--- title: Tarana Burke Is on the 2018 TIME 100 List description: Me Too creator Tarana Burke is one of the most influential people of 2018. Being Mary Jane’s Gabrielle Union writes about the activist’s work to amplify the voices of black sexual assault survivors. canonical: https://time.com/collections/most-influential-people-2018/5217577/tarana-burke/ article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-04-19T11:12:27.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-02T23:24:37.383Z og:title: Tarana Burke Is on the 2018 TIME 100 List og:description: Me Too creator Tarana Burke is one of the most influential people of 2018. Being Mary Jane’s Gabrielle Union writes about the activist’s work to amplify the voices of black sexual assault survivors. og:url: https://time.com/collections/most-influential-people-2018/5217577/tarana-burke/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0acae0d323869c19/69892dcfdb298724c125f64d/time-100-tarana-burke1.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Tarana Burke Is on the 2018 TIME 100 List og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Tarana Burke Is on the 2018 TIME 100 List twitter:description: Me Too creator Tarana Burke is one of the most influential people of 2018. Being Mary Jane’s Gabrielle Union writes about the activist’s work to amplify the voices of black sexual assault survivors. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0acae0d323869c19/69892dcfdb298724c125f64d/time-100-tarana-burke1.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Apr 19, 2018 # Tarana Burke by Gabrielle Union  Peter Hapak for TIME When I first met Tarana Burke, I found a kindred spirit, somebody else who’s been screaming into the hurricane. Somebody else who’s been advocating for survivors of rape and sexual assault, and specifically young black women, whose voices have been silenced at best and completely erased from the national dialogue at worst. She was kind enough to film a guest spot for the upcoming finale of _Being Mary Jane_. Between takes, it was both of us talking and strategizing, venting and celebrating. You want a leader who truly believes in inclusivity. For Tarana, it’s not about personal gain or attention but doing the work in a way that makes people feel like they can join in. When you’ve been sidelined for so long, it’s exhilarating to know that such a powerful voice is finally breaking through. Tarana will continue to do this work, but the stage will be bigger and the microphone turned all the way up. She will inspire legislation and new crops of voters. She will sway old voters. She will open eyes. She’s not even going to bring more seats to the table—she’s going to turn the table over and build a new one. _Union is an actor and activist and the star of BET’s_ Being Mary Jane See TIME's \[p-link http://time.com/time100 "full list"\] of the 100 Most Influential People of 2018 ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/most-influential-people-2018/5217577/tarana-burke/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/most-influential-people-2018/5217577/tarana-burke/"},"headline":"Tarana Burke","datePublished":"2018-04-19T11:12:27.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-02T23:24:37.383Z","description":"Me Too creator Tarana Burke is one of the most influential people of 2018. Being Mary Jane’s Gabrielle Union writes about the activist’s work to amplify the voices of black sexual assault survivors.","url":"https://time.com/collections/most-influential-people-2018/5217577/tarana-burke/","keywords":[],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0acae0d323869c19/69892dcfdb298724c125f64d/time-100-tarana-burke1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"creator":"TIME Staff","articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0acae0d323869c19/69892dcfdb298724c125f64d/time-100-tarana-burke1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/most-influential-people-2018/5217577/tarana-burke/","name":"Tarana Burke"}}]}] ```