Our Mission
To empower our Trans and Gender Expansive (TGE) and migrant communities through leadership development, trans ecosystem building, community advocacy, and TRANSformative storytelling.
Our Vision
To dismantle the systems and barriers that seek to control and erase our TGE and migrant communities and nurture a world where we can move and express ourselves freely.
T4T Leaders
Victoria Castro (she/her/ella)
Founder & Executive Director
Victoria Castro (she) is a transgender immigrant woman from Ahuachapán, El Salvador, She currently lives in Chula Vista, CA, near the border with Tijuana.
She is currently a Master of Science in Public Health (MSPH) student in San Diego, CA. In 2025, she received the Saturn’s Wish Legacy Award and the Slut Power Award from the Colectivo Intercultural TRANSgrediendo in New York. She is an advocate for sex workers, a transgender immigrant advocate, an HIV/COVID testing counselor, a PrEP/HIV trainer, a grant writer, and works tirelessly for the abolition of detention centers and police surveillance. She is also a talented makeup artist. She began her activism many years ago, connecting transgender women with empowerment workshops and HIV prevention topics. After a few years, she began her first job as a health educator with the Colectivo alejandria in El Salvador, where she also served on the board of directors, educating and empowering transgender people in El Salvador. After surviving a near-famal attack and numerous other transphobic acts, she was forced to flee her native country in search of protection. After crossing multiple borders, she arrived in the United States seeking asylum and continued her fight for the rights of transgender and immigrant people. She has worked for various national organizations, from which she learned valuable lessons, and currently participates in numerous national movements that support the Latinx, transgender, and queer communities, as well as immigrants, at the intersection of transgender and queer rights, immigration, linguistic justice, and racial justice. She also volunteers with various organizations, writing scholarships and coordinating events. She has participated in multiple campaigns such as #EndTransDetention, #AbolishICE, #AbolishPolice, and others, where she has gained skills and knowledge that help her lead with empathy and a joyful spirit, driven by her enthusiasm and love for the trans community. It was with this spirit that she founded T4T Empowerment, from a trans heart, an organization that empowers the transgender and gender-expansive community, and immigrants through leadership development, the creation of transgender ecosystems, community advocacy, and transformative storytelling.
She is also a doting cat mom to her babies, Sandia and Minerva. She has a great passion for plants and her home is practically a jungle filled with beautiful greenery.
AJ Tiedeman (he/they/él)
Development Organizer
AJ (he/they/él) is a queer, trans masc person, adopted from China and raised in Lenape territory (NYC). He’s been organizing around trans and queer liberation for over a decade, including organizing with the TLGBQIJ+ migrant justice organization Mariposas sin Fronteras based in Tohono O’odham and Yaqui territory (Tucson, AZ) since 2020. Some of his favorite projects have been curating art & political education-filled trans care packages, organizing against police at Pride, hosting name change clinics, and distributing thousands of dollars in mutual aid to trans, queer, and migrant communities.
As T4T Empowerment’s Development Organizer, AJ organizes fundraising campaigns; leads the end-to-end grant writing process; manages T4T’s finances; supports with the administrative aspects of programs; and helps guide the creation of T4T’s protocols and procedures in order to establish a more sustainable structure for the org to grow and thrive.
Outside of work, AJ loves cooking, crafting, swimming, lifting heavy, and cuddling with his cats!
English translation of AJ’s shirt in photo: Liberate Palestine!
T4T Core-Volunteers
Ambar Alfaro (she/her/ella)
Community Organizer
Ambar Alfaro is a Salvadoran trans woman originally from Zacatecoluca, La Paz. Since 2008, she has been dedicated to activism in defense of the human rights of trans people in El Salvador.
She is the founder of the Ángeles de La Paz Association in El Salvador, the Salvadoran LGBTI Federation, and the Permanent Roundtable for a Gender Identity Law in El Salvador. She also served on the General Assembly of ASPIDH Arcoíris El Salvador and has been a member of the Latin American and Caribbean Network of Trans People.
She is currently a community organizer as a volunteer for T4T empowerment.
Her commitment has always been to work for the dignity, equality, and visibility of the trans population, building spaces of inclusion, respect, and hope.
Efrain Zepeda (he/him/él)
Community Organizer
Efraín Zepeda, a Salvadoran refugee in the United States since 2025, began his journey in community work in 2013 in El Salvador, where he dedicated himself to HIV prevention among the Salvadoran LGBTI population for almost ten years.
He is currently specializing in peer-to-peer self-care, a process he began with his own personal well-being.
Today, he volunteers with T4T as a community organizer, with the firm goal of transforming more lives and continuing to contribute to my community.
Aisha Martínez (she/her/ella)
Community Organizer
Aisha Martínez is a Mexican trans immigrant woman who began her activism at age 16 in her community, driven by a deep desire to build a more just and dignified world for her LGBTQ+ community. From her early days in Mexico, she has worked passionately for human rights and trans visibility.
Today, as an entrepreneur based in San Diego, CA, Aisha continues to be an example of resilience and commitment. Through her work and volunteering with various organizations, and currently as an active volunteer with T4T Empowerment, she continues to inspire other trans people with her strength and resilience to believe in their power, their dreams, and the possibility of transforming their reality.
Gustavo Hernández (he/him/él)
Behavior Change Communication
Gustavo Hernández is a Salvadoran professional from the department of Santa Ana, currently residing in the United States since 2024. He has over fifteen years of experience in behavior change communication, having begun his professional career in 2008 with a focus on sexual and reproductive health education and HIV prevention.
He is a human rights advocate and an active member of the LGBTIQ+ community, with a demonstrated commitment to advancing equity, inclusion, and social justice. Throughout his career, Gustavo has collaborated with international organizations and multidisciplinary teams, contributing to the design and implementation of community-based and multisectoral interventions.
His current work centers on strengthening leadership development among emerging generations of LGBTIQ+ individuals, promoting meaningful multisectoral engagement, and building organizational and community capacity to address complex social challenges.
Gustavo is also an active volunteer with T4T Empowerment, where he supports empowerment and outreach initiatives aimed at advancing community resilience and inclusion.