Tarana Burke Biography

Tarana Burke is an African-American civil rights activist from The Bronx, New York. She is best known as the founder of the “Me Too” movement in 2006 which has blossomed into a worldwide. Tarana began using the phrase “Me Too” to raise awareness of the pervasiveness of sexual abuse and assault in society in 2006. 

The phrase developed into a broader movement, following the 2017 use of #MeToo as a hashtag after the Harvey Weinstein sexual abuse allegations. Time named Tarana, among a group of other prominent activists dubbed “the silence breakers”, as the Time Person of the Year for 2017. She attends public speaking events across the country and is currently Senior Director at Girls for Gender Equity in Brooklyn. Currently she serves at the Girls for Gender Equity in Brooklyn as its senior director.

Tarana Burke Age

Tarana was born on September 12, 1973 in The Bronx, New York. She is 45 years old as of 2018.

Tarana Burke Parents |Tarana Burke Family

Tarana was born in The Bronx, New York, and raised in the area.  She grew up in a low-income, working-class family in a housing project and was raped and sexually assaulted both as a child and a teenager. Her mother supported her recovery from these violent acts and encouraged her to be involved in the community.

According to her biography Tatana states that these experiences inspired her to work to improve the lives of girls who undergo extreme hardships. During her teenager, she became involved in working to improve the lives of young girls living in marginalized communities.

Tarana Burke Education

Tatana attended Alabama State University then transferred and graduated from Auburn University. When she was in college, she organized press conferences and protests regarding economic and racial justice.

Tarana Burke Husband | Tarana Burke Married |Tarana Burke Daughter

Currently Tarana is single. She has never disclosed her love life in public or in social media. Her  daughter, Kaia Burke, was born in Selma, Alabama in 1998 and Tarana raised her as a single mother.  Tarana is the senior director of the nonprofit organization Girls for Gender Equity.  She   tours the world speaking about issues faced by young women, particularly underprivileged women of color impacted by sexual abuse. Earlier in 2018, she was awarded The Ridenhour Courage Prize for persevering in “acts of truth-telling.”

“Being the parent of someone who is both genderqueer and queer, [my mom] is really proud of me for being proud of myself, and I know that she’s sending me moral support,” says Naadira.

Tarana Burke Face | Tarana Burke Eye | Tarana Burke Face Mask | Tarana Burke Face Condition

Tarana Burke Story

Tarana is a survivor of sexual assault.  She is the founder of the Me Too movement. She says that Catholicism was a place, a way for her to gauge how to exist in the world. Inside of this trauma, there was hope.”

Tarana ‘s faith has been a part her life since she was a child. She was brought up in an interfaith home. Tarana’s brother and stepfather were Muslim.  After attending Catholic schools most of her childhood, she decided to become Catholic. In her seventh grade, she received her first Communion and was confirmed.

Growing up in an interfaith home gave Tarana a chance to explore her Catholic faith and Islam simultaneously. “There was a lot of debate in the house about religion,” she says, adding that it allowed her understanding of Christianity to grow. While growing up she also loved the structure of Catholicism , adding that she loved having what she described as “hard-and-fast rules that said, you do this, you’re good, you don’t do this, you’re not good.” However, Tarana eventually moved away from Catholicism after her grandfather began teaching her about the Catholic Church’s history. After she learnt about the church’s slave-holding past, she could no longer reconcile her faith and her identity.

Tarana is still Christian though she no longer identifies as Catholic — and faith is still a pivotal part of the work that she does. In 1997, Ms. Burke founded Just Be Inc, a nonprofit organization focused on helping young girls who have been victims of sexual harassment and assault. “My professional life is motivated by my personal life. My personal life is grounded in my faith,” she tells me. “You can’t do this kind of work without being grounded in a faith that showed possibilities. Christianity is, really, when you take away all the pomp and circumstance, it’s about hope and possibility.”

In 2018, she attended the 75th Golden Globe Awards as a guest of Michelle Williams.^[ Burke received the 2018 Prize for Courage from The Ridenhour Prizes, which is awarded to individuals who demonstrate courageous defense of the public interest and passionate commitment to social justice, for popularizing the phrase “me too” as a way to empathize with sexual assault survivors more than a decade ago.

Tarana Burke Me Too | Tarana Burke Me Too Movement

Tarana founded the Me Too movement in 2006. She began using the phrase “Me Too” to raise awareness of the pervasiveness of sexual abuse and assault in society. The phrase “Me Too” developed into a broader movement following the 2017 use of #MeToo as a hashtag following the Harvey Weinstein sexual abuse allegations.

In October 2017, actress Alyssa Milano encouraged women to say “Me Too” if they’ve experienced sexual harassment or assault, and the hashtag went viral. Milano quickly acknowledged Burke’s earlier use of the phrase on Twitter, writing “I was just made aware of an earlier #MeToo movement, and the origin story is equal parts heartbreaking and inspiring”. Burke has been supportive of the #MeToo hashtag.

Time named Burke, among a group of other prominent activist women dubbed “the silence breakers”, as the Time Person of the Year for 2017. Her speaking engagements have included Brown University in February 2018.

Currently Tarana is a Senior Director at Girls for Gender Equity.  She organizes workshops to help improve policies at schools, workplaces, and places of worship.  She  focuses on helping victims not blame themselves for sexual violence. She attends public speaking events across the country.

Tarana Burke Net Worth

Tarana has not yet disclosed her estimated net worth, she is  a social activist who created the campaign Me Too for her nonprofit organization Just Be Inc. in 2007.

Tarana Burke Quotes

Some of her quotes includes;

• I’m really trying to pivot the conversations to solutions instead of numbers.”
• I know exactly how you feel that happened to me too.”
• “You don’t have to be anything but yourself to be worthy.”
• “[Me Too] could be the conversation starter or the whole conversation.”
• I hear you.
• The rage is real.”
• Don’t beg for your dignity and your humanity.

Tarana Burke R Kelly

Activists have been trying since last summer to get the music industry to sever its ties to R&B singer R. Kelly, following years of allegations from women who say the singer sexually and emotionally abused them.

Families of several women over the past years have come forward accusing R Kelly of keeping their loved ones as sex slaves.  In 2018 the attorney of one woman presented evidence to the Dallas County district attorney’s office in the hopes of generating an indictment.

Jerhonda Pace, who met the R Kelly  when she was 15 and is now in her twenties, described her experiences on the talk show The Real. “He would slap you in your face, and he would physically like harm you,” Pace said. “He would put you in a room, and he would lock you in the room for days.”

In response to the allegations, an online campaign called #MuteRKelly launched last year. It has gained widespread visibility since Time’s Up publicly joined in on Monday, supported by several influential women in entertainment — including director Ava DuVernay, television producer and writer Shonda Rhimes and actress Lupita Nyong’o.

Tarana Burke Website

Her website name is Me Too Movement – official website

Tarana Burke Ted Talk

An inspiring, honest talk: Tarana was consumed by a desire to do something about the sexual violence she saw in her community in 2006 . She took out a piece of paper, wrote “Me Too” across the top and laid out an action plan for a movement centered on the power of empathy between survivors.

More than a decade later, she reflects on what has since become a global movement  and makes a powerful call to dismantle the power and privilege that are building blocks of sexual violence. “We owe future generations nothing less than a world free of sexual violence,” she says. “I believe we can build that world.”

Tarana Burke Time Magazine

In 2017 Tarana was named Time Magazine’s Person of the Year. She received this honor along with other women, including lobbyist Adama Iwu, actress Ashley Judd, former Fox News contributor Wendy Walsh, and many others nicknamed “The Silence Breakers” for their role in the Me Too movement. |In 2018 she received the Ridenhour Courage Prize.

However, Tarana remains humble. “I call myself a servant leader so that I don’t ever forget that this is not about me, that this work will never be about me. I’m in service to people, I’m in service to God, and that’s what drives it.”

Tarana Burke Social Media

Tarana started a  Social media movement 2 wds. crossword clue answers and solutions which was last seen today at the popular Daily Themed Crossword puzzle.

Tarana Burke Book

Where the Light Enters: The Founding of the ‘Me Too’ Movement

Tarana Burke Twitter

Tweets by TaranaBurke

Tarana Burke Instagram