Alok Vaid-Menon. Or as they’re better known to their 1.3 million followers: simply, ALOK.The 32-year-old non-binary performer, activist, and internet personality is well known amongst the LGBTQ+ community for their compelling work, but this year has brought them –– and their trailblazing beliefs –– to the mainstream.
Not only are they featured amongst other gender non-conforming comics in Netflix’s Gender Agenda, but they’re the subject of documentary short ALOK, which premiered at Sundance Film Festival and was executive produced by Jodie Foster.A lot has been made of the transfeminine Indian American’s bold views on body diversity, gender neutrality, and colorful wardrobe. But when asked to define themselves, they told Afar: “Artist feels like the only word I’ve ever chosen to call myself.
My creative project is to end the international crisis of loneliness.”Subscribe to our newsletter for a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.A post shared by ALOK (@alokvmenon)Alok grew up alongside their parents, who immigrated from Malaysia and India, in College Station, Texas, where they were bullied for being different. “I started writing poems when I was 11 or 12, and they saved my life,” they told Afar.
“They showed me that beauty was still possible –– despite everything.” Armed with artwork and performance as means of expression, they headed to Stanford University where they earned both their BA and Masters. Perhaps the activism spirit is in their blood; Alok’s aunt was the National LGBTQ Task Force’s Urvashi Vaid, the “first woman of color to lead a national gay-and-lesbian organization” and an anti-racist activist.
Alok’s laundry list of accomplishments is exhaustive: spreads in the likes of Vogue and Paper, New York Fashion Week appearances, their own transfemme fashion collections, a stint as the first-ever LGBTQ+ Scholar in Residence at the University of Pennsylvania. Not to mention their own
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Jodie Foster