Kayley Margarite Whalen is a scholar, advocate, and communications professional who has devoted her career to building connections across social justice movements. Since 2013, they have led some of the biggest digital campaigns for disability justice, LGBTQIA+ justice, and environmental justice. In 2018 they founded their own business, Kayley Whalen Consulting, to provide communications and digital marketing services to organizations and campaigns. Their clients have included the LifeSkills Mobile Study, Advocates for Transgender Equality, Autistic Women & Nonbinary Network, Sins Invalid, Ocean Conservancy, and Search for Common Ground. 

Kayley is currently a PhD student at UC Davis studying Sociocultural Anthropology, with a focus on queer studies and religious studies. They have presented on their research for the American Anthropological Association, the American Literature Association, and at various conferences and retreats. In 2024 they published an ethnography of neurodivergent people within music subcultures in the book Heavy Metal and Disability: Crips, Crowds, and Cacophonies. 

‍From 2019 to 2024, Kayley visited more than 20 countries to learn about global trans and neurodivergent communities. They recorded their travels via their YouTube channel and their blog TransWorldView. In 2020 they represented the United States as Miss USA in Miss International Queen, the world’s most prestigious transgender pageant.

Kayley worked as the Senior Email Strategist at Greenpeace USA and Digital Strategy and Social Media Manager at the National LGBTQ Task Force prior to forming their own consulting company. They've served on the boards of Trans United Fund, Autistic Self-Advocacy Network, and the Secular Student Alliance. Their experience working across many different movements gives them a deep understanding of how to build successful grassroots campaigns to achieve collective liberation.