Speak Up! Generation Z!: Deja Foxx / Activist, Founder of GenZ Girl Gang

Direct Talk

Today's guest on Direct Talk is Deja Foxx.

She is a 22 year old student
at Columbia University in New York.

College students have had to
take remote classes during the pandemic.

But through a platform she created,

her peers were able to connect
with each other even during isolation.

What is community to me,
who are my people.

We wanted to think about how we use
social media to build these communities.

Foxx is an influencer among her generation Z.

When she was 16,

she fought for female reproductive rights
against a senator.

The coverage led to millions of views.

In 2019, she formed GenZ Girl Gang

making a refuge for
isolated youths to communicate

and talk about issues they face.

GGG also provides opportunities to some of
the most vulnerable youths in society.

Foxx also leads her network of youths
to have more real-life interactions

to solve issues as the world exits COVID-19.

Her generation Z is speaking up.

She tells us more about her agenda.

Speak Up! Generation Z!

We're going to be dealing with the effects
of this pandemic for a very long time.

I know for me when I came in,
I was 19 years old,

and 22 now.

And I missed out on some
really important time for networking, right,

as someone who doesn't have a parent
to pull the strings,

this is a really important time to build
that community and that network.

And so with the knowledge
that our 20s has a lot of movement,

and that oftentimes,

loneliness.

You know, I moved here from Tucson, Arizona,

and I didn't know anyone in New York City.

When I looked around my campus,

I didn't really feel in community with
the people who lived down my hall, right.

And so for me,
I started to rethink what is community.

If it's no longer the people
that live around me,

then who is it,

and for me, it was the other women
I was connecting with online.

And so it was through
those sort of organic connections,

where I realized that
my community was being built digitally,

that GenZ Girl Gang was born.

The pandemic was a major blow
to the young generation.

Many suffered from loneliness
during the isolation,

as they only interacted by remote.

Foxx's GenZ Girl Gang served
as a respite for her generation.

15,000 participate on the platform.

It became a haven for youths
from all over the U.S.

who have had a hard time
finding a place to belong.

I wanna show the whole group this.

I bought a stool.

On this day, participants
including the management team

were working on strategies
to expand the network's activities.

I have some demographic stuffs,

so if they want to opt in,

they can meet other people
in their state or city

so we can create our map.

The focus was on
how they could support individuals

facing financial difficulties and minorities.

Online seminars on how to
write resumes, find work

or look for other social activities
are being held.

A lot of those platforms
are sort of top down, right?

They assume the position of the expert,

and they share information,
hopefully good and well checked.

At GenZ Girl Gang,
it's not owned by any one person,

we have a
non hierarchical leadership structure.

And so in so many ways, it is owned by each
and every member of the community.

We have something that I think is
pretty innovative, which is DM group chats,

where we have community members
who come together,

and they send opportunities
they see in their feed,

whether it be an internship,

or a job opportunity

or an opportunity for a casting,

they send them into these group chats,

and then we amplify them
each week on our story,

so that everyone has access to them, right.

GenZ Girl Gang has never been
about the likes and the follows.

And that comes from my own
personal philosophy of social media,

That every relationship online,

every follow

can be transformed into action,
and connection.

So it's so much more than about
likes or followers or engagement.

It's really about

experimenting with how we use social media
as a community building tool.

As the world comes out of the pandemic

Foxx is planning more face-to-face activities

and real-life networking.

She grew up in Arizona

and the roots of her activities
started when she was 15.

Tucson, Arizona

She was brought up by a single mother

but due to issues of substance abuse

she ended up homeless
moving from place to place.

It was through various support groups
she was able to get by.

“Youth On Their Own”
is a nonprofit in my hometown,

which supports homeless youth.

They showed up for me and
really tangible ways with monthly stipends,

you know, the $140, I would get every month

to me translated into 14 minimum wage hours,

I didn't have to work at the gas station,

And so they showed up for me
for financial aid,

they showed up for me with resources

like food from their pantry, or
clothes from their clothing closet.

But I didn't get reelected
to Student Council.

And I didn't make the volleyball team
after having been on it freshman year.

The coach told me
I didn't have a good attitude,

I had a bad attitude,

which right made sense,
given my living situation,

and the sort of tumultuous things
going on at home.

But it was outside of school
in this Planned Parenthood advocacy group

that I found my leadership.

because a woman Melissa Garcia,
a Planned Parenthood organizer,

saw my potential as a leader

Melissa went the extra mile for me,

Are you coming to this training?
Are you coming to this?

And sometimes I would say,
No, I can't make it.

And so she would pick me up,
and she would take me.

And she was so formative

not only in my ability to learn
how to tell my story and see my leadership.

Planned Parenthood is
a nonprofit organization

providing sexual health care.

Youths who face financial difficulties

are often not given adequate sexual education

or access to birth control

leading many to unwanted pregnancies.

Planned Parenthood is
funded by the government

and bridges the gap by giving
free contraceptives and birth control pills.

However, in 2017

a conservative group began stating that
supporting the non-profit should be ended.

Foxx confronted her senator at a town hall,

saying that this movement
would impact the underprivileged.

Jeff Flake

When I stood up to Jeff Flake,

I had already had a really strong background
and telling my story.

He just voted to strike down the funding

through which I at 16 received birth control

at no cost to me with no parents,
no insurance and no money.

And it is the kind of impact
that's hard to measure

when someone has access to birth control,

and they graduate high school, right?

Or they're the first in their family
to go on to college.

But Jeff Flake just voted to strip
that funding of Planned Parenthood.

And so I went, and I asked him the question,
which was on my mind,

about why he, as a rich,
middle aged white man,

was making these decisions
about me and my body.

And he told me that he supports policies
that support the American Dream.

And I was like, an American Dream?

What about my American Dream?

And so I pressed him a little harder.

And I asked, you know, if Planned Parenthood
and birth control access,

is helping me to be successful,

and reach for higher education,

why would you deny me, the American Dream?

And he sort of fumbled through
his response and told me, thank you.

And I said, No, thank you.

And I woke up the next morning
to millions of views,

And in that moment,
my life had completely changed.

I also saw that moment
how social media, and storytelling

could put me on an
even platform with a US senator,

that people like me
who have so often been denied

a place in politics, or even in the news,

I had broken right into the front,

because of the power of my story,

and the connection to
those people who had watched.

With Foxx's newfound fame,

she started the
"El Rio Reproductive Health Access Project."

EI Rio Reproductive Health Access Project (RHAP)

It's a grant funded project

that gives youths in Tucson Arizona

access to free contraceptives
and birth control pills

It also offers comprehensive sex education

along with tests for
infectious diseases for no charge.

Today, they serve more than 17,000 youths.

Foxx was recognized for her hard work

and it led to a scholarship
at Columbia University.

She focused on both her studies

and expanding her social network.

Her posts continued to attract
a large following among her generation

making her a major influencer.

But Foxx decided to take
her sophomore year off from college

It's because she joined

Kamala Harris's
"For The People Campaign" full time

as a member of a digital team that
explores how to mobilize the young community.

My boss says something to me,
which just will always stick with me.

And he said that each of us was chosen
to be here because of our perspective.

It was in that moment that I realized

that those experiences
how we had grown up in a household

that experienced poverty
having been at homeless,

having created the digital community,

having been a
first generation college student

that all of those things weren't baggage.

What I learned from that campaign

was that my perspective is my power.

That was incredibly important,

not only in my experience there,
but for why I chose Kamala Harris, right.

Her and I are both
Asian Americans first generation

raised by single moms.

And I see myself represented in her

in a way that I've never seen myself
in an elected official,

especially the one going to the White House.

Foxx says it's important to face problems

rather than turn away from them.

When she returned to college
after the 2020 elections

she continued to call on students to vote

and raise their voices on social issues.

She became one of the core members
to protest against

a May 2022, initial draft majority opinion
of the supreme court

to strike down
a woman's right to an abortion.

She is calling on her community
to join her opposition.

I know that now more than ever,
we need an intergenerational approach,

that the women
who have been marching for decades

will be marching alongside me,

and whether you have
never marched a day in your life,

we're calling on you to be out there, too.

I also know that the fight ahead
is one of community building.

This is one of creating those connections
and compiling resources.

2022 Women of Vision Awards

Foxx was part of the
2022 Women of Vision Awards,

winning the "Free to Be You and Me" category

as a leader

an activist

and an influencer.

There are so many young people
who I know from my hometown,

who are so smart,

and so talented,

and so creative,

who have simply not
had access to opportunity,

because we know that
talent is distributed equally,

but opportunity is not.

And so,

I do what I do in terms of
creating and sharing opportunities,

because others have done it for me, right?

Foxx shared us her big future dream.

I think I had wanted to be president
long before this.

But I didn't even get the
most positive responses.

And I think that that's true of
a lot of young girls out there,

that they have big dreams

that are often squashed,

or that they're made to feel small,

or told that they can't do it.

And I know that that was true of me too.

Only recently did I
kind of step back into that power.

And say not only do I want to be president,

but I plan to be,
I plan to run, and I plan to win.

Foxx left us with these words

You are an expert in your own experience.

That is where I derive my expertise,

not from the university,

not from fancy titles,

who I am and the way that I've lived,

and the stories and communities
I bring into the room with me,

are what makes me qualified to do what I do.