Speaking

I’m a journalist who identifies as trans, queer and Mad (and all proudly so). My professional focus for 15+ years has been the psychiatric/mental health system — and how we may improve upon what we have, for our collective benefit. Perhaps check out this page for a ton of testimonials from mental health professionals, patients, their family — and other fan mail I’ve gotten through the years related to my writing and speaking.

I’m available to speak about topics related to gender and / or mental health. For paid gigs of $1000+, please contact my speaking agent Leslie Shipman, who handles such on my behalf. All other opportunities, please contact me directly. Either way, you’re encouraged to get to know my work and let us/me know what you have in mind… in terms of my speaking for your organization. You may also want to check out this page with Starter Packs I made of my previously published works, depending on your interests …

I very much appreciate your interest.

If you have zero budget for my speaking fee itself, feel free to inquire nonetheless and tell me more; I will consider your situation. Note, if I’ll need to travel, I’ll at least require reimbursement for such.

In my 8+ years now of commenting publicly on such topics, I’ve spoken and read for crowds big and small, at venues varying from medical schools to churches, from community centers to bars. I’ve shared my words in classrooms and even living rooms on college campuses, as well as to large packed auditoria — even a literal Broadway theater. (I’m a recovering childhood actor and very comfortable on stages and in front of microphones...)

Notable Appearances

Grand Rounds, Albert Einstein College of Medicine (2019) - invited to lecture on future of mental health care for psychiatrists themselves (and psychiatrists-in-training)

Keynote address, University of Iowa’s Examined Life medical humanities conference (2018) - keynote on the future of mental health care

My first book’s hardcover and paperback tours (2018 – 2019) consisted of ~35 stops, including the Texas, Miami and Los Angeles Times book festivals/fairs, and events where I read alongside the likes of Alexander Chee, Akwaeke Emezi, and Hanif Abdurraqib. My interlocutors at AKOMP-specific events included: Meredith Talusan (official launch, Greenlight Bookstore in Brooklyn); Esmé Weijun Wang; Amanda Chicago Lewis (Skylight Books, Los Angeles); (scholar of dreams/indigenous views on such) Matthew Spellberg (Harvard Bookstore); Adrian Nicole LeBlanc; Jessica Hopper (Women and Children First, Chicago); Anne Helen Petersen; Kevin Nguyen (Books Are Magic, Brooklyn; paperback launch 2019); Rahawa Haile (East Bay Booksellers, Oakland, CA; tour concusion).

House of Speakeasy (2018), one-off talk on theme of “darkness falls”; I was invited to do so along with Michael Wolff and two others authors

Pop-Up Magazine (spring 2017), “Hearing Voices” a piece I reported on the Hearing Voices Network, which I then performed on stages during a 7-city national tour, including aforementioned literal Broadway theater, soundtracked live by their in-house band (pictured above).

My college/university guest appearances include: NYU, The New School, Smith College, Bard College, Brown University, The University of Iowa, Fordham University, and in 2023, USC (the latter music students at the invitation of Prof. Nathaniel Sloane; we discussed my TAL story).

A few AKOMP hardcover tour photos below:

Packed reading at Powells, Portland OR, just a week after AKOMP published (January 2018); me and Esmé Weijun Wang after our AKOMP event in San Francisco (February, 2018); the store’s owner introducing me at Books & Books, Miami (March, 2018).

Audio Work

If you want to get a better sense of me, as speaker (who discusses these issues):

This American Life 
“Voice Over” about my life as a singer, before and after T (Aug. 2022)
“Applied Bob Studies” on Uncle Bob’s path inspiring my own (July 2020)
Edited by Ira Glass; both TAL pieces were produced by Bim Adewunmi

99% Invisible
“Where Do We Go From Here?” an episode I reported and produced on bathroom segregation — and how we can do better (Sept. 2020)
“The Kirkbride Plan” another I reported/produced on a forgotten chapter in 19th-century American mental health care history (Oct. 2019)

Mad Chat
My podcast on pop culture’s depictions of mental health, which I hosted for a 10-ep pilot season. Co-created with audio producer Lee Mengistu. (2020) as praised by O Magazine, Self, and The NYTimes.

My other podcast and radio appearances include:

The TED podcast How to be a Better Human “Why we should rethink what mental health means w/ Sandy Allen” (2022)
Slate’s Dear Prudence, offering advice along with then-host Danny Lavery (2019)
KCRW’s The Organist (2018) — a beautiful audio story by host Andrew Leland about AKOMP and Uncle Bob

Note: Appearances from before 2021 feature my pre-T voice. Now I sound … like a guy.