While GLAAD and the Communities of Color and Media team makes it a point to uplift the films, television, and media that highlight the full spectrum of Black LGBTQ experience, we also recognize the importance of uplifting the creators that make such representation possible.
Brandon Nicholas is one such creative working to amplify the visibility of Black queer stories and people. Brandon is a filmmaker, podcaster, and photographer based in NYC and a proud graduate of an HBCU, Morgan State University. In addition to producing and hosting the podcast Let’s Get Back to Queer, a mixxy audio-documentary podcast that celebrates and archives Black LGBTQ culture through narrative storytelling, Brandon is also the co-founder of The Each Other Project, a media platform that blends art and advocacy to foster community for BIPOC LGBTQ communities through short films and digital series.
In 2022, Brandon joined GLAAD’s inaugural cohort of the Equity in Media and Entertainment Initiative (EMEI). The initiative, which was designed to help address, and begin to resolve, the existing gap in equitable representation in entertainment, particularly when it comes to Black LGBTQ storytellers and people living with HIV (PLWH), supported a community of ten Black queer filmmakers as they developed short projects.
Brandon’s projects are rooted in amplifying the stories and images of Black queer and trans folx, and their passion shines through in the work they share with the world. This passion is most apparent in one of Brandon’s most recent projects, Miss Honey: The Catsuit, a short documentary that tells the story of the Jamaican artist Moi Renee, which was developed and supported in part by EMEI. The documentary is currently on the festival circuit and recently premiered in Austin, TX at aGLIFF Film Festival, one of the longest running queer festivals in the United States.
Brandon’s work and brilliance has previously appeared in publications such as TheBody, The New York Times, The LA Times, NBC, Ebony, The Advocate, and The Guardian. We’re grateful to be among the organizations and people recognizing Brandon’s work and were honored to sit down with them to talk about their work, inspirations, and advocacy.
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GLAAD: Hi Brandon! As always, we’re so excited to be in conversation with you and your brilliance. We here at GLAAD are well-acquainted with you, but can you share a bit about yourself for any readers who might not be familiar with your work? How would you characterize the work that’s important to you in one or two words?
Brandon Nicholas: Certainly. I’m a curious person with many ideas. My curiosities typically manifest themselves in some form of non-fiction storytelling, mainly through my podcast and documentaries. I’m also a producer and portrait photographer. My work is a pursuit towards joy, reclamation, understanding, and pleasure. Above all, I’m a Black faggot who aims to celebrate our culture and archive our legacies.
Given what I want people to take away from my projects, I would characterize my work as edutainment and liberatory.
Many of your projects, especially Let’s Get Back To Queer, Miss Honey: The Catsuit, and Communitea, use creative mediums like television, film, and podcasting, to share the stories that take care to center Black queer and trans experiences and perspectives. How did your creative journey begin, and what has your experience been utilizing creative methods to drive your advocacy?
I feel like my journey really began when I met my creative partner, now husband, Donja R. Love. When we started dating, we both complained about how the media wasn’t representing Black gay men properly – this is circa 2013 mind you. He’s a writer and I’d been bouncing around in TV/Film. In 2014 we formed The Each-Other Project and released our first web series, Modern Day Black Gay. I often half-jokingly tell him if we hadn’t met I’d be a regular degular butchqueen trying to appease and fit in with the straights.
Most of our work is scripted but I’ve always loved just giving people space to talk their shit, y’know. That came from my experience at Morgan State University. I went for journalism and realized I’d rather make documentaries instead of working in a newsroom, so I could tell stories that were important to me and not the not-so-great narratives they chose to push (especially in a city like Baltimore).
From the beginning, our creative work has been interwoven with advocacy. Modern Day Black Gay was created to offer a more nuanced and multidimensional perspective of being Black gay men from the POV of Black gay men. The characters in that show were fictional, but we also had a multiyear campaign during our early years that celebrated real-life modern-day butchqueens with photoshoots, articles, and video interviews. All of our work exists, I believe, to subvert, educate, or expand perceptions around what it means to be Black queer and trans.
Most recently, you were part of GLAAD’s inaugural cohort of the Equity in Media and Entertainment Initiative (EMEI), a program that supported a group of ten Black LGBTQ creatives with funding for a creative project. Can you tell us a bit about your project and what inspired you to be a champion of this particular story?
Definitely. But before that, I want to thank you, Ty, Julian, and DaShawn for cultivating EMEI in the first place. This is truly phenomenal and transformational work y’all are doing! Especially with the music cohort. Thank y’all.
At EMEI, I worked on a proof of concept short film for a feature documentary I’m directing on Caribbean Artist Moi Renee. The short film is about how Fashion Designer and Ballroom Icon Douglas Says created his now legendary cut-out catsuit and the origins of Moi wearing the catsuit for a televised performance of his hit song, “Miss Honey.”
The initial inspiration was, again, my curiosity. While working on volume 1 of Let’s Get Back To Queer, I was like, “Who is this butchqueen? Beyond this lime green Marge Simpson updo and this hole punch bodysuit in this slightly comical YouTube video, what’s their story?” Then I started researching and holding space with Black queer elders who knew him. And since then Moi Renee’s story has expanded so much. The short is doing its festival thing right now and I’m in pre-production for the feature documentary.
So much of our culture and history is lost to time or the AIDS and crack epidemics, I felt the universe presented me an opportunity to add an unsung queer ancestor to our communities cultural library. I’m grateful to be working on this film.
It seems like a lot of your work is rooted in both non-fiction art forms and community. How do you see those two dimensions interacting and fueling you and your vision as a creative?
Thank you, I’m glad that you see that in my work. Younger me grew up feeling alone and invisible. So at the core of what I do as a storyteller, it’s to hold space for young Brandon. Like, what could he be or imagine for himself if he had access to the work that me and my neighbors are making today?
I’ve learned over the years that while community is a tangible thing—like-minded people with common interests—community is also a practice. Practicing community fuels me. Creating with intention is one way I practice it.
So, I believe the relationship between art and community is symbiotic, much like a good conversation. What I create is in response to what I hear and see within community. And what I don’t hear and don’t see. This discourse through art that I do, in my case the nonfiction storytelling, speaks to/of the textures and contours in our culture, in our existence. Because I believe that if we as communities of Black queer and trans people can learn to be more fluent in each-other’s imagination of pleasure and liberation, and aligned with one another’s needs, then we will be a freer, stronger, people.
Navigating the media and entertainment realms can be daunting, especially for people who are new to the industry and who don’t have access to connections and resources. Do you have any advice on how to navigate these spaces as a newcomer, particularly for young Black LGBTQ creatives who are looking to break into the industry?
I don’t know that I have much to say that hasn’t been said. That said, I live by the quote, “start with what you know then grow.” In every project, my starting point is, “what (and who) do I know?” Beyond that, I think discernment, intention, and patience are good traits to have.
This is less about The Industry™, but one thing that was really important for me to learn was that I am not in competition with my peers. Though it may not seem like it because of how society perpetuates a culture of scarcity, or how mainstream media will cherrypick certain narratives or narrative-makers for that matter, there is enough room for us. Shame, doubt, and imposter syndrome used to really eat me up. But one day it dawned on me that, ultimately, the people who I held envy or jealousy towards in the past because of their perceived success or popularity are doing the same thing I’m doing: trying to elevate Black queer and trans stories. And all of our stories look and feel different, and mine will have its time. And no shade, sometimes those feelings resurface but learning to move away from ego or shame opens so much space in my brain and my life for all the good things and allows me to create better and really be in community with my peers.
As rewarding and important as the work we do is, advocating on behalf of the most marginalized within our communities can also be taxing. How do you ensure you pour into yourself as much as you pour into the community?
This is a great question! If I can be honest, I’ve not always been the best at pouring into myself, but I’m discovering now what that looks like as I strive to live a more pleasurable life.
Currently, it looks like therapy. I want to be more present and in-tune with myself, so I’m working to undo unhealthy habits and heal wounds. And reading, I’m simultaneously reading “Black Liturgies” and “No Tea, No Shade” and they’re like oxtail soup for my Black gay soul! And community, always community!
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Don’t forget to watch the Miss Honey: The Catsuit trailer, available now on Vimeo, and keep tabs on Brandon’s upcoming projects, creative work, and accomplishments via Instagram and their website.