Own Your Story
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My
Storytelling
Approach
My approach to storytelling is rooted in vulnerability, lived experience, and truth-telling. I believe our stories can be mirrors that reflect who we are or windows that give others insight into a lived experience that isn’t theirs. Whether choreographing, speaking, or writing, my mission is to embrace the power of stories so that others can have a deeper understanding of themselves and the world around them.
Books &
Publications
Through essays, poetry, and published works, I share stories that challenge norms, uplift marginalized voices, and invite deeper reflection. My writing explores identity, resilience, justice, love, and the pursuit of authenticity. Whether on the page or the stage, storytelling is my tool for truth and transformation.
Crisis and Care
In the groundbreaking anthology Crisis and Care, edited by Adrian Shanker, queer activists reflect on the layered impact of COVID-19 and how communities responded with resilience, creativity, and collective care. Mark Travis Rivera is a contributing author of “Spiraling Into Self-Love: The Wilderness, The Journey, and Covid-19”.
Published by PM Press in 2022, Crisis and Care is both a historical record and a roadmap for collective healing—and Mark’s voice is a vital part of that vision.
Drafts: An Imperfect Collection Of Writing
Mark Travis Rivera understands discrimination. A Latino with cerebral palsy who was raised in an inner-city environment by a single mother, Rivera endured oppression and bullying from an early age. In the face of such experiences, coming out as gay with a nonconforming gender identity required immense strength and courage.
But these myriad intersectional identities make Rivera the man he is, and he explores his character-forming and enlightening experiences, both positive and negative, in Drafts, a collection of poems, diary entries, and personal essays compiled over the course of fifteen years. Drafts reveals Rivera’s journey from youth to adulthood and his evolution through pain and heartache to self-discovery—and learning to love himself while forgiving others.
Choreography
Videos
Mark Travis Rivera’s choreography is where movement meets message. As a disabled, Latinx artist and the founder of marked dance project, Mark creates bold, boundary-breaking work that challenges traditional ideas of who gets to dance—and how.
Speaking
Inspire bold leadership, cultural transformation, and authentic connection through powerful, lived storytelling.
Mark Travis Rivera’s keynotes deliver high-impact messages that spark conversation and drive action. Drawing on his lived experience as a queer, disabled Latinx leader and his global platform as a storyteller and changemaker, these 60-minute keynotes (with an included Q&A) offer fresh perspectives on identity, leadership, and inclusion. Whether you’re hosting a student summit or a corporate conference, Mark leaves audiences energized, empowered, and ready to lead with authenticity.
Transform your workplace culture with actionable strategies for equity, inclusion, and psychological safety.
Mark Travis Rivera’s interactive, customizable trainings are built for organizations ready to move beyond buzzwords and foster real, lasting change. These 60–90 minute sessions empower teams to lead with empathy, confront bias, and create braver work environments where everyone can thrive—no matter their identity or lived experience.
Allyship @ Work*
There are many ways to show up and be an ally at work. This session will empower individuals to use their positionality and privilege to amplify, bring awareness to, and support their colleagues who belong to marginalized communities. This training will provide tactics for being an ally and unpacking unconscious bias.
Gender Expression & Inclusion in the Workplace
Someone’s gender identity and expression impact how they show up in the workplace. This session will highlight the workplace disparities transgender, non-binary, and gender non-conforming (TNBGNC) folks face and how workplaces can better support TNBGNC employees.
Intersectional Approach to DEI in the Workplace
While many workplaces focus on gender, race, and sexuality related to DEI-centered workplace culture, many companies approach the work in a way that doesn’t acknowledge the full humanity of the people who make up their teams. This training introduces the framework of intersectionality and how the concept should be used to embed DEI in an organization.
Creating Braver Work Spaces
While we can not guarantee safe spaces, we can build a workplace culture that allows room for folks to be brave. Unfortunately, for people of color, disabled, and LGBTQ+, microaggressions at work make it hard to show up authentically. This session provides strategies for fostering a workplace that makes everyone feel psychologically safe.
Empower individuals to lead authentically, embrace their full identities, and build inclusive communities.
Mark Travis Rivera’s interactive and customizable workshops are designed for high schools, colleges, and universities seeking transformational learning experiences rooted in storytelling, identity, and social change. These 60–90-minute sessions equip students with emotional intelligence, cultural awareness, and tools for self-empowerment, meeting them where they are and inspiring them to rise.
Coping with Shame
Based on Dr. Brené Brown’s research, this workshop explores issues and aspects of our identities that often make us feel shame and ways to cope with shame constructively.
Embracing Yourself, Embracing Your Potential
The premise of Mark’s TEDx Talk; this workshop discusses intersections of identities, particularly those historically underrepresented within the LGBTQIA2S+ movement, and how one’s acceptance of those identities can unlock the potential for a successful career.
The Power of Storytelling
Stories connect us. They can inspire and drive change in communities. This workshop introduces the foundations of storytelling and how one can find one’s voice.
Where the Lines Collide
Existing within multiple marginalized identities can be difficult to navigate. This workshop helps people learn how to manage the conflicts that may arise as a multi-marginalized person by developing dialogue that focuses on issues of race, gender, sexuality, socio-economic class, education, and other aspects of one’s identity.
Podcasts
The Shift
Hosted by Mark Travis Rivera, The Shift explores stories of resistance and resilience from artists, activists, change-makers, and leaders across industries as we navigate the uncertainty and turbulence of a second term of Trump. Each episode dives into personal concepts of resistance and resilience and how we maintain ourselves during these times.
Marking the Path
Hosted by Mark Travis Rivera, this podcast is a journey toward authentic living. Each episode features deep conversations with activists, artists, entrepreneurs, and cultural leaders, all sharing stories that illuminate what it means to show up as your true self. Centered on wellness, connection, and courage, Marking the Path offers inspiration and insight to help listeners find their voice—and live more fully.