Think back to summer 2017: Donald Trump is the new president, everyone is trying to learn the lyrics to “Despacito” and creative agency Terri & Sandy recently rolled out a buzzy new campaign for New York City’s Pride Week.

The agency partnered with New York City-based men’s grooming salon Barba to create the “Strands for Trans” campaign highlighting the discrimination some transgender people face when getting haircuts.

As part of the effort, the agency created a directory of businesses via an online map pinpointing transgender-friendly places for haircuts. 

Since then, more than 7,500 businesses have registered with the online map across six continents and 29 countries. In March of this year, Strands for Trans officially became a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. 

The latest iteration of the campaign, “Transphobe Takedowns,” introduced last year, features actor, singer and entertainer Billy Porter and poet influencer Lynae Vanee dissing the hairstyles of politicians who do not support transgender rights, including Senator Ted Cruz and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott. With a little help from the agency, the videos went viral after the shop geo-targeted them to attendees of the Republican National Convention. The effort got picked up by the media, notching 2 billion impressions with only $500 in paid media. 

More importantly, it expanded the map. Wrote the agency in its entry: “There are now safe spaces [for transgender people] in all 50 states, even the red ones, as well as 29 countries, including Kenya, Kazakhstan, India, Taiwan and Indonesia. Many of these nations have zero legal protections in place regarding discrimination against the LGBTQAI+ community. Some even criminalize being LGBTQAI+.”