Speaker 1: Good morning, Peepsen, and welcome to wok F Daily with
Speaker 1: Meet your Girl Danielle Moody. Pre recording from the home
Speaker 1: Bunker as I am off today for the Labor Day holiday,
Speaker 1: but as always we leave you with great interviews and
Speaker 1: content for you to enjoy while hopefully you were out
Speaker 1: enjoying the last remnants of summer, even though summer is
Speaker 1: unofficially over until you know the fall equinox, but whatever, folks,
Speaker 1: I'm excited to bring you an interview today with Nadio Lopez,
Speaker 1: who is a participant in glads Here We Are campaign.
Speaker 1: If you remember, several weeks back, we interviewed another participant
Speaker 1: in the Here We Are campaign, which highlights the stories
Speaker 1: of trans people in this country through their own lens
Speaker 1: and their own stories, which is incredibly important. Oftentimes, too
Speaker 1: often trans people are spoken about in terms of statistics
Speaker 1: and headlines and devastation and murder, but not through the
Speaker 1: lens of joy, happiness, health, acceptance, and love. And so
Speaker 1: today's conversation with Nadia, who participated in the campaign and
Speaker 1: is a full time student, she talks about her story
Speaker 1: and I got to tell you it was incredibly moving
Speaker 1: and just so energizing to speak to such a young,
Speaker 1: fabulous person who just knows who they are, and I
Speaker 1: think is just such a beacon for young people, young
Speaker 1: queer people, but young people in general, for the courage
Speaker 1: and just like beauty that she shows of what it
Speaker 1: means to live in your skin. And so I really
Speaker 1: hope that you enjoy my conversation with Nadia Lopez and
Speaker 1: you get some inspiration from it. Folks. I am very
Speaker 1: happy to welcome to wok F Daily Nadia Lopez, who
Speaker 1: participated in the Here We Are campaign that GLAD rolled
Speaker 1: out to showcase the stories of transgender people in the
Speaker 1: United States because we know that over the past several years,
Speaker 1: the trans community, particularly trans people of color, have been
Speaker 1: under attack. There have been I think, my god, I
Speaker 1: must have lost count over five hundred or some odd
Speaker 1: policy measures that have been drawn up to kind of
Speaker 1: invisibilize trans people. Nadia, tell us a bit about yourself
Speaker 1: and why you decided to get involved in the Here
Speaker 1: We Are campaign.
Speaker 2: Hello everyone, Nadia Lopez. I am from Miami, Florida, born
Speaker 2: and raised. I'm keeping Palestinian trans woman, very proud of
Speaker 2: all my heritage and everything. So I went to high school.
Speaker 2: I started my transition in high school during the pandemic,
Speaker 2: and that was you know, that time for me was
Speaker 2: very of like figuring out who I was. You know,
Speaker 2: we were all locked down. We were all like stuck
Speaker 2: in one room, and we had like really think about
Speaker 2: so much stuff. When you're like alone with your own thoughts,
Speaker 2: so much can come up. So I started transitioning during
Speaker 2: the lockdown. And then my senior year was the first
Speaker 2: year back when we were in person. So that was
Speaker 2: my first year back ass Nadia. In this high school,
Speaker 2: everyone was like, oh my god, you know she came
Speaker 2: back home.
Speaker 1: Girl.
Speaker 2: I'm like, hey, everyone, how we do it? But also
Speaker 2: that same year that was the same y I don't
Speaker 2: say gay was passed too, so that was the same Yaing.
Speaker 2: I also applied to be a change maker in the
Speaker 2: Alliance for LGBTQ Youth down in South Slorida. It is
Speaker 2: a leadership position. It was like a group of clear
Speaker 2: youth that would get together and would try to work
Speaker 2: on our own advocacy and our own leadership skills to
Speaker 2: put all that effort at work that we've been working
Speaker 2: on together into the policies and into advocacy into South Slorida.
Speaker 2: I was so grateful when Glad reached out to me.
Speaker 2: This whole process was like two years in the making,
Speaker 2: kind of because I got my first email from them
Speaker 2: when it was like the middle of my freshman year
Speaker 2: in college. I'm right now going into my junior year.
Speaker 2: I go to school for fashion design and for performing arts.
Speaker 2: Those are my two passions. I love everything about art,
Speaker 2: and I've always strived to make sure that inclusivity and
Speaker 2: especially with trans people, is brought to those realms of art.
Speaker 2: So I got my first email like the middle of
Speaker 2: my first year, and first of all, I was like,
Speaker 2: first of all, Glad, Okay, hey.
Speaker 1: Glad, Glad.
Speaker 2: I was like, oh my god. Like Glad turned out
Speaker 2: to me like this. Like first of all, I thought
Speaker 2: it was a SPA. I was like, this can't be real,
Speaker 2: Like no, no, no. But then I really looked into it
Speaker 2: and it was like they really wanted to tell a
Speaker 2: story of just a trans person and them in real life.
Speaker 2: And I love because they wanted to include me and
Speaker 2: my dad. My dad is my biggest support. I love
Speaker 2: him and Dad. He's like my best friend. And if
Speaker 2: y'all see the video, he is in there speaking alongside
Speaker 2: my mother as well. I'm very good, but I have
Speaker 2: very supportive parents. So when we got onto the calls
Speaker 2: with the team and with everything, we were just talking
Speaker 2: about like what is kind of like my angal you know,
Speaker 2: like what do I kind of want to do with
Speaker 2: these PSAs with just lead my story? And I remember
Speaker 2: telling them I was like, I want to show the
Speaker 2: trans joy. I want to show yes, a trans woman,
Speaker 2: a young trans woman, especially a young, a brown, young
Speaker 2: trans woman, come on, let's speak on it, smiling with
Speaker 2: her family, having fun with her friends, and just enjoying life.
Speaker 2: Because we are constantly seeing in the media, whether it
Speaker 2: is a TV show, a movie, politics, we see on
Speaker 2: all these videos, we are always seeing a trans zoone
Speaker 2: being knocked down, yep. And I want to be that change.
Speaker 2: I do not want to see any more of these.
Speaker 1: These s's like trauma porn, right, Like it's not to
Speaker 1: say that the bad and horrific things don't happen, but
Speaker 1: they're not the only part of the stick exactly.
Speaker 2: And I feel like a good example of media that
Speaker 2: balances out really well is post. I love posts. I
Speaker 2: feel like they balance out the hard truth of being
Speaker 2: a trans woman at that time, plus the joy of
Speaker 2: having family and having recognition and validation of one another
Speaker 2: from the community. I think that's a good example of
Speaker 2: balancing the two. But still it's like you still see
Speaker 2: like all these especially in media, you see if there's
Speaker 2: a trans character, they are known for being just trans,
Speaker 2: that they're all that's their only personality trait, and their
Speaker 2: whole storyline is like I was outcasted, I was this,
Speaker 2: I was that wow girl, I like I literally told
Speaker 2: them so straight up. I was like, I want happiness.
Speaker 2: I want our videos to be of us smiling. I
Speaker 2: want the joy. Because being trans is such a beautiful experience.
Speaker 2: And with media and with all of these like polities
Speaker 2: going up, people think that being trans is like so
Speaker 2: hard and like so like you know, hurtful on your life,
Speaker 2: and of course, like we have those moments in our lives,
Speaker 2: but being trans as well is so rewarding and so beautiful.
Speaker 2: I love being trans. It is like a part of me. Like,
Speaker 2: but first of all, I love being trans, but it's
Speaker 2: not the only thing I.
Speaker 1: Am, right, right, You're also an artist, like you're also
Speaker 1: a person of color. Yeah, I think that it's always
Speaker 1: so important. The thing about media in a lot of
Speaker 1: ways is that it flattens people. It flattens people into
Speaker 1: boxes that can be checked off. And so I think
Speaker 1: that what is beautiful about the campaign that Glad did
Speaker 1: is that it is revolutionary. It shouldn't be, but it
Speaker 1: is revolutionary to show trans people in their fullness, to
Speaker 1: not just be a stat to not just be a headline,
Speaker 1: but to show trans people that are loved. And I
Speaker 1: think that that is what that is what your video
Speaker 1: did is to say, like, I am trans and I
Speaker 1: am loved. I have a family that loves me. Because
Speaker 1: I think too often we hear the stories of the
Speaker 1: trans homelessness, right the youth homelessness, and being kicked out
Speaker 1: of your home. So talk to us about your family,
Speaker 1: your family support, and why it was important for you
Speaker 1: to showcase that.
Speaker 2: Uh, I mean, my family's apartments a world to me.
Speaker 2: I remember my first conversation specifically with my parents. They
Speaker 2: were very confused. I mean, my mom is a Hispanic
Speaker 2: Arab woman. My dad is Hispanic as well, from New York.
Speaker 2: They both were raised in you know, conservative lifestyles just
Speaker 2: because of their cultures, their how they were raised around
Speaker 2: people at that time. But they were raised my mom
Speaker 2: came from Cuba, like in the sixties, so all these
Speaker 2: things like that was in their head when they when
Speaker 2: they first heard me say I'm a woman, they were
Speaker 2: very confused.
Speaker 1: How old were you?
Speaker 2: I was fifteen. I was fifteen years old. I'm now twenty.
Speaker 2: So it's been five years. Yeah, oh my god, it's
Speaker 2: been fine.
Speaker 1: Five years.
Speaker 2: That's crazy. That's so crazy to think about. Oh my god.
Speaker 2: But so I remember telling them. We were sitting on
Speaker 2: the couch and I was like, I need to tell
Speaker 2: you guys, I'm a woman. My dad was just quiet.
Speaker 2: My mom was like, what are you talking about, very confused.
Speaker 2: It's sook been mom a little bit, a little longer
Speaker 2: than my dad. Surprisingly, I was a little confused with that.
Speaker 2: But my dad did the research. He read about young
Speaker 2: trans trans women. He went to like focus grow groups,
Speaker 2: he went to p FLAG, he went to those those groups.
Speaker 2: And now he's like on the board of the Florida.
Speaker 1: Tar Okay, okay, Dad, Yeah, come on dad.
Speaker 2: We love dad. And then right when you know, my
Speaker 2: dad started going to these meetings my mom, like all
Speaker 2: this love that my mom had towards me started coming through,
Speaker 2: and then it was all that validation of you know
Speaker 2: her helping me, like my mom bothering my first dress.
Speaker 2: I remember that moment that she helped me pick out
Speaker 2: my first I don't know if it was a dress
Speaker 2: or it's hop whoever, my first affirming piece of clothing. Yeah, yes,
Speaker 2: she helped me pick it out. And it was like
Speaker 2: the moment of her looking at me, her buying it
Speaker 2: and being like, I love you.
Speaker 1: Oh I'm gonna cry.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's I love them. I love I love my
Speaker 2: parents very much and they love me so much. And
Speaker 2: I remember my even my dad saying it was either
Speaker 2: I accept my child for who she is or I
Speaker 2: lose my daughter. Mm hmm. And I told him straight up,
Speaker 2: I was like, whatever y'all do, I'm gonna still be
Speaker 2: me if you support me or not. I'm to put
Speaker 2: myself first. I'm going to be myself. And they just decided,
Speaker 2: you know, to join the bandwagon.
Speaker 1: Do you hear from other young people about how your
Speaker 1: story and your advocacy has helped them? Yes, right, because
Speaker 1: it's been five years, you know, for you, it's both
Speaker 1: a long time and a short time.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Do you hear from other young people who may be
Speaker 1: on the precipice of coming out to their family having
Speaker 1: these conversations. Yeah, and how do you kind of walk
Speaker 1: them through it?
Speaker 2: Oh my god. I mean I hear stories constantly. A
Speaker 2: specific story was I was Rizzo in my senior year's musical.
Speaker 2: I was the first transformant casted in my school. And
Speaker 2: after the opening night, I came to school the next
Speaker 2: morning and a girl came out to me and said,
Speaker 2: seeing you as Rizzo in your authenticity made me finally
Speaker 2: walk in these halls today as myself, And she like
Speaker 2: came out to me and she was telling me like,
Speaker 2: I'm trance as well, and hearing you and seeing you
Speaker 2: helped me being myself now walking these halls. I was
Speaker 2: seventeen at that time when I was crying my eyes out,
Speaker 2: Like it was like seven in the morning. I'm crying,
Speaker 2: and I'm like, oh, we're gonna have to go to English,
Speaker 2: like gro what. But it was just a moment I'm
Speaker 2: never gonna forget. And I'm always hearing stories about people
Speaker 2: my age and younger with their families and stuff and
Speaker 2: asking me like what should I do. I always tell
Speaker 2: people who ask me that question patience. It's so hard. Ooh,
Speaker 2: it's so hard to be patient, But especially when you're transitioning.
Speaker 2: You are going through so much. You're going through so
Speaker 2: much mentally, you're going through so much physically. It's like
Speaker 2: you're basically coming out of a cocoon. You are like
Speaker 2: everything you are pushing to get out constantly. It feels
Speaker 2: like we're trying to leave this old past self while
Speaker 2: trying to balance still be a human being. And look
Speaker 2: like when they tell me I'm just so frustrated with
Speaker 2: my parents and so first, I just don't shareway I
Speaker 2: get it. I'm like, girl, I get you, I get you.
Speaker 2: I was frustrated my parents too in the beginning. It
Speaker 2: took them, like, even though they're so supportive and they
Speaker 2: love me so much right now, it took them a
Speaker 2: hot minute. And I'm always gonna give them their flowers
Speaker 2: for being the most supportive parents ever, and I love
Speaker 2: them so much, but I'm never gonna forget the times
Speaker 2: where it was it was stressful, because I mean, we
Speaker 2: all grow, and they grew. So it's like I understand
Speaker 2: that that moment.
Speaker 1: And grace is important right to provide, and I understand it,
Speaker 1: like we always want people to be where we are
Speaker 1: as we're moving through our own life journey. But I
Speaker 1: think that it's also important to provide people with grace
Speaker 1: and give them the space to get to where you're going, right, Like,
Speaker 1: I'm not telling people to you know, shrink themselves right
Speaker 1: or dim themselves in order to get people to where
Speaker 1: they're going. But I do think that patience really in
Speaker 1: this context, really is a virtue.
Speaker 2: Yeah, because it's also the play Devil's Advocate. On my parents' side,
Speaker 2: it was like they had a son for fourteen years
Speaker 2: and all of a sudden they had to now go
Speaker 2: through their own transition. It's like they had to go
Speaker 2: through their mental transition of now seeing their son now
Speaker 2: as their daughter. So it took them a second, but
Speaker 2: it was that great, as you said, the grace that
Speaker 2: I let, I gave them to have their moment to process,
Speaker 2: to understand, to do their own research. So at the
Speaker 2: end of the day, the only you know, we could
Speaker 2: do is exist. We could teach as much as we can,
Speaker 2: but we are not We are not a girl. I
Speaker 2: don't have a doctorate, I have not got PhD. And
Speaker 2: this thing. I could just tell you my experience and
Speaker 2: I could tell you my story and that's it. But
Speaker 2: when it comes to learning about the community, that's kind
Speaker 2: of on them to kind of figure out more. If
Speaker 2: they want to have all these questions answered, they have
Speaker 2: to do their own work, because I'm still answering my
Speaker 2: own questions myself. I'm still growing, I'm still learning, I'm
Speaker 2: still figuring out who am I. Who is Nadia? I mean,
Speaker 2: it took me a minute to even get to Nadia.
Speaker 2: I mean when I came out, Nadia wasn't even in
Speaker 2: my head at the moment, I was like, I just
Speaker 2: saw I'm a woman. I'm a woman. And then it
Speaker 2: was throwing and it was seeing my hair grow, it
Speaker 2: was seeing my face softened, it was seeing my body
Speaker 2: transform into the woman that I was that mirror. It
Speaker 2: was seeing that woman I always saw when I was
Speaker 2: younger come to life and fruition like it was. And
Speaker 2: then once once it was complete, once I felt like myself,
Speaker 2: I was like, that's Nadia. That's who I am. My
Speaker 2: name is Nadia. And it was beautiful because even when
Speaker 2: my mom helped me live my name and everything, and
Speaker 2: we kind of like had like a saving my family,
Speaker 2: Like we were kind of sitting together like thinking about names,
Speaker 2: and I was like, guy's Nadia. My mom's idea was
Speaker 2: it's like, how about Nadia? And I was like, ooh,
Speaker 2: I kind of like her. And I then like later
Speaker 2: throughout that week, I was looking in the mirror, I said, yeah,
Speaker 2: that's me.
Speaker 1: And I love this too because it also gave your mom,
Speaker 1: your family, like the opportunity to be a part of
Speaker 1: that naming process in the way that they had right
Speaker 1: when you.
Speaker 2: Were born exactly, you know.
Speaker 1: And so I feel almost as if, like in your rebirth,
Speaker 1: your family got to really also shift and change and
Speaker 1: transition as well. And I think that that's really really beautiful.
Speaker 1: Last question for you, Nadia is what advice do you
Speaker 1: give to people who are either struggling to come into
Speaker 1: their fullness of who they are and also share that
Speaker 1: fullness with other people. What advice do you give to them?
Speaker 2: Oh, I would say to be ourselves and to walk
Speaker 2: into our fullness, as being a transperson is a statement
Speaker 2: in itself, and it is a huge step to make.
Speaker 2: It is scary, and once you walk out, girl, there
Speaker 2: ain't no going back, so you gotta make sure you're ready.
Speaker 2: And I told someone this, My favorite thing to tell
Speaker 2: someone is to shine like a star you were born
Speaker 2: to be. I love saying that. I love telling people
Speaker 2: that what if I see, if I see the goodness
Speaker 2: of them, you gotta shine like a star you were
Speaker 2: born to be, because we're all born stars, and we're
Speaker 2: all in this huge, beautiful night sky that we live
Speaker 2: in every day. Some make compilations and some go shooting stars.
Speaker 2: But the thing is, it's like when you when you're
Speaker 2: going into it. I remember I expected all of my
Speaker 2: big moments to happen at the xac same moment. But
Speaker 2: you have to remember that transitions are not always smooth. Yes, yeah,
Speaker 2: oh I ate that. Oh that was, Oh, oh wow,
Speaker 2: you gonna put yourself on the girl I was. Transitions
Speaker 2: are always are They're not always smooth. And if there's
Speaker 2: a bump, it's okay. You acknowledge it. As my high
Speaker 2: school teacher told me, recover and continue. You take it in.
Speaker 2: You gotta recover from it. You got hit, it's okay.
Speaker 2: You're gonna come back up. You're gonna keep going, and
Speaker 2: you are gonna keep going here to keep going no
Speaker 2: matter what. Being ourselves is a huge statement, and the
Speaker 2: fact that you are choosing yourself is a beautiful thing,
Speaker 2: and you always have to remember that being yourself is
Speaker 2: the best decision you could do. At least for me,
Speaker 2: choosing myself, choosing my womanhood, choosing to leave my house
Speaker 2: as Nadia was the best I could have ever made
Speaker 2: in my life. Because now I walk with my headheld high.
Speaker 2: I walk in spaces knowing, look at me, I'm that girl.
Speaker 2: I am Nadia.
Speaker 1: Let me tell you something, if fashion does not work out,
Speaker 1: then you move yourself into motivational speaker and life coach.
Speaker 1: Because I know, I'm serious. It is truly inspiring to
Speaker 1: see somebody that is so young and so in tuned
Speaker 1: and so aligned with themselves like it really is inspiring.
Speaker 1: And I just I want to thank you for making
Speaker 1: the time for WOKF and I want to thank you
Speaker 1: for making your life a testimonial for others to be
Speaker 1: able to follow. I really appreciate you.
Speaker 2: Thank you so much, you know, and thank you for
Speaker 2: having me and giving me this platform. I really appreciate it.
Speaker 1: That is it for me today, dear friends on wok F.
Speaker 1: As always, power to the people and to all the people. Power,
Speaker 1: get woke and stay woke as fuck.