Meet A Butch: Aneesah Rasheed
My name is Aneesah Rasheed and while I’m originally from San Diego (619 baby!), I’ve been reppin’ the city of Roses (Portland, OR) for a good decade or so. When I’m not working in Tech and Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, I’m generally trying to make the world a better, more equitable place. I will do just about anything for the love of my life, Megan, and our rescue pups, Wulstan and Delilah. On any given day, I can be found catchin’ em all, playing Legends of Zelda, organizing my Rubik’s cube collection, and sending my partner adoption bio’s of dogs she says we can’t get (You’ve twisted my arm, I can solve a Rubik’s cube in 40 seconds!).
What does the butch identity mean to you?
There’s a privilege that comes with my butch identity, and to some extent it’s at odds with my thoughts that queers in pdx need to stop making quick assumptions about one another. There is inherently a quick assumption made by most people who see me, a butch person. I’m queer, mass-presenting, and there’s little questioning that. In other spaces, other cities, other times, my butch identity (a very visible, space-taking identity) is a huge burden. Here and now, butch identity is visibility and pride.
You’re given $20,000, how would you spend it?
This is going to be boring, but I would pay down my debt with most of it and maybe spend a bit on a van that I could eventually travel the US in. It would have to be big enough for me, bae, pup 1 and pup 2.
What’s something you know now that you wish you’d known when you were 12?
I wanna say I’d tell myself to learn how to save and invest because 36-year-old me would find that convenient but 12-year-old me wouldn’t listen to anything so…..maybe that boobs aren’t too scary; That I’d squeeze a bunch and eventually not have to have my own anymore?
Where do you hope to be ten years from now?
Picture this: My hot girlfriend is wife’d up (to me of course duh). We have two to three mini-us’s running around a big ranch-style house with good light, not-shitty neighbors, and 13 more dogs. My consulting firm is making big changes for the communities served in tech and healthcare, I’ve figured out real estate investment, and I’m generating wealth so I can spoil the heck out of everyone I love. (dogs)
Who are the two people most important to you?
My partner is my rock. She pushes me, encourages me and doesn’t let me settle. They’re not people but I have to give a shout out to the best sentient beings I know, my pups. Everyday they teach me what unconditional love is and without them, I’m not sure I would ever have experienced that. Sappy af, I know.
What does the butch identity mean to you?
There’s a privilege that comes with my butch identity, and to some extent it’s at odds with my thoughts that queers in pdx need to stop making quick assumptions about one another. There is inherently a quick assumption made by most people who see me, a butch person. I’m queer, mass-presenting, and there’s little questioning that. In other spaces, other cities, other times, my butch identity (a very visible, space-taking identity) is a huge burden. Here and now, butch identity is visibility and pride.
You’re given $20,000, how would you spend it?
This is going to be boring, but I would pay down my debt with most of it and maybe spend a bit on a van that I could eventually travel the US in. It would have to be big enough for me, bae, pup 1 and pup 2.
What’s something you know now that you wish you’d known when you were 12?
I wanna say I’d tell myself to learn how to save and invest because 36-year-old me would find that convenient but 12-year-old me wouldn’t listen to anything so…..maybe that boobs aren’t too scary; That I’d squeeze a bunch and eventually not have to have my own anymore?
Where do you hope to be ten years from now?
Picture this: My hot girlfriend is wife’d up (to me of course duh). We have two to three mini-us’s running around a big ranch-style house with good light, not-shitty neighbors, and 13 more dogs. My consulting firm is making big changes for the communities served in tech and healthcare, I’ve figured out real estate investment, and I’m generating wealth so I can spoil the heck out of everyone I love. (dogs)
Who are the two people most important to you?
My partner is my rock. She pushes me, encourages me and doesn’t let me settle. They’re not people but I have to give a shout out to the best sentient beings I know, my pups. Everyday they teach me what unconditional love is and without them, I’m not sure I would ever have experienced that. Sappy af, I know.
I was really hoping God was gonna turn me into a boy so there was some disappointment on several fronts there BUT Pharrell and swaggy masc folks of Pinterest turned me into the butch daddy dyke I am today so… It worked out.
What is one thing that you’re really proud of?
I used to manage an apprenticeship program that helped jump-start people’s careers as junior software developers. I made it a point to reach out to communities of color and was told many times that, “those women,” or folks I’d selected weren’t, “right,” for the program; that they wouldn’t understand the culture. Before leaving, I helped multiple folks of color get internships as junior software developers and saw many of them offered jobs as well. They hustled harder than anyone else in the program and a lot of them still reach out to me about their wins and successes.
What’s the queer scene like where you live and what’s one thing you’d change about it if you could?
I’m really lucky- the queer scene is dope in PDX! I think more often than not, people are able to be authentically themselves and find community across many spectrums. Something I think we could all do better is not make such quick assumptions about one another. To keep it light, let’s talk (and hopefully not offend) Portland queers… I find the Portland dyke mullet to be wildly offensive. I don’t get it. But you know what, 67% of my queer fam has the dyke mullet so I can’t assume any one thing or the other about it (much love to my mullet babes!)
What are your 2 favorite and 2 least favorite memories from childhood?
I’m half black and half Mexican and we have big families, so; I don’t have one solid favorite memory but the general chaos of a small stuffy house filled with music, dogs, thousands of cousins, the smell of carne asada and my Abuela making more rice… it was a good time.
Least favorite childhood memories? Well, I was really hoping God was gonna turn me into a boy so there was some disappointment on several fronts there BUT Pharrell and swaggy masc folks of Pinterest turned me into the butch daddy dyke I am today so… It worked out.
What is one thing that you’re really proud of?
I used to manage an apprenticeship program that helped jump-start people’s careers as junior software developers. I made it a point to reach out to communities of color and was told many times that, “those women,” or folks I’d selected weren’t, “right,” for the program; that they wouldn’t understand the culture. Before leaving, I helped multiple folks of color get internships as junior software developers and saw many of them offered jobs as well. They hustled harder than anyone else in the program and a lot of them still reach out to me about their wins and successes.
What’s the queer scene like where you live and what’s one thing you’d change about it if you could?
I’m really lucky- the queer scene is dope in PDX! I think more often than not, people are able to be authentically themselves and find community across many spectrums. Something I think we could all do better is not make such quick assumptions about one another. To keep it light, let’s talk (and hopefully not offend) Portland queers… I find the Portland dyke mullet to be wildly offensive. I don’t get it. But you know what, 67% of my queer fam has the dyke mullet so I can’t assume any one thing or the other about it (much love to my mullet babes!)
What are your 2 favorite and 2 least favorite memories from childhood?
I’m half black and half Mexican and we have big families, so; I don’t have one solid favorite memory but the general chaos of a small stuffy house filled with music, dogs, thousands of cousins, the smell of carne asada and my Abuela making more rice… it was a good time.
Least favorite childhood memories? Well, I was really hoping God was gonna turn me into a boy so there was some disappointment on several fronts there BUT Pharrell and swaggy masc folks of Pinterest turned me into the butch daddy dyke I am today so… It worked out.
