My name is Viv Pierce; I am a Black, Nonbinary individual from California. I currently am employed in the LA LGBT Center's Youth Center program as an Outreach Peer Support Specialist. Before this position I was homeless, living in the same place I work now participating in their youth leadership program. I've had the opportunity to attend youth based conferences like Creating Change, California Coalition for Youth, and the Black Out conference hosted in Riverside. Within my immediate community of Los Angeles area, I have been apart of panels and youth led boards to change how Transitional Age Youth can better receive services, while also advocating to improve those services. Some of my hobbies are gaming, poetry/rap, and reading.Games are very much an escape for me, giving my brain a rest from both inner and outer problems. Poetry is what I use to focus, or blow off steam in a more introspective manner. Reading is something I've always done, it's what I use to "come home" mentally.