Yale Gay and Lesbian Alumni/ae Association, Inc. - Camila María Concepción (Yale '14)

Camila María Concepción (Yale '14)

Memorial Service and Yale Student Prize

The life of Camila María Concepción (1991 – 2020), Yale ’14, a beloved chosen family member of Yale GALA, will be celebrated at a memorial service in March. GALA and friends are organizing her service and will share details soon so we may come together and share our stories of and love for Camila.

Camila was born December 20, 1991, in Los Angeles where she went to Arroyo High School in El Monte before attending Yale, where she earned a B.A. in English with a concentration in writing. Camila had been involved with GALA since her first year at Yale in 2010. She worked all our Yale College reunion events during her undergraduate years, helped organize student-alumni dinners, conducted research for the Yale AIDS Memorial Project, and fundraised for GALA. After graduating, Camila worked at the development office of a private school in the Bronx and lived in East Harlem where she fell in love with Patsy's Pizzeria.

Returning to her true passion of writing, Camila also began her transition to live her life as a woman just as she prayed for every night before bed since she was four years old. Camila realized that "growing up, if I had been exposed to half of the representation and visibility of the trans community in popular culture today I'm sure I would have transitioned a lot earlier." Camila and her distinctive voice, humor, and charm quickly made an impact in the entertainment industry when in 2018 she partnered with artist Favianna Rodriguez and Jill Soloway to push for the 5050by2020 initiative to advocate for trans visibility and representation in television and film. Her dedication to trans liberation continued when she spoke on a panel at the 2018 United States of Women Summit.

Camila was successfully living her "rags phase of my to-riches story" when she began as a writers’ assistant on Netflix's Gentefied, which she co-wrote the first season's ninth episode, Protest Tacos, before joining another Netflix series (Daybreak) as a staff writer. Having struggled with homelessness, depression, and many more traumas for so many years, Camila had recently decided to seek mental health support.

Camila will be remembered as an unapologetically vulnerable and loving, fierce friend. Her ability to make fun of herself and others while sharing truths about the realities of living as a trans Latina "whose pronouns are she/her/hers and/or That Bitch" promised a voice that had many more stories to tell.

Camila María Concepción died on February 19, 2020. Yale GALA and other organizations will honor Camila's life by establishing a prize and fund with her chosen name. To support the prize: donateyalegala.eventbrite.com and to learn more, please reach out to Mickey Dobbs at mickey.dobbs@aya.yale.edu.