
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vargas, Dior Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American health activists Smith College alumni Pace University alumni