--- description: Find out why Imara Jones is one of the 100 most influential people of 2023. title: Imara Jones: The 100 Most Influential People of 2023 image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt89fe82359fd8140a/698a3be1cabb1dd59ae514a4/Imara-Jones-time100-2023.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Apr 13, 2023 # Imara Jones by Tourmaline  Courtesy Douglas Segars/Imara Jones Imara Jones knows that transphobia is a choice, not a default setting. In a world where we are inundated with anti-trans bills and violent rhetoric, Imara Jones offers a vision of the world we deserve. Imara’s work on her podcast and media platform, [TransLash](https://translash.org/ "undefined"), takes the media narrative beyond where it usually goes by cultivating our awareness of and desire for [Black trans futures](https://time.com/5880964/imara-jones-black-trans-women/ "undefined"). This showcases the power of media and storytelling. Imara illuminates worlds where it’s easy to be free; it’s easy to be Black and trans and know your value because you’re being reflected back by Imara herself—through exploring important policy and issues, and also through fun and joy. In a moment when anti-trans violence is on the rise and there are those seeking to legislate us out of existence, Imara’s work declares loudly and proudly not just that we get to have a future, that our aliveness deserves to extend beyond this moment—but also that it can be pleasure-filled. Imara shows us that our aliveness can and should move from a world of scarcity to one of abundance. _Tourmaline is an artist, filmmaker, writer, and activist_ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2023/6269470/imara-jones/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2023/6269470/imara-jones/"},"headline":"Imara Jones","datePublished":"2023-04-13T10:32:59.000Z","dateModified":"2026-07-21T07:22:41.453Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2023/6269470/imara-jones/","keywords":["TIME 100","franchise","sponsorshipblock","TIME100 2023","T100ICONS2023"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt89fe82359fd8140a/698a3be1cabb1dd59ae514a4/Imara-Jones-time100-2023.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/blt89fe82359fd8140a/698a3be1cabb1dd59ae514a4/Imara-Jones-time100-2023.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/100-most-influential-people-2023/6269470/imara-jones/","name":"Imara Jones"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"TIME100 | The 100 Most Influential People of 2023","description":"See all the people on Time's 2023 Time 100 list","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/P6RIsapV/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2023-04-13T10:30:00.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/P6RIsapV.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2023/6269470/imara-jones/","duration":"PT1M53S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2023/6269470/imara-jones/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```