Moses Aina
2025 HEAR US Awardee
Drama Class of 2025
Moses Aina is a pioneering beacon of transformation who unites her passion for empowering traditional African spirituality with her devotion to protecting the trans community. As a Nigerian trans woman, Moses has given birth to a trailblazing body of work that is centered on what it means to be African and trans in a world where both identities are oftentimes not exhibited within the same light. As a fashion designer and activist, Moses not only strives to dismantle society's harmful dogma of the trans community, but she elevates her people by portraying the black trans community through multimedia fashion in a light of luxury, elegance, and sophistication. Moses is a senior at New York University double majoring in Costume Design and Business Marketing, alongside serving as an MLK Scholar—a renowned scholarship program awarded to select NYU students who embody the legacy of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Her designs have been featured in Vogue and New York Magazine, in addition to commissioned design partnerships with Spotify, Gucci, the United Nations, and MoMA.
Project
IGBO-SISUN
The trans community is 4 times at risk of being victims of violent crimes and 8 times at risk of committing suicide ―the highest rates amongst any other demographic of people. These statistics soar with black trans women, who’re 27 times at risk of being violated. In just 2024, over 350 trans people were brutally murdered for simply living in their light. These murders are amplifying at an alarming rate, and the recent inauguration of an administration committed to attacking trans people only intensifies the vulnerability of this community.
The current prosecution of the trans community emerged from Western Civilization’s historical inability to comprehend the vastness of pre-colonial indigenous cultures. Our ancestors understood our purpose within spirit and tradition. It wasn’t until we were immersed into a society whose language restricted them from understanding the complexity of trans people, also known as “two-spirit ” or “gatekeepers.” This nourished the marginalization of a community that was once historically revered.
Today, trans women are often belittled in the media as men in wigs to be laughed at, sex workers who’re fetishes to men’s sexual desires, people who are unhoused, and/or criminals who terrorize kids. Films like “Ace Ventura: Pet Detective” and “The Silence of the Lambs" intentionally dehumanized the bodies of trans women within their films. And considering that 71% of Americans have never met a trans person, all they see about our community stem from the media.
Igbo-Sisun is an immersive fashion collective that passionately strives to elevate the perspective of the trans community as people who are classy, professional, elegant, sophisticated, and royalty because we know the importance of what we attract based on how we present ourselves. Igbo-Sisun’s founder survived the homeless shelter system where the seemingly reality of trans women as “prostitutes,” people with mental health issues, and people who are “men” in tattered wigs and clothing was heavily present and normal. But, as Igbo-Sisun means “Burning Bush,” this company endeavors to burn these harmful ideologies suffocating the community, and through the use of garments inspired by transhood along with trans models marketing the pieces, Igbo-Sisun will lead trans women to their Promised Land of elevating their lives.
