{"id":59747,"date":"2021-09-30T22:23:06","date_gmt":"2021-09-30T22:23:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/?post_type=articles&p=59747"},"modified":"2022-06-30T22:23:16","modified_gmt":"2022-06-30T22:23:16","slug":"anya-dillard-game-changer","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/articles\/anya-dillard-game-changer\/","title":{"rendered":"Anya Dillard Is Leading the Way into a New Era"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Illustration by Peter Oumanski<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Every issue, GRAZIA USA highlights Game Changers, who inspire, educate, and celebrate individuality, beauty, and style. Meet activist Anya Dillard who’s leading the way with her organization, The Next Gen Come Up.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

From the point where I started The Next Gen Come Up to organizing my first climate strike, getting involved in so many other leadership programs, and speaking at huge protests, I have been able to meet so many other young change makers and young revolutionaries. I always tell people that no matter what you want to be, you can be an activist within that.<\/p>\n

Whether you want to be a doctor who completely dismantles the distrust that the communities of color have in Big Pharma, or whether you want to be the first Black astronaut to come out of a certain university, or whether you want to be a straight-up Al Sharpton-level activist, whatever you want to do, if you want to make change, you can do it through any avenue you choose.<\/p>\n

The world is so vast and there\u2019s no shortage of problems in our country. But one of the major issues that we as a human race need to work on is the problem of making everything political. So many people have adopted the mindset of not getting involved because something\u2019s \u201cpolitical.\u201d Even though politics is such a huge part of how we live our everyday lives, so many of the issues that people label \u201cpolitical\u201d are human issues. Regardless of your party, regardless of your affiliation, they\u2019re human rights issues. They\u2019re humanity<\/em> issues.<\/p>\n

People need to stop associating fighting for human rights and fighting for equality with fighting for a political party or a political agenda. Ultimately, we\u2019re all just fighting to live and fighting for the freedom to live freely and to succeed and to be happy.<\/p>\n

Hate is not something that we just have to cope with along the way; it\u2019s a weapon. Of course everyone has biases. But when you recognize that you have hate towards something or someone, you really have to treat that as an illness. That has nothing to do with politics. It\u2019s as simple as \u201cI should not be wishing bad things upon this person simply because of what I was raised to believe, or because I don\u2019t look like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is such a time of re-education, of unity building, of community uprising. So many different things that can bring so much life and so much connection are happening right now. People need to start being more open about remedying their own biases and remedying their own hatred in order for progress to happen.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s what makes Gen Z really unique. We are a generation of people that are very up front and we\u2019ll call you on your BS. We\u2019re always trying to invoke the conversation, regardless of whether or not people agree with us. We understand that even just starting that dialogue is making progress. So much comes out of those conversations.<\/p>\n

Whether it\u2019s performative or whether it\u2019s hardcore boots on the ground, I think all activism is important to make progress. The more you see something, the more you believe it. So, regardless of whether a corporation wants to put a Pride flag up for just 30 days or whether a company wants to donate money to an HBCU or Black business for 28 days a year, it\u2019s still pushing the envelope. It\u2019s still encouraging people to normalize the existence of groups of people that were not accepted 100 years ago. I recognize the importance of all activism, all levels of representation.<\/p>\n

Still, you have to be someone that\u2019s dedicated to constant conversation or constant education. How dedicated are you really to progress, to pushing the envelope, and to encouraging change? Because that\u2019s what really makes an activist.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27816,"featured_media":59748,"template":"","format":"standard","categories":[16],"yoast_head":"\nAnya Dillard Is Leading The Way Into A New Era<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"GRAZIA's Game Changer Anya Dillard is an activist, content creator, and aspiring filmmaker leading the organization The Next Gen Come Up\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/articles\/anya-dillard-game-changer\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Anya Dillard Is Leading the Way into a New Era\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"GRAZIA's Game Changer Anya Dillard is an activist, content creator, and aspiring filmmaker leading the organization The Next Gen Come Up\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/articles\/anya-dillard-game-changer\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Grazia USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-06-30T22:23:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2022\/06\/Anya-Dillard.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/articles\/anya-dillard-game-changer\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/articles\/anya-dillard-game-changer\/\",\"name\":\"Anya Dillard Is Leading The Way Into A New Era\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2021-09-30T22:23:06+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-06-30T22:23:16+00:00\",\"description\":\"GRAZIA's Game Changer Anya Dillard is an activist, content creator, and aspiring filmmaker leading the organization The Next Gen Come Up\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/articles\/anya-dillard-game-changer\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/articles\/anya-dillard-game-changer\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/articles\/anya-dillard-game-changer\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Anya Dillard Is Leading the Way into a New Era\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/\",\"name\":\"Grazia USA\",\"description\":\"Driving tastemakers in Fashion, Beauty and Culture\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Anya Dillard Is Leading The Way Into A New Era","description":"GRAZIA's Game Changer Anya Dillard is an activist, content creator, and aspiring filmmaker leading the organization The Next Gen Come Up","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/articles\/anya-dillard-game-changer\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Anya Dillard Is Leading the Way into a New Era","og_description":"GRAZIA's Game Changer Anya Dillard is an activist, content creator, and aspiring filmmaker leading the organization The Next Gen Come Up","og_url":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/articles\/anya-dillard-game-changer\/","og_site_name":"Grazia USA","article_modified_time":"2022-06-30T22:23:16+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1280,"height":720,"url":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2022\/06\/Anya-Dillard.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/articles\/anya-dillard-game-changer\/","url":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/articles\/anya-dillard-game-changer\/","name":"Anya Dillard Is Leading The Way Into A New Era","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/#website"},"datePublished":"2021-09-30T22:23:06+00:00","dateModified":"2022-06-30T22:23:16+00:00","description":"GRAZIA's Game Changer Anya Dillard is an activist, content creator, and aspiring filmmaker leading the organization The Next Gen Come Up","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/articles\/anya-dillard-game-changer\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/articles\/anya-dillard-game-changer\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/articles\/anya-dillard-game-changer\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Anya Dillard Is Leading the Way into a New Era"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/#website","url":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/","name":"Grazia USA","description":"Driving tastemakers in Fashion, Beauty and Culture","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"Grazia USA","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/articles\/59747"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/articles"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/articles"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/27816"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/59748"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59747"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59747"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}