Good morning, Peepsen, and welcome to wok F Daily with
Meet your Girl Danielle Moody. Pre recording from the home Bunker as I am off today for the Labor Day holiday, but as always we leave you with great interviews and content for you to enjoy while hopefully you were out enjoying the last remnants of summer, even though summer is unofficially over until you know the fall equinox, but whatever, folks, I'm excited to bring you an interview today with Nadio Lopez, who is a participant in glads Here We Are campaign.
If you remember, several weeks back, we interviewed another participant in the Here We Are campaign, which highlights the stories of trans people in this country through their own lens and their own stories, which is incredibly important. Oftentimes, too often trans people are spoken about in terms of statistics and headlines and devastation and murder, but not through the
lens of joy, happiness, health, acceptance, and love. And so today's conversation with Nadia, who participated in the campaign and is a full time student, she talks about her story and I got to tell you it was incredibly moving and just so energizing to speak to such a young, fabulous person who just knows who they are, and I think is just such a beacon for young people, young queer people, but young people in general, for the courage and just like beauty that she shows of what it
means to live in your skin. And so I really hope that you enjoy my conversation with Nadia Lopez and you get some inspiration from it. Folks. I am very happy to welcome to wok F Daily Nadia Lopez, who participated in the Here We Are campaign that GLAD rolled out to showcase the stories of transgender people in the United States because we know that over the past several years, the trans community, particularly trans people of color, have been
under attack. There have been I think, my god, I must have lost count over five hundred or some odd policy measures that have been drawn up to kind of invisibilize trans people. Nadia, tell us a bit about yourself and why you decided to get involved in the Here We Are campaign.
Hello everyone, Nadia Lopez. I am from Miami, Florida, born and raised. I'm keeping Palestinian trans woman, very proud of all my heritage and everything. So I went to high school. I started my transition in high school during the pandemic, and that was you know, that time for me was very of like figuring out who I was. You know, we were all locked down. We were all like stuck in one room, and we had like really think about so much stuff. When you're like alone with your own thoughts,
so much can come up. So I started transitioning during the lockdown. And then my senior year was the first year back when we were in person. So that was my first year back ass Nadia. In this high school, everyone was like, oh my god, you know she came back home.
Girl.
I'm like, hey, everyone, how we do it? But also that same year that was the same y I don't say gay was passed too, so that was the same Yaing. I also applied to be a change maker in the Alliance for LGBTQ Youth down in South Slorida. It is
a leadership position. It was like a group of clear youth that would get together and would try to work on our own advocacy and our own leadership skills to put all that effort at work that we've been working on together into the policies and into advocacy into South Slorida. I was so grateful when Glad reached out to me. This whole process was like two years in the making, kind of because I got my first email from them when it was like the middle of my freshman year
in college. I'm right now going into my junior year. I go to school for fashion design and for performing arts. Those are my two passions. I love everything about art, and I've always strived to make sure that inclusivity and especially with trans people, is brought to those realms of art. So I got my first email like the middle of my first year, and first of all, I was like, first of all, Glad, Okay, hey.
Glad, Glad.
I was like, oh my god. Like Glad turned out to me like this. Like first of all, I thought it was a SPA. I was like, this can't be real, Like no, no, no. But then I really looked into it and it was like they really wanted to tell a story of just a trans person and them in real life. And I love because they wanted to include me and my dad. My dad is my biggest support. I love him and Dad. He's like my best friend. And if y'all see the video, he is in there speaking alongside
my mother as well. I'm very good, but I have very supportive parents. So when we got onto the calls with the team and with everything, we were just talking about like what is kind of like my angal you know, like what do I kind of want to do with these PSAs with just lead my story? And I remember telling them I was like, I want to show the
trans joy. I want to show yes, a trans woman, a young trans woman, especially a young, a brown, young trans woman, come on, let's speak on it, smiling with her family, having fun with her friends, and just enjoying life. Because we are constantly seeing in the media, whether it is a TV show, a movie, politics, we see on all these videos, we are always seeing a trans zoone being knocked down, yep. And I want to be that change. I do not want to see any more of these.
These s's like trauma porn, right, Like it's not to say that the bad and horrific things don't happen, but they're not the only part of the stick exactly.
And I feel like a good example of media that balances out really well is post. I love posts. I feel like they balance out the hard truth of being a trans woman at that time, plus the joy of having family and having recognition and validation of one another from the community. I think that's a good example of
balancing the two. But still it's like you still see like all these especially in media, you see if there's a trans character, they are known for being just trans, that they're all that's their only personality trait, and their whole storyline is like I was outcasted, I was this, I was that wow girl, I like I literally told them so straight up. I was like, I want happiness. I want our videos to be of us smiling. I want the joy. Because being trans is such a beautiful experience.
And with media and with all of these like polities going up, people think that being trans is like so hard and like so like you know, hurtful on your life, and of course, like we have those moments in our lives, but being trans as well is so rewarding and so beautiful. I love being trans. It is like a part of me. Like, but first of all, I love being trans, but it's not the only thing I.
Am, right, right, You're also an artist, like you're also a person of color. Yeah, I think that it's always so important. The thing about media in a lot of ways is that it flattens people. It flattens people into boxes that can be checked off. And so I think that what is beautiful about the campaign that Glad did is that it is revolutionary. It shouldn't be, but it is revolutionary to show trans people in their fullness, to not just be a stat to not just be a headline,
but to show trans people that are loved. And I think that that is what that is what your video did is to say, like, I am trans and I am loved. I have a family that loves me. Because I think too often we hear the stories of the trans homelessness, right the youth homelessness, and being kicked out of your home. So talk to us about your family, your family support, and why it was important for you to showcase that.
Uh, I mean, my family's apartments a world to me. I remember my first conversation specifically with my parents. They were very confused. I mean, my mom is a Hispanic Arab woman. My dad is Hispanic as well, from New York. They both were raised in you know, conservative lifestyles just because of their cultures, their how they were raised around
people at that time. But they were raised my mom came from Cuba, like in the sixties, so all these things like that was in their head when they when they first heard me say I'm a woman, they were very confused.
How old were you?
I was fifteen. I was fifteen years old. I'm now twenty. So it's been five years. Yeah, oh my god, it's been fine.
Five years.
That's crazy. That's so crazy to think about. Oh my god. But so I remember telling them. We were sitting on the couch and I was like, I need to tell you guys, I'm a woman. My dad was just quiet. My mom was like, what are you talking about, very confused. It's sook been mom a little bit, a little longer than my dad. Surprisingly, I was a little confused with that. But my dad did the research. He read about young
trans trans women. He went to like focus grow groups, he went to p FLAG, he went to those those groups. And now he's like on the board of the Florida.
Tar Okay, okay, Dad, Yeah, come on dad.
We love dad. And then right when you know, my dad started going to these meetings my mom, like all this love that my mom had towards me started coming through, and then it was all that validation of you know her helping me, like my mom bothering my first dress. I remember that moment that she helped me pick out my first I don't know if it was a dress or it's hop whoever, my first affirming piece of clothing. Yeah, yes,
she helped me pick it out. And it was like the moment of her looking at me, her buying it and being like, I love you.
Oh I'm gonna cry.
Yeah, it's I love them. I love I love my parents very much and they love me so much. And I remember my even my dad saying it was either I accept my child for who she is or I lose my daughter. Mm hmm. And I told him straight up, I was like, whatever y'all do, I'm gonna still be me if you support me or not. I'm to put myself first. I'm going to be myself. And they just decided, you know, to join the bandwagon.
Do you hear from other young people about how your story and your advocacy has helped them? Yes, right, because it's been five years, you know, for you, it's both a long time and a short time.
Yeah.
Do you hear from other young people who may be on the precipice of coming out to their family having these conversations. Yeah, and how do you kind of walk them through it?
Oh my god. I mean I hear stories constantly. A specific story was I was Rizzo in my senior year's musical. I was the first transformant casted in my school. And after the opening night, I came to school the next morning and a girl came out to me and said, seeing you as Rizzo in your authenticity made me finally walk in these halls today as myself, And she like came out to me and she was telling me like, I'm trance as well, and hearing you and seeing you
helped me being myself now walking these halls. I was seventeen at that time when I was crying my eyes out, Like it was like seven in the morning. I'm crying, and I'm like, oh, we're gonna have to go to English, like gro what. But it was just a moment I'm never gonna forget. And I'm always hearing stories about people my age and younger with their families and stuff and asking me like what should I do. I always tell
people who ask me that question patience. It's so hard. Ooh, it's so hard to be patient, But especially when you're transitioning. You are going through so much. You're going through so much mentally, you're going through so much physically. It's like you're basically coming out of a cocoon. You are like everything you are pushing to get out constantly. It feels like we're trying to leave this old past self while
trying to balance still be a human being. And look like when they tell me I'm just so frustrated with my parents and so first, I just don't shareway I get it. I'm like, girl, I get you, I get you. I was frustrated my parents too in the beginning. It took them, like, even though they're so supportive and they love me so much right now, it took them a
hot minute. And I'm always gonna give them their flowers for being the most supportive parents ever, and I love them so much, but I'm never gonna forget the times where it was it was stressful, because I mean, we all grow, and they grew. So it's like I understand that that moment.
And grace is important right to provide, and I understand it, like we always want people to be where we are as we're moving through our own life journey. But I think that it's also important to provide people with grace and give them the space to get to where you're going, right, Like, I'm not telling people to you know, shrink themselves right or dim themselves in order to get people to where they're going. But I do think that patience really in this context, really is a virtue.
Yeah, because it's also the play Devil's Advocate. On my parents' side, it was like they had a son for fourteen years and all of a sudden they had to now go through their own transition. It's like they had to go through their mental transition of now seeing their son now as their daughter. So it took them a second, but it was that great, as you said, the grace that I let, I gave them to have their moment to process,
to understand, to do their own research. So at the end of the day, the only you know, we could do is exist. We could teach as much as we can, but we are not We are not a girl. I don't have a doctorate, I have not got PhD. And this thing. I could just tell you my experience and I could tell you my story and that's it. But when it comes to learning about the community, that's kind
of on them to kind of figure out more. If they want to have all these questions answered, they have to do their own work, because I'm still answering my own questions myself. I'm still growing, I'm still learning, I'm still figuring out who am I. Who is Nadia? I mean, it took me a minute to even get to Nadia. I mean when I came out, Nadia wasn't even in my head at the moment, I was like, I just
saw I'm a woman. I'm a woman. And then it was throwing and it was seeing my hair grow, it was seeing my face softened, it was seeing my body transform into the woman that I was that mirror. It was seeing that woman I always saw when I was younger come to life and fruition like it was. And then once once it was complete, once I felt like myself, I was like, that's Nadia. That's who I am. My
name is Nadia. And it was beautiful because even when my mom helped me live my name and everything, and we kind of like had like a saving my family, Like we were kind of sitting together like thinking about names, and I was like, guy's Nadia. My mom's idea was it's like, how about Nadia? And I was like, ooh, I kind of like her. And I then like later throughout that week, I was looking in the mirror, I said, yeah, that's me.
And I love this too because it also gave your mom, your family, like the opportunity to be a part of that naming process in the way that they had right when you.
Were born exactly, you know.
And so I feel almost as if, like in your rebirth, your family got to really also shift and change and transition as well. And I think that that's really really beautiful. Last question for you, Nadia is what advice do you give to people who are either struggling to come into their fullness of who they are and also share that fullness with other people. What advice do you give to them?
Oh, I would say to be ourselves and to walk into our fullness, as being a transperson is a statement in itself, and it is a huge step to make. It is scary, and once you walk out, girl, there ain't no going back, so you gotta make sure you're ready. And I told someone this, My favorite thing to tell someone is to shine like a star you were born
to be. I love saying that. I love telling people that what if I see, if I see the goodness of them, you gotta shine like a star you were born to be, because we're all born stars, and we're all in this huge, beautiful night sky that we live in every day. Some make compilations and some go shooting stars. But the thing is, it's like when you when you're going into it. I remember I expected all of my big moments to happen at the xac same moment. But
you have to remember that transitions are not always smooth. Yes, yeah, oh I ate that. Oh that was, Oh, oh wow, you gonna put yourself on the girl I was. Transitions are always are They're not always smooth. And if there's a bump, it's okay. You acknowledge it. As my high school teacher told me, recover and continue. You take it in. You gotta recover from it. You got hit, it's okay. You're gonna come back up. You're gonna keep going, and you are gonna keep going here to keep going no
matter what. Being ourselves is a huge statement, and the fact that you are choosing yourself is a beautiful thing, and you always have to remember that being yourself is the best decision you could do. At least for me, choosing myself, choosing my womanhood, choosing to leave my house as Nadia was the best I could have ever made in my life. Because now I walk with my headheld high. I walk in spaces knowing, look at me, I'm that girl. I am Nadia.
Let me tell you something, if fashion does not work out, then you move yourself into motivational speaker and life coach. Because I know, I'm serious. It is truly inspiring to see somebody that is so young and so in tuned and so aligned with themselves like it really is inspiring. And I just I want to thank you for making the time for WOKF and I want to thank you for making your life a testimonial for others to be able to follow. I really appreciate you.
Thank you so much, you know, and thank you for having me and giving me this platform. I really appreciate it.
That is it for me today, dear friends on wok F. As always, power to the people and to all the people. Power, get woke and stay woke as fuck.