Meet Our Scholars

Daffodil Bisono grew up in New York City, which they unjokingly refer to as “the world’s center.” They are a first generation Dominican-American immigrant and they grew up in Washington Heights among family from the island. The hyper-masculine norms of their environment heavily skewed their behavior and world-view, and influenced their decision to run away from home in their early adulthood, preferring homelessness to such an environment. This led Daff to become immersed in LGBTQ communities, and realize their broken relationship with gender norms, which in turn led them to discover they were nonbinary. They were also able to find community in local fighting gyms and Live Action Roleplay (LARP) groups, which provided a crucial creative outlet, and a safe way to channel difficult negative emotions into art, play, and self-expression. 

They started their career serving LGBTQ youth and adults, and spent six years working as a health educator and advocate for LGBTQ and justice-involved youth. Daff is now transitioning into a career as a personal trainer and kickboxing coach, with an emphasis on the free distribution of gated information about diet and exercise, and fighting as a form of queer empowerment. They are pursuing an Associate’s in Exercise Science at Kingsborough Community College, and will pursue a kinesiology degree at a four-year school soon after. Their passions include boxing, kickboxing/Muay Thai, music, gardening, and cat rescue, and they hope to help found a queer communal farm at some point in the future.