Hi. I'm Ash. I'm a transgender designer / artist that's been trying to stabilize with solid work since losing shelter a while back. In early lockdown I had an opportunity to work as a caretaker in exchange for shelter under the condition I don't risk exposure. I started a merch operation with the stimulus check. At first this worked out well until bills and a collection account started to catch up to me. I repeatedly expressed concerns that if I needed to find a new place I would not be able to. I was repeatedly told this would never happen, before it happened and I was left to scram for shelter.

I did find a spot luckily, and I did find relatively stable work as well. However, this place had a serious black mold problem in the basement. Health crashed to the point work was sending me home because I was too sick, and then I was fired for taking too many sick days. Eventually when the issue was reported to the landlord the entire house was evicted.

After that I lived and worked in a rental car for around 9 months, doing severe damage to my body and mind through sleep deprivation and not having anywhere to sleep comfortably. I then lost the rental because I needed to replace my ID.

I've been bouncing around hostels since then. Mostly being supported by full time dog sitting work and occasionally getting lucky with seasonal work. I've been applying to jobs I'm qualified for during this time and getting interviews, but unfortunately my resumes only gets me interviews at jobs where trans employment discrimination is at an all time high. Recently I had one hiring manager take me in and another manager then just refuse to process my paperwork or put me on the schedule. It's tiring.

First priority is just keeping a roof over my head for another month and my phone on, which is 800. It's my birthday at the end of the month. Either being able to get extra space for storage (currently trying to run the merch operation while not having nearly enough room to do that and it is a nightmare) or a larger space is the second priority. Getting a laptop for extra design and editing work is third priority. Anything else to stabilize with the merch operation or getting my own vehicle for work, as I can't rent from the company I used to anymore.

Small donations help a lot. Shares help. Thank you.