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Chicago Sun-Times
Chicago Sun-Times
National
Cheyanne M. Daniels

Carrying Black History forward

Zahara Bassett, CEO and founder of Life Is Work, stands in the organization’s thrift store, Solidarity Resale, in the Austin neighborhood on the West Side. | Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times

Zahara Bassett was born on Chicago’s West Side, the fourth of six children. She’s a transgender Black woman, an identity she began to grow into when she was 13 — and which got her kicked out of the house at age 15.

For 13 years, Bassett was a sex worker, sometimes homeless. But she kept pushing forward.

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