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/her) is a transgender Asylee immigrant woman from Ahuachapán, El Salvador; she arrived in the U.S. in January 2017 seeking asylum. She currently lives in Chula Vista, CA, near the border with Tijuana, with over 15 years of experience in trans and migrant activism, such as providing HIV prevention/education workshops, fighting for the decriminalization of sex work, co-organizing end trans detention campaigns, and advocating with local and national-level politicians. In recognition of her work, she was most recently In 2026, she was honored by the Transgender Day of Empowerment with a “Special Recognition Award” for her commitment to the trans community and awarded the Saturn’s Wish Legacy Award By Satur’s Wish Festival 2025 and the Colectivo Intercultural TRANSgrediendo in New York Slut Power Award 2025.
Victoria is currently the Executive Director of T4T Empowerment: Desde un Corazon Trans, an organization she founded to empower our trans and migrant communities through leadership development, trans ecosystem building, community advocacy, and TRANSformative storytelling. She is also pursuing her Associate Degree in Film, Journalism & Media Production at San Diego City College.
Victoria is also a talented make-up artist and gardener. Outside of organizing, she loves caring for her cat babies, Sandía and Minerva, and turning her home into a lush jungle.
AJ Tiedeman (he/they/él)
Lead 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
Efrain Zepeda (he/him/él)
Medical Peer Support Specialist
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. In 2025, Efrain was certified by the California Mental Health Services Authority as a Medical Peer Support Specialist (CMPSS), with certification #MPSS-XDLEVS.
Currently, Efrain leads the Nuestro Atardecer program, which focuses on providing peer support to Spanish-speaking LGBTIQI+ individuals regarding mental health and addiction issues, offering referrals to both virtual and in-person support groups. Outside of his community work, Efrain is also the founder of Aquelarre Makeup, where he showcases his skills as a makeup artist and as a highly successful drag queen artist known as Burka Von Teese.
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)
Community Organizer
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.
T4T Board Members
Yessica Gonzalez Rodriguez (they/them)
Yessica Gonzalez Rodriguez is a facilitator, researcher, and artist based on occupied Tiwa Pueblo Lands. Their work lives at the intersection of trans, queer, and migrant justice to see a world without prisons, borders, and binaries. Yessica has spent the last fifteen years building digital campaigns to uplift marginalized communities that are excessively targeted and criminalized. Yessica has a B.A. from the University of California, Los Angeles in Gender Studies and is currently pursuing a PhD in American Studies at the University of New Mexico.
Xelestial Moreno-Luz (she/her/ella)
Xelestial Moreno-Luz is an artist, advocate, and community organizer from South Central and East Los Angeles. She is the founder and CEO of Saturn’s Wish, a TGI BIPOC arts and culture organization uplifting communities in Los Angeles County and beyond. Xelestial is pursuing a
Master of Fine Arts in the Department of Visual Arts, at the
University of California San Diego, where she received 1st Place in the Documentary category at the UCSD Film Festival and awarded several grants to fund her diasporic practice documenting travesti/trans
culture across the Americas. Her art practice has been supported by the Center for Cultural Power through the Mellon Foundation’s border arts funding. She is currently a Cali Catalyst grantee developing a media project highlighting Two-Spirit youth in Turtle Island. She has
exhibited at The Huntington Library, Museo Nacional de la Estampa, MACLA/Movimiento de Arte y Cultura Latino Americana, el Museo de Arte Transfemenino, Art Division Gallery, Highways Performance Space, Luxe Gallery City College, and the University of California San Diego.
Fiscal Sponsor by Mariposas Sin Fronteras