Janet Mock

In her book, Redefining Realness, Mock says that “telling our stories, first to ourselves and then one another and the world, is a revolutionary act.” If telling one story is a revolutionary act, then Janet Mock’s career is nothing short of a revolution.

From her early years in Honolulu, Mock knew that she was different. Steeped deeply in Hawaiian culture and its long tradition of third gender persons, Māhū, Mock didn’t have to look far to know who she was.

As an unapologetically trans writer and journalist, she has used her platform to tirelessly speak out against inequalities, including transphobia, racism and the intersection between them. She has instructed media titans like Piers Morgan on the intricacies of the trans experience, and paved the way for trans people to be understood as more than cannon fodder for sensationalist headlines. She has spoken out against laws disproportionately affecting trans women of colour, and has highlighted the ways in which native Hawaiians face erasure and cultural appropriation.

Her more recent work has amplified and shared the megaphone. Mock is the director, writer, and producer of Pose, set in the New York City ballroom scene at the height of the AIDS crisis. The show has catapulted 140 LGBTQ people, including the largest trans cast in TV history, into mainstream success. Some of its actors have gone on to make television history. Billy Porter, the first openly black man to be nominated for and win in an Emmy lead acting category, and Anjelica Ross, the first trans woman to have two series regular roles.

Through Pose, Mock reminds LGBTQ people of the importance of community in the face of adversity. She teaches us that, often in life, self-acceptance trumps much else. Mock probably says it better: “Those parts of yourself that you desperately want to hide and destroy will gain power over you. The best thing to do is face and own them, because they are forever a part of you.”