You may have crossed paths with her before. Whether passing her strutting through the yard, working alongside her in a campus organization, or hearing about her trailblazing run as the first transgender woman to serve as the Vice President of the Howard University Student Association, Murphy Jones is a name that holds weight on Howard University’s campus.

Though a halo of confidence seems to surround Jones, she is actually quite shy. When she’s not embodying Madame Vice President, as she calls her alter ego, she’s more reserved, attempting to avert the spotlight from herself. Her personality and impressive track record at Howard would make anyone intrigued to know more. I spoke with the junior, political science major for over two hours in the HUSA office. Here’s a glimpse of who the young changemaker is in her own words. 

What was your upbringing like?

“So when I was growing up, I was raised on a very Southern Christian, conservative-related upbringing. My parents were very, very–I don't want to use the word strict—they were very cognizant of who we were as Black people and I think experiencing a certain degree of Southern racism really did affect how they engaged with the world and they very much used that on us as we were growing up. I moved to Texas when I was about in the freshman year. Upon me moving to Texas, I was opened up to a new world. I think that Texas a lot of times does get kind of labeled as like it's this really country kind of place, which it is. But I was actually in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, so I really got to kind of see city life, like this is kind of even what a city like Dallas looks like being able to be surrounded by so many different people and opinions. It really did play a really bigger role in who I was becoming as a person, but also me learning how to embrace and accept myself.”

What does family mean to you? Who are those people to you on campus?

“We were never good about talking about our problems and really, like saying as a family ‘Here are our issues together, and here are our problems that we're all having.’ and for me, when I got onto campus, I very much knew that I wanted a family in which we were going to be open and embracing about those problems. And so what I ended up doing was I joined a freshman organization, the Men of George Washington Carver Incorporated. When I joined that organization, my life was changed absolutely forever.”

Do you feel accepted on campus?

“Being from the South, I look at DC and I look at Howard University as a world that doesn't exist to me. Like this is essentially a fantasy world to me. I think that our university has done a great job but I think also because of where we are where we're situated and the people we attract, we naturally attract people who are okay with academia and are okay with learning new perspectives. Because we attract those people, that makes it so much easier for queer students on our campus. I was just having this conversation at the conference for the human rights campaign, which is that in DC there are so many different things that I can do that it's so much different if I was back in North Carolina or if I was in Texas.”

Before being in this role, did you feel represented within the student leadership system?

“Yes and no. I think Howard University has this very interesting thing of relying and really very much utilizing a lot of queer people but not a lot of times recognizing them. I remember Kylie and Alana were the president and vice president, and Layton was the chief of staff. Layton to me was like, ‘Oh, yes.’ Like powerful. It's very powerful to just be able to watch. I got to watch Layton in action. I got to watch him really be the strategist. And I was like, ‘Wow. I want to be doing what Layton is doing and I want to be that strategist, that core aspect, that core piece.’ I think even when I was first coming onto campus, like that was very powerful for me to be able to watch Layton in leadership.”

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.