RAINN partnered with director Samantha Scaffidi of SMUGGLER and creative agency MIRIMAR to develop and craft a powerful awareness piece that highlights the fear and violence transgender women face every day. The public service announcement shows how RAINN supports all abuse survivors.

Walk explores how the discrimination that transgender survivors of sexual assault face surrounding their identities can create additional barriers to seeking help. This powerful PSA seeks to shift the conversation around these issues and ensure that survivors get the care and resources they need.

For Walk, Scaffidi collaborated with actor and model Leyna Bloom, a transgender rights advocate. Bloom was the first openly transgender model of color to appear in the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue, on the cover of Vogue India, and has walked runways in New York and Paris.

“As a survivor of sexual assault, this was a very personal project for me,” says Bloom. “I hope the film will help survivors, especially those of trans experience, not feel alone. This PSA is my poem that I have presented to you from lived in experiences. My piece of broken heart, let it help heal something or someone one.”

“Sound is so important in this piece; we wanted the audience to feel distress in the same way as our survivor Leyna with sound design making this piece almost experiential for the listener. You're being pushed and pulled through moments of inner silence with even the most basic of passing city noises triggering previous trauma.”