100 Women We Love: Class Of 2018

Each one of these women, in her own unique way, is a role model who exemplifies the best of the LGBTQ community.

Kayla and Jessica Weissbuch

Photo by Karen L. Barnes

There are some who simply never want summer camp to end. Kayla Weissbuch, left, attended and worked at a summer camp from the ages of eight to 18. Two years later, at 20, she was starting one of her own, along with her wife, Jessica Weissbuch. The pair founded Brave Trails, which provides leadership summer camp experiences for LGBTQ teens and families, and now serves 250 campers each summer. Camp gave Kayla “some of the most formative and impactful experiences,” she says, and she wanted to pass that on to other LGBTQ youth. “I get to witness as shy, awkward, anxious teenagers become powerful young adults in just a matter of years,” says Kayla, who is one of the youngest non-profit executive directors in Los Angeles. “Youth are leading the way on so many local and national fronts. Our team is honored to walk beside them and give them the tools they need to change the world.” Jessica, a marriage and family therapist, has worked with LGBTQ youth for more than a decade, launching her career at the Los Angeles LGBT Center. At Brave Trails, she helps campers build their leadership skills so they can in turn give back to their own communities. “I choose to work with queer youth because of my own experience being a queer youth,” Jessica says. “As I grew up, I always felt like an ‘other’ and I want to make sure that the queer youth of today have a place to go and not feel like an ‘other.’” At Brave Trails, they do. —SEJ


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