This feminist is organizing for reproductive rights in Arizona and is one of the youngest presidential campaign staffers in history
FEMINIST sat down with Deja to learn more about reproductive rights, community-building, and the importance of voting.
Deja Foxx
Deja Foxx is a 24-year-old activist, strategist, and influencer who is using her creativity to advocate for abortion rights in Arizona. After experiencing hidden homelessness at 15 years old, she began her activism journey in high school, successfully lobbying for comprehensive sex education in her school district and co-founding the El Rio Reproductive Health Access Project, which has served over 17,000 young people with sex education clinics.
Deja was accepted on a full ride scholarship to Columbia University and graduated from the Center for the Study of Ethnicity and Race in 2023, making her the first person in her family to attend and graduate college. In her freshman year, she founded the GenZ Girl Gang, an organization that is building community and redefining sisterhood for young women and fems while rallying support for social justice issues. As a sophomore, she joined the Kamala Harris For The People Campaign as the youngest member of her team, working as a digital strategist to mobilize content creators and community builders online.
What does feminism mean to you?
When I think about the little world me and my friends create when we’re together laughing in my living room and catching up, I see a hint of the possibility and the feeling of the future that feminism presents and it is one that feels free and I dare say even fun.
We are so inspired by the work you’ve been doing to advocate for abortion rights in Arizona. What are some of the most impactful moments you’ve experienced on your activism journey so far?
I found my voice and advocacy right here in the battleground state of Arizona and the first fight I ever took on was around comprehensive sex education in my school district. It was a deeply personal fight. I moved out at 15 and lived with my boyfriend at the time and his family. I realized that no one was going to fill in the gaps for me with the outdated curriculum taught by the baseball coach. One of the most important moments in my advocacy journey was telling my story for the first time to my school board members, and seeing that my lived experience could create change. And if you take one thing away from what I have to say, I want you to know that you are an expert in your experience and that is enough to take action,
Unfortunately, there is still a lot of pushback against abortion and reproductive rights. In your experience, what has been the most effective way to deal with this opposition?
The truth is that 8 in 10 Americans are with us on the issue of abortion. We know that there’s a problem when over 90% of Americans support access to birth control, but our GOP senators vote no on the right to contraception act and when they similarly derail efforts to protect IVF. So when faced with opposition, we need to remember that they are nothing more than a very loud minority.
What are some of the most important policy changes that you would like to see? How can our community help take action?
Reproductive rights are on the line across the country from everything from birth control to emergency contraception to abortion and IVF. I want to see a future that embodies the framework of reproductive justice. one in which people decide not only if and when to have children, but are able to raise them and healthy and thriving communities. I launched the Abortion Actions broadcast channel on my instagram to connect people with tangible ways to get involved and make a difference. Join me!
We love the work that you do with your community, GenZ Girl Gang. What inspired you to use social media as a community-building tool, particularly for Gen Z girls?
I started GenZ Girl Gang out of my freshman year dorm at Columbia University. As a first generation college student, I was confronted with a kind of wealth that I didn’t even know existed when I stepped foot on that campus and I realized that I, like so many young women and non-binary folks, was building a large part of my community online. I truly believe that teen girls deserve all of their flowers for the way that they have turned these platforms to produce profit into the community building tools that they are. With every job opportunity sent to your group chat, every clap back in the comments, every piece of media celebrating the value of time spent with friends, I believe that this generation of girls is redefining the practice of sisterhood for a generation who is the first to navigate this new digital reality.
You’re also a strong advocate for exercising your right to vote. What would you like to say to anyone out there who is on the fence about whether or not they should vote?
It’s a big election year and for good reason we’re paying a lot of attention to the top of the ticket. But down ballot across the country, there are a lot of races that will be decided by a few hundred or a few thousand votes that directly impact our access to reproductive care. My call to action is to vote all the way to the bottom of your ballot to vote no on State Supreme Court justices who seek to place restrictions on our bodies, vote for school board members who support the right to comprehensive sex education, and check if you have a ballot measure in your state to protect abortion.
In times of political tension, what are some of the things that keep you grounded and hopeful?
Though I am only 24, I am nearly a decade in this work and I know that sometimes we’re gonna win and sometimes we’re gonna lose. Sometimes we’ll hit our metrics and our goals and sometimes we won't, but when we invest in each other and our leadership and storytelling and connection; when we invest in people, we never lose.
