How Tragik Went From Chola Punk to LGBTQ Health Champion

Growing up in the Bay Area, Florencia "Tragik" Carcagno quickly learned her identity included numerous intersectionalities—born in Buenos Aires, she described herself back then as a “young, Latinx, dyke chola.” (Tragik uses any and all pronouns but asked for "she/her" pronouns in this story for consistency.) After an early experience with the criminal justice system, Tragik found herself following her mother’s footsteps into the nonprofit world. At The DJ Project, Tragik developed an all-women’s program for music production—something that wasn’t previously available. From there, Tragik kept finding new ways to use her creative talent to meet people's needs, whether by taking portraits for friends who wanted to send tasteful nudes to their boyfriends in prison or filming the untold narratives of neighborhoods. Those experiences helped Tragik to figure out “how to share stories within my communities,” she said. “I would have never thought that I would have ended up in the health care space.” Tragik began a small video production business in the 2010s, shooting music videos for Bay Area rappers that eventually caught the eye of commissioners at labels in Los Angeles. (In the midst of all this, Tragik also had a short-lived punk band with Grimes and Kreayshawn—the group’s one single went viral.) Tragik's work producing music videos led to a job running merchandising for the Animal Planet show Pitbulls and Parolees. A contract position with an English-language Latinx media company then took Tragik to Mexico City—an opportunity that, in turn, led to a position as senior creative producer at LGBTQ+ dating app Grindr. Now, Tragik is senior creative director at Folx Health, a first-of-its-kind digital health care app—launched in December 2020—that was created by and for trans and queer people. Last year, the brand released a Pride campaign called “Taking Up Space.” The accompanying cinematic spot, which Tragik co-directed, is one of the things she's most proud of. “That film brought us to tears,” she said. While Tragik’s career may not have followed a traditional path, there is a throughline. Ultimately, it’s always been about “the connections that I had with people and their ability to share their stories in a way that was engaging for folks digitally,” Tragik explained. “Now, working at a brand like Folx, working within our same communities—because I was part of those communities growing up—I was able to bring that connection.” Big mistake “Folks like us don't have the luxury to make mistakes," Tragik said. "So I never treat mistakes as mistakes—only as learning opportunities." Lesson learned “Things are shifting dramatically, whether it's product operations, the teams that you're part of, the initiatives that you're part of,” Tragik said. “So I take the same mindset that I learned from treating nothing like a mistake, but more like an opportunity to problem-solve.” How she got the gig “Someone brought me on, believing that I could be the best for this mission,” she said. Rocco Kayiatos, Tragik's creative partner of the past decade, joined Folx in June 2020 as vp of marketing and hired her as creative director shortly after. Pro tip Work hard, but also take time to recharge. “Queer people and trans people—we deserve to rest,” Tragik said.

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

How Tragik Went From Chola Punk to LGBTQ+ Health Champion

The senior creative director at Folx Health honed her marketing voice through life experience

Kathryn Lundstrom

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Kathryn Lundstrom