The Red Umbrella Diaries

Host, August 2009 - Present

The Red Umbrella Project is founded on the belief that storytelling is a building block of movement building and solidarity. People who have spent time in the sex industries know all too well the social and legal stigmas that prevent us from being treated with the dignity and respect we deserve. While researchers, the media, and myriad others fill up page after page with stories about the sex business, the voices of sex workers are consistently denied and erased. Everyone has a story, and the people who are best equipped to tell the stories of people in the sex trade are the people who have personal experiences in the industry.

The Red Umbrella Project has several elements:

  • The Red Umbrella Diaries is a monthly storytelling series in New York, where people who’ve tangled with the sex industry tell personal stories about the complications that arise when you mix sex and money. The event takes place the first Thursday of every month at Happy Ending on New York's Lower East Side.
  • The Podcast features favorite performances from the live events plus select stories from the monthly blog carnival. Weekly episodes are posted on Sundays, and listeners can subscribe via RSS or on iTunes.
  • The Blog Carnival is a way for people who can't attend the events in New York to share their stories, or for people who are too shy to share their stories onstage. Every month, host Audacia Ray selects a piece from the carnival, reads it at the event, and records it for the podcast.

    • Coming soon, Audacia will be leading storytelling workshops for community based organizations.