Taylar Castellanos is a nationally recognized writer, justice advocate, and the visionary Founder and Executive Director of Who Speaks For Me? (WSFM). A formerly incarcerated Black queer woman, Taylar brings lived experience and relentless determination to her work dismantling the systems that criminalize trauma—especially for women, girls, and LGBTQIA+ people.
Taylar is credited with creating the concept of the Trauma-to-Prison Pipeline to describe how state systems punish rather than protect trauma survivors. She also founded the Sharing Our Stories to Reclaim Our Lives Speakers Bureau and Writing Program, creating platforms for incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people to share their experiences and reclaim their narratives.
Since founding WSFM in 2015, Taylar has led the development of transformative programs such as Housing For All, which removes barriers to stable housing by funding rental costs and building respectful, justice-centered relationships with property owners, and the Entrepreneurship Program for returning citizens in DC, launched in 2025, which fosters economic liberation and leadership.
Taylar works both locally and nationally to disrupt carceral systems and build community-based alternatives rooted in healing and accountability. She leads WSFM’s groundbreaking campaign to close Central Cell Block (CCB) in Washington, DC—a dehumanizing detention facility where people are held in unsafe and degrading conditions after arrest. Through this campaign, WSFM advocates for non-carceral alternatives like cite-and-release and community-based responses that center dignity and care.
Her advocacy is grounded in the belief that justice requires collective responsibility—not punishment.
Taylar’s work has been featured in The Washington Post, The Root, Ms. Magaine Online, Talk Poverty, The Nation and Shelterforce. When she’s not advocating or organizing, Taylar is writing, speaking, and building joy with her wife Soul Castellanos.