Well, in that time, I had weapons to defend myself.

Now the only weapon I got is my voice, but it's more powerful than a weapon.

Hi, I'm Danielle Moody, and I am so excited to bring to you a new series, the changemaker series.

At a time in our country, when we are headed into a place of darkness, a place that is moving away from democracy towards fascism, it is more important than ever that we sit down with the critical change makers that are putting their lives and their voices

on the line to fight for justice. And in the opening of this series, I am so excited to be joined

by the folks at the Creating Change Conference in Las Vegas. Creating

Change is a conference that the LGBTQ task force puts on each and every year to bring

together movement leaders and activists from around the country to focus their energy on resistance.

And today I'm excited to bring to you field organizer at the task force, Andrea Montanais.

Andrea, I am so excited to be back in conversation with you today.

You have had an extraordinary, extraordinary career. You have been one of

Florida's leading transgender activists. You are a former Colombian narcotics officer who took on

cartels and confronted opponents on the state

and federal level to reclaim rights for your community. Your journey is extraordinary, Andrea,

and I'm so excited to talk to you today. Can you share what drove you to step into this fight and how your past experiences as a narcotics officer in Colombia, as a trans activist in Florida, have shaped your approach to advocacy today?

Yeah, thank you.

And thank you for getting me, and thank you to see you again.

Yeah, that's a great question.

When my past, yes, I did, I started my life as a special agent for an organization in Colombia.

It's similar than the EA and the BIA.

And we were looking for the Medellin cartels.

I was talking about the ADC-Nighted when it was horrible.

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