Angelica Ross, a leader in the movement for transgender and racial equality, will lecture Monday night at Iowa State about empowering transgender lives.

Her lecture, titled “We are Worthy: Empowering Transgender Lives,” will take place at 8 p.m. Monday in the Sun Room of the Memorial Union. The lecture is free and open to the public.

Ross will also spend the afternoon discussing “Trans Entrepreneurship and Creating Trans–Inclusive Workplaces” at 2:15 p.m. in 2019 Morrill Hall.

Ross is a leading figure of success and strength in the movement for trans and racial equality, according to her bio from the Lectures Program. Political commentator Melissa Harris-Perry named Ross “First Foot Soldier of the Year” in 2015.

Ross is the founder of TransTech Social Enterprises, a company that empowers trans and gender-nonconforming people through on-the-job training in leadership and workplace skills. She has also toured the country, speaking with business leaders, educators and President Barack Obama.

Ross graduated after studying theater at Florida Atlantic University and is the star of the new series “Her Story,” which explores the lives and loves of two transwomen in Los Angeles.

The lecture is sponsored by the College of Design; the College of Human Science’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee; Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Student Services; Program for Women in Science and Engineering; Queer* Graduate Student Association; and the Committee on Lectures.