She explained that it was the administrators who were the ones that had stayed up late with her, talking with her and helping her figure her life out.  Russell said that by the time she was a junior in college, she knew she wanted her career to be one in which she helped people like the administrators had helped her.

 

“I wanted to help students regardless of what capacity that was in,” Russell said.

 

That is how Russell ended up at The University of Rhode Island. She was looking for a job in administration in higher education specifically dealing with diversity issues and URI was offering that job so she took it. She said getting to do a job she loves and is passionate about feels amazing to her.

 

“For me it’s really a gift,” Russell said. “Those were some of the most difficult things that I had been through when I was struggling with coming out in my life. So I really see it as a gift when students allow me that. Because it’s their lives and it’s personal and it’s raw and it’s real and there’s a lot of things you go through when your in college so every time that I get to help a student, or get to help a faculty member or do any of the things that we do, I feel like I’ve done my job for the day. And it feels fulfilling because I know for that day, that moment, this was something.”

 

For Russell, it’s not just LGBTQ issues that she feels so deeply rooted in. She’s also has a passion around understanding feminism and fighting for women’s equality. Russell said that it had made a huge impact in her life because she did not realize she was even discriminated against.

 

“Again, I was from a place that was very Caucasian and just had no idea that I had so much privilege as a white person in this world and that people of color were so discriminated against,” Russell said. “And so those two things became the root of my desire to fight for people’s rights.”

 

“My family always told me that we should treat people the way we want to be treated and I was taught that there is equity in the United States if you fight for things,” she said. “And so I believe in a future in the world where that is attainable and we cant stop fighting for things because it seems completely unrealistic.”

 

With the Supreme Court legalizing same-sex marriage, Russell sees that as proof that things can change. She never expected to see the legalization of same-sex marriage in her lifetime, but now it’s real and it allows everybody to marry whom they choose.

 

“We’ve changed a lot of things in the past but we have a long way to go,” she said. “And the fact that people are being murdered in record numbers in our queer community and in black communities and Latino communities are serious, life threatening issues. It’s not just about how much I make compared to a man, which also matters, but it’s about life and liberty and that’s real. And that’s what America is supposed to be about."

 

Every day on the URI campus, Russell is fighting for what she believes in and trying to make a difference in anybody’s life she can. When she arrived at URI, the university had just gotten $1.5 million dollars to build a new diversity and sexuality center. With her working on it, they gained more money and momentum and now have a beautiful center where anybody can go.

 

“Identity doesn’t matter in that construct,” Russell explained. “We have always tried to position ourselves as a center that, yes supports and provides services for those who do identify as LGBT, but we really more want to promote ourselves as a place where people regardless of their gender and sexuality can come and be affirmed and explore what those things mean to them. So identity doesn’t matter.”

 

The Diversity and Sexuality Center has weekly groups, ranging from coming out support groups to groups that discuss current events, and even nights where they have food and watch shows. There are rooms in the center where students and faculty can go to, eat lunch, watch TV, and hang out. They also put on large school wide events, such as Coming Out Week, Trans-Awareness Week, LGBTQ Symposium, Big Gay Picnic and Lavender Graduation.

 

Russell encourages everyone to get involved and to be involved, especially if it is something that they believe so deeply in and something that they want to be able to support.