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The Circle is set to return to Netflix with a twist. In the upcoming season, the contestants must either be single or get along with the others by pretending to be single, as the show is officially called The Circle: Singles.
One of the contestants set to appear on the show is Raven Sutton, an ASL performer who is originally from Alabama. The deaf social worker is going to enter the show with her interpreter and BFF, Paris.
The dancer has been featured in an article alongside translator Matthew Maxey and her TikTok has been recognized by Beyonce.
The Netflix show will return to screens with the latest season on December 28 on the streaming platform.
Meet Raven Sutton ahead of her appearance on The Circle
Raven Sutton, one of the upcoming contestants on The Circle, is a deaf dancer, interpreter, and disability advocate.
She received both her bachelor’s degree and master's degree in social work from Gallaudet University, where she was briefly also a peer advisor.
The advocate worked as a dance instructor at Haiti's Institut of Montfort Pour Enfants Sourds for a year in 2017. She then went on to work in many different industries over the years before appearing in The Circle.
The disability consultant has been working independently since 2020 to provide expertise to businesses, and local organizations to execute diverse disability strategies to make the world a more inclusive place and one that can benefit the disabled community.
In 2021, she worked as an Educational Consultant for Twitter and consulted on how to make the social media platform more accessible to the deaf community.
Her LinkedIn bio states:
"She began working as a Survivor Resource Specialist for Deaf, Domestic, and Sexual Violence Survivors at Deaf Dawn located in Washington D.C. However, work never stops for Raven, she is also an advocate for the deaf community in addition to being a content creator."
It continues:
"She’s created compelling content that went viral and garnered the attention of companies such as Twitter and historic publications such as The New York Times. She continues to use her platform in hopes of inspiring change."
In July 2022, Sutton was a part of a Zoom interview along with Matthew Maxey - an African-American interpreter who worked with Chance the Rapper, and Amber Galloway-Gallego, who previously worked with artists such as Kendrick Lamar and Wiz Khalifa, in a conversation about the need for Black sign language interpreters in hip hop.
The upcoming The Circle contestant stated in the interview with the help of an interpreter that people often wonder how she is able to dance as a deaf woman. She emphasized that deaf people can feel the vibrations of the music which “adds to their ability to partake in and enjoy music just like everyone else.”
She added:
"We love to go out to concerts and events and have fun, celebrate and feel the beat."
In 2020, Sutton stayed up late waiting for Megan thee Stallion and Cardi B’s WAP and took to social media to post a video of herself dancing and interpreting the song in sign language. Her video was also shared by Beyonce on TikTok.
Sutton is now ready to appear on The Circle, where she’ll be accompanied by her best friend and interpreter Paris. Tune in on December 28 to see what happens when the upcoming season airs on Netflix.
