About me
Charley Burton is a native of Charlottesville VA.
Charley is the owner of Charley Speaks. He is often on the road offering speaking engagements and
training where, through his story telling and inspirational conversation, involves his audience on what it is
like to be a Black Trans elder who has survived childhood abuse, substance abuse, gender dysphoria. He
is just not a survivor but an architect of community and a storyteller of his truth.
Charley serves as Board Chair of Equality VA; the first transgender person to hold this role. He was
appointed by Governor Northam as one of the members on the LGBTQ+ Advisory Board. He is the
Founder of Diversity in Recovery, an organization designed to provide safe spaces for the LGBTQ/BIPOC
community.
Charley is currently working on revising his mother’s cookbook that will have southern recipes and stories
of black women in the kitchen and the stories behind her wonderful food creations. He is the founder of
Black Transmen Can Cook featuring Black Transmen and their recipes and stories of being in the kitchen
from pre transition to now.
Charley is the Founder and Executive Director of Transforming Futures an organization focused on
hosting conferences all over the state of Virginia to enrich the Trans community and its Allies on how to
be of support during these trying times.
Charley was honored in 2021 as an Outstanding Virginian by Equality VA, The Community Root award by
Black Pride RVA, Caring for the Community for Above and Beyond Voice for Equity by United Way of
Greater Charlotteville. He is certified as a Mental Health First Aid, Peer Support Specialist, Safe Space
Trainer, and Trainer for Transgender 101.
Charley is currently enrolled at Morehouse College majoring in Business Management/Public Health.
Currently Charley has his life story on Amazon: The Boy Beneath My Skin is a story about surviving
abuse, addiction, mental illness, and gender dysphoria that reveals one man’s indominable spirit to
recover and live a rich life. This is just not one man’s story: in many ways it’s story about us all.
