Avi Bowie celebrated their one-year anniversary at the Center on Halsted this summer, serving as the director of youth programs—but Bowie admits that they struggle to answer how they got to that field, short of, "my life and my experiences led me to this field."
"As a multiracial, multicultural, genderqueer, female bodied human, my childhood was a rich example of intersectionality and also really different from that of many of my peers," Bowie said. "As a child and adolescent I felt both special and lonely, isolated and connected, accepted and rejected. Growing up I was exposed to and embodied so much difference. I simultaneously held and hold privilege and oppression. My privilege gave me the resources, both intrinsic and extrinsic, to hold and honor the pain, fear, and confusion of those around me, while my oppression allowed me to intimately relate to and understand suffering and injustice and to recognize that my and my communities' liberation is tied together.
"I've worked really hard to figure out how to communicate and celebrate seemingly competing experiences, [and] I'm still figuring it out, and how to joyfully exist in my body, and assert my right to do so in a world that constantly tells people like me that we cannot truly be free. I know, beyond a doubt, that my identity and experiences have brought me and kept me here."
Bowie manages a youth program for LGBTQ and allied youth between the ages of 13 to 25. With a staff, Bowie and Co., "work to create brave space with and for our youth," they said. "We do this through making an effort to meet our youth where they are at, engage in sometimes difficult conversations about the reality of their lives, celebrate their beauty and brilliance, and provide a number of supports and services."
Bowie also supervises staff and interns.
"Getting to be around and learn from and love brilliant, powerful youth who know so much more about themselves and the world than I did when I was their age and are who fighting hard to thrive, and find joy, and to be seen and to take up space," is the best part of Bowie's job, they said.
The worst part is: "Bearing witness to the unnecessary suffering my youth and my community are subject to and, at times, feeling helpless to end it," they said.
Bowie's career goal is to "constantly be growing, learning, and giving, and to make a living doing as much good and as little harm as possible while working to insure that social justice, and rights and benefits are extended to those who are on the margins and who are impacted by structural oppression while also taking care of my heart, soul, and body."
Bowie added, "I've always loved working and growing with people—humans are messy and magic and so beautifully unpredictable. Overcoming struggle is a big part of my personal narrative and this has guided most of my work."
THE STATS
Age: 35
Neighborhood: Uptown
Orientation: "Proudly and solidly queer and genderqueer."
Job title: Director of Youth Programs, Center on Halsted
Hobbies: Painting and drawing, cooking, spending time with my family, playing the ukulele.
Favorite drink: Old Fashioned, Kentucky Mule or beer.
Favorite TV show: Bob's Burgers
Favorite movie: "I'm a huge fan of Pixar movies ( Up, Finding Nemo, Inside Out ) and film noir ( Night of the Hunter, Sunset Boulevard, the Big Sleep )."
-Favorite pizza: "Father and Son's extra crispy, thin crust with cheese, onions, olives and peppers."
-Little-known fact: "I'm obsessed with outer space."
