Our "It Gets Better with..." series is a reimagined look and feel of our standard It Gets Better videos that mirror a shift in how the art of storytelling has evolved over the years. This inside look at our subjects takes viewers through their personal stories in an honest way. and feels reflective of where today’s LGBTQ+ youth are: constantly evolving, consistently learning, and purposefully bold in being unapologetically themselves.
With the first video of this reimagined take premiering in July of 2022, we have added an additional four videos that reflect the diversity, equity, and inclusion of the LGBTQ+ community.
For casting, we focused on subjects that we knew offered a variety of perspectives based on their identities. For the first video, we centered Chella Man, who identifies as "curious, stubborn, Deaf, transmasculine, genderqueer, Jewish, and Chinese. Chella (he/they) is an artist, director, author, and philosopher.
The next video put a spotlight on Dee Trannybear, an "artivist" that found themselves through hair and makeup, but saw that the beauty industry didn't really cater to trans and nonbinary clients...so they co-founded a company that does just that.
Next, we highlighted April Kae - from learning to play bass at 12, to posting one Cardi B cover that got over a million views, and now attending the Grammy's - bi bass player April Kae creates abundance and changes vibes when she walks into a room.
After April Kae, we followed up with a feature on Hippy Potter. Growing up, cartoonist, dancer and model Thaddeus (aka Hippy Potter) noticed a lack of Black, queer representation in the media - so now, he creates it himself. His projects and illustrations spread love and light - and ended up on a box of Pop Tarts.
And our final video released July 2023, centered Olivia Julianna. From growing up religious in a Mexican family, to raising over $2 million for abortion rights, to becoming the Director of Politics at Gen Z for Change, Olivia Julianna knows a thing or two about being an effective activist. She spoke about the intersections between her activism and her Latina and queer identities - and we got a peek into her closet, too.
Across the five videos on Youtube, the series has received over 27,000 views on the platform. Chella Man posted the video to his Instagram and garnered an additional 96.4k views with 17.3k likes and 92 comments. Dee Trannybear's Instagram post received 12.3k views with 617 likes and 115 comments.
