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0:46

Hello and welcome back to the iHeart podcast

0:48

Speakers series. I'm Will Pearson, President of

0:50

iHeart Podcasts. As you know, we like to get

0:52

together each week and talk to some of our favorite

0:54

creators. I'm super excited about

0:56

this week's conversation. We're talking

0:58

to an advocate, a renowned

1:00

speaker, creator, somebody who

1:02

sort of does it all and now can

1:04

add to this the creator or founder

1:07

and executive producer of a newslate

1:09

of podcast for us. Also excited

1:12

to talk about her new memoir. Like I said, She's

1:14

up to many, many different things, but does them

1:16

all well. Raquel Willis, thanks for

1:18

spending some time with us.

1:19

Yes, thank you will for having me on Rikeul.

1:22

You're always on the go. I'm curious where

1:24

have you been most recently? What have you been up to?

1:26

What have I been up to?

1:28

Honestly enough, I have not been traveling

1:31

outside of New York much, but I've

1:33

been all over in New York. It's

1:36

what I call gala season. So there are

1:38

a lot of nonprofits that I'm

1:40

connected to that have had events.

1:42

Last night was the Misfoundations

1:45

event, so we had some powerful

1:47

testimonies of like community advocates

1:50

for women's rights and gender liberation,

1:53

the Duchess and Duke of Sussex

1:55

where they are.

1:56

So that was very interesting to be a.

1:58

Tap every day of just hanging out with the Duke and Duchess.

2:01

Not at all, So that was cool.

2:04

And then a few days ago was the Glad

2:06

Media Awards and I was excited that powerful

2:09

project I worked on with some amazing people

2:11

at Logo TV and a

2:14

bunch of like trans Youth who are

2:16

very powerful and ferocious. We

2:18

won an award for the Trans

2:20

Youth town Hall. So it's been

2:22

a great last few days.

2:24

Oh that's huge, congratulations and it's

2:26

been really fun to see

2:28

all the recognition you've been getting for so much

2:30

of the work you've done. You know, we mentioned at the top

2:32

here that you've been a longtime advocate

2:35

in the LGBTQ space.

2:36

It was part of why we started these conversations

2:38

because.

2:39

Of much of your writing and other work

2:41

in the community of the LGBTQ

2:43

youth and just individuals, and we

2:46

wanted to start this late of shows called

2:48

out Spoken, dedicated to creators

2:50

within the community, and you

2:52

were the first person that we thought we need to reach out

2:54

to and start talking about this to really try

2:56

to build this up. And here we are a

2:59

few months ago we announced Outspoken.

3:01

We have an incredible roster of shows, and I

3:03

want to talk a little bit about those. But I'm

3:05

curious what made you decide to jump in and

3:08

join us as we decided to start out Spoken.

3:10

Yeah, well, I mean it's always

3:13

been important for me to kind of marry

3:16

together storytelling and social

3:18

justice. Now, of course, our slate

3:20

is not all activisty

3:23

in the way that I may have been in my

3:25

work in most of my career, but I do

3:27

think that there's something here around

3:30

elevating the voices of the marginalized

3:32

that can't be understated,

3:35

and especially in a time when the

3:37

LGBTQ plus community

3:39

is so discussed in news

3:41

media of course discussed whether

3:44

positively or negatively, within

3:46

politics, unfortunately mostly negatively.

3:49

We need more of these

3:51

platforms for LGBTQ plus

3:54

folks to speak authentically, to speak

3:56

vulnerably.

3:57

And to have our full.

3:59

Lives shared with the world and

4:01

not shared through someone else's leans.

4:04

What was exciting about joining the

4:06

team of outspoken Jay Brunson,

4:08

Beth and mccolllouso. But

4:10

yeah, so they have also just been

4:13

such a warm welcome wagon

4:15

and back into the iheartspace.

4:17

So yeah, we've been really excited to launch

4:19

this.

4:20

In some of the early conversations, we talked

4:22

about the fact that in building a slate like

4:24

this, it's super important for us

4:27

to recognize the diversity even

4:29

within this late of podcast that

4:31

we can't launch you know, two, three, four podcasts

4:33

and sort of call it a day, that we really need

4:35

to think about the breath here. Can you speak to that a little

4:38

bit, just sort of thinking about that as we develop

4:40

new programming across the slate.

4:42

Yeah, well, I think what I

4:45

have often noticed is that

4:47

we have this kind of tendency

4:50

to have these cycles of

4:52

saying we're going to support communities

4:55

on the margin, support creators on the

4:57

margins, and then unfortunately,

4:59

though those resources may dry up,

5:01

you know, after maybe a season. And

5:04

I've experienced that in various

5:07

roles.

5:08

Most of the LGBTQ.

5:09

People that I know, brilliant people,

5:12

have experienced that as well. And so

5:14

I think what we miss is that it's

5:17

not about just one time

5:19

amplifying a voice or a

5:22

perspective. It's about a long

5:24

term investment in that

5:26

person, but also understanding

5:28

that it's just not simply about the amplification.

5:31

It's also about resourcing

5:34

and banding the wealth of

5:36

resources available to

5:38

that person on the margins, because oftentimes

5:41

we're facing more barriers

5:43

when it comes to building up

5:45

our platforms or building up our

5:48

space in the professional sphere.

5:50

So I think that's what it is. It's a

5:53

long term commitment.

5:54

And that's also what I was excited about

5:56

in joining Outspoken.

5:58

Yeah, it's one of those things where we've you know, every

6:00

single month, we want to keep building, keep adding,

6:02

keep growing, and as we think about the

6:04

mix. You know, one of the things that we've talked

6:06

about is you try to find this balance

6:09

of of course, you need some big names

6:11

in the space in order to draw attention

6:13

to what we're doing and to give promotion to some

6:15

of the other shows. But then a big part of the mission

6:18

is trying to elevate new voices, trying

6:20

to make sure that we're breaking new creators into

6:22

the space and giving opportunities to those that

6:24

have great ideas.

6:25

They're super talented.

6:26

They may not have five million social media

6:29

followers or something like that, but could you talk

6:31

to just a little bit about some of the balance of the

6:33

shows that we have, maybe even you know, pointing out

6:35

some of the shows that we have in the slate.

6:37

Yeah.

6:37

So one thing I mean

6:39

that I'm so excited that you brought up is that it is

6:42

that balance of having

6:44

these bigger names who can you

6:46

know, draw more attention onto.

6:48

The work that we're doing.

6:49

Yeah, also using that positioning

6:52

to elevate lesser known

6:54

folks.

6:55

Right, we're still doing very brilliant and

6:57

powerful work.

6:58

We're lucky on our that

7:00

we had a lot of creators who are already

7:02

doing powerful things. So we have you know, our partnerships

7:05

with groups like Big Money Players.

7:08

Will Seller's Network, Yeah.

7:10

Yes, and School of Humans

7:12

and so many others.

7:13

So we had shows like last Culturistas,

7:16

who you know, if you're in podcast

7:18

at all, there's no way to ignore

7:21

the powerful platform that they have built.

7:23

Also have had some important

7:26

debuts this year, like Rosie

7:28

O'Donnell is back right with Onward.

7:31

She's such a titan of LGBTQ

7:34

representation for me as a kid in the nineties,

7:37

so I love that we're able to pay

7:39

it forward. Also Frosted Tips

7:41

with Lance Bats who doesn't love a

7:44

little boy band connection, so that's

7:46

great. And then more recently

7:48

we've had the best podcast ever with

7:51

Raven Simone and Miranda. So

7:53

we have some of these big names,

7:55

and I think it's also important to think about

7:57

those particular figures, right, because

8:00

they have had these long careers

8:03

where there was a point where maybe

8:05

they weren't able to openly share

8:08

their full truths, right. So

8:10

I think it's so beautiful that we have this

8:13

platform now that not only is bringing

8:15

in new creators, but also offering

8:17

opportunity for folks who have not

8:19

had that support in their

8:21

fullness throughout their careers and those

8:24

three in particular showcase that.

8:26

And then of course we have folks like Laverne

8:28

Cox and Roseanne Gay who are in the Mix

8:30

as well, so we have.

8:31

Those powerful creators.

8:33

But I'm also excited, of course

8:35

about a forthcoming podcast

8:37

by an amazing young creator

8:40

named Jordan Gozalez, who I actually

8:42

randomly met on the street walking

8:44

to the Brooklyn Museum like two weeks ago.

8:46

Wow.

8:47

Yeah, they were just like on the street. They

8:49

were like Raquel. I was like Hi.

8:52

They actually just graduated from

8:55

Higher ed So that's exciting, you know. And their

8:57

podcast is going to be coming out

8:59

soon and focused on LGBTQ

9:02

plus love stories throughout history, so

9:04

that's amazing. And then we also

9:07

have other talent like Woke af

9:09

Led, the incomparable

9:12

Danielle Moody, great podcast, Yeah,

9:15

just so unapologetic and

9:17

how she talks about the current state

9:19

of politics.

9:20

She actually was the host

9:22

of the Miss Foundation gala last night,

9:24

so I saw her in the Mixed two.

9:26

So it's a it's a community affair,

9:29

you know.

9:29

Yeah, we're in.

9:30

Spaces with folks all the time,

9:32

and I'm excited that we get to bring

9:35

some of that warmth into the space fantastic.

9:54

So you're not only an executive producer on the

9:56

slate, but you're also a creator of a couple

9:59

of shows.

9:59

Can you tell talk a little bit about the shows that you've been

10:01

working on.

10:02

Yeah, So, I mean, I have to

10:04

say that I am

10:07

so blessed to have such strong,

10:10

invested teams, and so we've

10:12

kind of been in the mix. It's also been

10:15

a busy time on that front as well, kind

10:17

of gearing up with the recording of both

10:19

of those podcasts. So the first is

10:21

adapting the trans Obituaryes project,

10:24

which I created as an editorial

10:26

project when I was executive editor Out

10:28

magazine.

10:29

Center of that story is talking.

10:32

About the epidemic of violence that often

10:34

plagues black and brown trans women,

10:37

the story of Leyleen

10:39

Polanco, twenty seven year old

10:41

who died in Rockers custody,

10:43

and kind of the movement that she sparked

10:46

through her experience there.

10:48

So just working with a powerful

10:51

team. I'm working with Dylan you

10:53

Were and Joey Patt who are in

10:55

the iHeart fam and they are such

10:58

phenomenal research and doing

11:00

a great job with the casting and everything.

11:02

So got a great team there.

11:03

And then my up team is with Queer

11:06

Diaries, which is a show elevating

11:09

the experiences of young queer

11:11

youth in states that have a lot of

11:13

this anti LGBTQ legislation

11:16

moving there, and so working with Julia

11:18

Furlin and Jordan Bailey

11:20

and so we're we're having a great time,

11:23

even though we are kind of folding

11:25

the complexity of tragedy and

11:27

transformation and joy with

11:30

all.

11:30

Of these stories.

11:31

So we're going to be releasing some

11:33

big ones this year, and I'm so excited

11:35

that iHeart has taken me back

11:38

into the fold to try and make all of this

11:40

happen.

11:41

Yeah, we're thrilled to have you here.

11:42

And those are two super important projects

11:44

and projects that we're honored to be a part

11:46

of, and much more to come. I did mention

11:48

earlier that you've been working on

11:50

a memoir and this must

11:52

have been just a huge undertaking. I can't

11:55

imagine what it's like to go through this process

11:57

and it will release in the fall of this

11:59

year.

12:00

So can you tell us a little bit.

12:01

About that experience and what led you

12:03

to decide. I mean, you've led a super

12:05

interesting life, even though you're still quite young,

12:07

You've led a very interesting life to this point.

12:09

And those experiences are certainly worthy

12:11

of sharing. But I'm curious, you know, sort of what

12:13

led you to the decision to write this

12:16

and what's it been.

12:16

Like, Yeah, well I'll be thirty

12:19

two next week, just to put it in

12:21

reference for folks, and you

12:23

know, the memoir writing process,

12:26

I just don't think that there's really any

12:28

way to prepare for it. You know, you

12:30

kind of go through all of these different

12:33

cycles, which I think people realize.

12:35

You know, you have your visions and everything.

12:36

You're trying to get the just get as

12:39

much as you can on the page, And for me

12:41

as a writer, it's kind of like getting all the

12:43

clay down and then kind of chiseling away

12:45

at Okay, well, what is the story that we're excavating.

12:48

Here and the risk it takes to bloom

12:50

on?

12:51

Life and Liberation is about my

12:53

experience growing up as a young black

12:55

kid in the American

12:58

South and Agusta, Georgia, trying

13:00

to understand, well, why do I

13:02

feel so out of place? Why

13:04

do I feel, you know, different from

13:07

other kids, you know, lo and Behold.

13:09

It was because I was transgender,

13:11

and that was something that I didn't really

13:13

have language for until I was

13:15

in college.

13:16

At the University of Georgia. But along

13:18

the way.

13:19

I at least acknowledged

13:21

my queerness as much as I could in my youth,

13:24

and my parents very traditional

13:27

Black Catholic parents. I was

13:29

very blessed to come from a two parent, you

13:31

know, middle class household, and

13:33

also had all of these expectations

13:36

that I was just not cut out to fit

13:38

into, and so I had to really work

13:41

with them to figure out, well, what

13:43

is my path going to be? And

13:46

yeah, I dealt with some experiences

13:49

like my father passing away, which

13:51

was kind of a catalyst for me to dig deeper

13:53

into my identity and own it. And that's

13:56

kind of the first half. And then the second half

13:58

is really my experience as

14:00

a fully realized black trans

14:02

woman trying to figure

14:04

out what my media career could be

14:07

in the middle of the rise of

14:09

the movement for black lives, the rise

14:12

transgender visibility, the rise

14:14

of public discussions about feminism

14:16

in a new way. So that's it,

14:19

in a nutshell. I can't believe I even got it that

14:21

short this time.

14:22

I honestly I cannot wait to read

14:24

it, and I can.

14:24

Imagine how powerful.

14:26

And helpful it will be for so many others.

14:28

To read the memoir and you know, as

14:31

we think sort of back to the podcast late,

14:33

the role that shows and conversations

14:36

can play, or you know, we think about

14:38

gen Z, or we think about younger people

14:41

that are going through their own self

14:43

discovery and just exploration

14:45

and thought and as stressful as youth

14:47

can be, as it is to also know that

14:50

you're dealing with things that you know, sometimes

14:52

society doesn't make any easier for all

14:54

of us, right, And I'm curious to get

14:56

your thoughts on the role that you think some

14:59

of these podcas casts can play,

15:01

you know, in society and for specifically

15:04

a younger generation in a way that

15:06

you know, maybe you or anyone older

15:08

didn't have access to when you were growing up.

15:11

I'm just curious to get your thoughts on that.

15:13

Yeah, well, you know, I

15:15

think one of the kind of talking

15:17

points we hear a lot right now is

15:19

the rise in LGBTQ

15:23

identification by gen

15:25

Z. So they are by and

15:27

far the most queer, the

15:29

most trans the most non binary

15:32

generation to exist, and there

15:34

are stats that hover between

15:37

one and five to one in four Gen

15:39

Z adults identify within the community.

15:42

And I think we're going to continue to

15:44

see more and more folks embrace

15:46

their identities, and that's a big

15:48

part of it. So I think to your point,

15:51

you know, we are in a particular time

15:53

where gen Z is kind

15:56

of able to reap some of the

15:58

benefits of visibility in

16:00

terms of like over and

16:03

I'll say this to someone born in the nineties,

16:05

you know, who experienced that. For gen

16:07

Z, there's a lot more opportunity

16:10

to share your truth.

16:12

But with that comes being

16:14

more of a target in a way. You know.

16:16

I often get the question, do

16:19

I think it's easier to be openly trans

16:21

now than say, ten years ago when I

16:23

first shared my truth in college?

16:25

And I think that's hard

16:28

to say, because at least then,

16:30

you know, I didn't have so many eyes on me, I didn't

16:32

have such political baggage,

16:35

you know, all these kind of stereotypes,

16:37

tropes and assumptions about who

16:39

I am. And I think that that is

16:41

what our podcasts

16:44

have an opportunity to kind of cut

16:46

off, is that those ideas are

16:48

stereotypes, right. We actually have an

16:50

opportunity here to expand

16:53

the palette of stories.

16:56

And so when someone meets a.

16:58

Trans person or meets a queer

17:00

person, we don't want them to think

17:02

that they know the story because they don't. Our

17:04

podcasts are just giving folks more

17:07

colors to play with on that palette

17:09

to understand other folks that they don't

17:11

know.

17:11

Yeah, couldn't agree more. And I love

17:13

the start that we're off too. It's an amazing

17:16

roster of podcasts. But I think the thing that's

17:18

that much more exciting is that there's so

17:21

much more to come. You know, we're going to be launching

17:23

dozens more podcasts over the

17:25

next year or so, with more to come after

17:27

that, of course. But we genuinely appreciate

17:29

your leadership. You're involvedment everything that you're

17:31

doing here within iHeart and to help launch

17:34

and grow Outspoken, and wish you the

17:36

best is you try to wrap up this work on this memoir.

17:38

I know it's not easy, but Raquel, thanks

17:40

for spending some time with us today.

17:42

Thank you so much. Always a pleasure,

17:44

and.

17:44

Thanks everybody for tuning in. We'll see you again

17:46

next week.

17:56

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