Sherry Jo (SJ) Williams was born in Sandy Springs, Georgia in 1953. She has lived in Hudson since 2011 and has served on the board for several Hudson projects and organizations including The Prison Public Memory Project, WiseBodies, OutHudson, and the Hudson Area Library.

In this interview, SJ describes the various communities and places she was a part of before moving to Hudson in 2011: She attended Savannah College of Art and Design before living in San Francisco, Philadelphia, and Paris through the 1970s. SJ speaks about moving to New York City in 1980 and living there through the AIDS crisis in the 1990s, which she describes as one of the events which led her to become an activist.

SJ speaks about her first few years in Hudson, beginning in 2011. She names the book store Spotty Dog as an early and meaningful place of community, and speaks about opening her gallery, Culture+Commerce Project. She also describes serving on the boards of the Prison Public Memory Project and WiseBodies during these years, her early involvement with OutHudson and meeting Charlie Ferrusi, and wondering whether she would be safe as a queer person when she first moved to Hudson.

SJ discusses the relationship between creativity and activism and the importance of multigenerational collaboration in community work. She tells the story of raising the first Pride flag on county property to receive a New York State LGBTQ+ Pride Month Proclamation from Governor Kathy Hochul in 2023. SJ concludes her interview by listing some of the things she loves about the Hudson Area Library and about being part of the Hudson community in general. 

This interview may be of interest to those researching or wishing to learn about LGBTQ communities in Hudson during the 2010s and 2020s, OutHudson and the Hudson Pride Parade, community organizations in Hudson, the intersection of creative industries and activism.

This interview was recorded for the Hudson Area Library's LGBTQ+ Collection in collaboration with Outhudson and with support from The Spark of Hudson.