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Season Two
For the FINAL episode of Season 2 of This Is My Family, we step out of the closet and into Tyler’s office for an IRL interview with acclaimed storyteller and member of Tyler’s pandy pod, Dawn J. Fraser!
Dawn is a storyteller and communications coach based out of San Jose, California.
She opens up about her relationship with her twin brother Duane, what it was like growing up together and how he competed in the Special Olympics.
She talks about her relationships within her biological family and also reflects on how she developed long-lasting connections with her chosen family, having met so many different people through her work over the years. Dawn also tells us what it’s been like living in her childhood bedroom with her mother during the pandemic.
About the Guest
Dawn J. Fraser is a storyteller, public speaker and a nationally acclaimed communications coach based out of San Jose, California.
She is the Creator/ Host of ‘Barbershop Stories’, which features storytellers performing true tales in barbershops and salons around NYC, and the Founder/ CEO of Fraser’s Edge, LLC, which offers programs for businesses, nonprofits, and college students the opportunity to develop their leadership potential through storytelling.
She has worked with companies like Spotify, Vox Media and Google as well as 1 on 1 celebrities including the rapper Common. Dawn currently serves as a Lead Instructor with The Moth and was featured amongst some of the nation’s top change makers at TED@NYC. She loves being a twin, a Trinidadian, and tweetable @dawnjfraser.
This week, we welcome Kathy Tu to the show.
Kathy is a beloved podcaster (Nancy, New York Times Opinion) who Tyler knows from his time working in public radio in Chicago.
In this conversation, Kathy opens up about growing up somewhat distant from her parents which in turn caused her to become closer to her friends. She tells us how she came out to her mother and how it wasn’t received well. She also goes on to reflect on her relationship with her father and how he isn't the best at expressing his feelings. Kathy also tells us about the relationships in her life now, including the one with her wife Britteny.
About The Guest
Kathy Tu is a producer, podcast host and has studied law. She currently supervises production at New York Times Opinion Audio. Previously she has co-hosted and produced Nancy, a podcast from WNYC Studios about the queer experience and also worked on a few other shows. She has been working in audio since 2013, after attending the Transom Story Workshop. Before that she graduated from law school at Northeastern University and before that she was an EMT.
You can follow her dog, Bowie, here!
TW: Miscarriages and cancer
This week, we welcome Sam Walker to the show.
Sam is a broadcaster, podcaster, and presenter who worked for the BBC for 15+ years and now runs her own audio business.
In our conversation, she talks about growing up with her parents and how they did everything they could to support her education even though they had little means.
She also reflects on her experience of going through multiple miscarriages and eventually giving birth to her lovely daughters, Lyla and Britta. Sam talks about the pain she felt and how she completely shut off the world after her third miscarriage. She also brings up the turning point in her life that completely changed her outlook on life, leading up to the birth of her second daughter.
Sam leaves us with the moving story of the road trip she took with her mother after she was diagnosed with lung cancer, bringing them even closer.
About the Guest
Sam Walker is an award-winning broadcaster, presenter, and podcaster. Having presented on a number of commercial networks like BBC 5 Live, BBC Radio Manchester, BBC Radio London, Key 103, Xfm among others, she carries a ton of experience.
She is also the Managing Director at What Goes On Media where they create and produce podcasts for individuals, organizations, and brands and also act as consultants for any podcast or audio projects. Their clients include Audible, Women in the Law UK, Canadian High Commission, and Northern Power Women.
You can find Sam’s Desert Dairies here.
This week, we welcome Craig Minowa to the show.
Craig is an environmental scientist and musician who launched “Cloud Cult” in 1995 as a solo project after the passing of his son.
In this episode, he talks about how his family is navigating the pandemic on their family farm. He also reflects on the unexplained passing of his son, Kaidin, who was only 2 years when he died suddenly in his sleep, and how he and his wife grieved in different ways. He also talks about how important it is to realize that our time on earth is so short and emphasizes having grace for everything in life.
About the Guest
Craig Minowa is a singer, songwriter, composer and the leading frontman of his band, Cloud Cult.
He has a degree in environmental science from the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. He formed Cloud Cult in 1995 as a solo project and wrote songs that explored loss after the passing of his son.
He is also the founder of Earthology, the record label behind his band that is also a non-profit label that only uses recycled materials for its CDs and donates all its profits to charity.
He currently lives in his farmhouse with his wife Connie and their three kids.
This week, we welcome Christopher Hamblin to the show.
Christopher Hamblin is a musician, host and personal executive assistant to his husband Timothy Wilcots, better known as Latrice Royale.
Christopher talks to us about his life growing up, struggling with his sexuality in a Christian household and how his grandmother was the rock of his life. He opens up about his relationship with the church and how he found his love for music and a community there and then went on to form the Knoxville Gay Men’s Chorus to tell their story.
Hamblin also opens up about how he met Latrice and introduced her to his family. Christopher reflects on his relationship with his mother and how she made the choice of accepting him as he is.
About The Guest
Christopher Hamblin is a musician, producer, Host of “All the Queens’ Men,” and husband to Latrice Royale. He grew up in Tennessee and attended the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. He dropped out shortly to move to New York to pursue musical theatre. He is the personal assistant to his husband as well as the representative for LRI Talent management.
You can find his song, “Give me a Holler,” on Youtube here.
Check out “All the Queens’ Men” on WowPresents Plus here.
This week, we welcome Helen Hong to the show.
Helen is a versatile comedian, actor and podcast host based in LA.
She opens up about her evolving relationship with her parents, which was somewhat distant as a kid but now during the pandemic has strengthened in profound ways. She shares how she helped her father connect with his past by way of a YouTube channel and a special gift from his childhood.
Helen also talks about the beautiful relationship she has with her sister; from spending time together as kids when their parents worked late hours to now buying a house and living together.
Finally, she highlights the growing anti-Asian hate in the US, how it impacts her family, and how her father tackles it with empathy.
Please take a moment to check out Helen’s recommendations for becoming a better ally at Asian Americans Advancing Justice. Specifically, they are offering FREE BYSTANDER INTERVENTION training for people who witness attacks and want to help.
Also, you gotta check out the YouTube channel “Old Korean Dad Stories (and sometimes Mom)” - those conversations are here.
About The Guest
Helen Hong is an American stand-up comedian, actress, director, and producer.
Born in New York City to immigrant parents, she was born on the east coast and attended the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
She has appeared in works such as Jane the Virgin, Parks and Recreation, and the Coen Brothers' Inside Llewyn Davis. She has a regular spot on NPR's Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me and hosts a trivia podcast called Go Fact Yourself. She has also guest-starred in Silicon Valley, New Girl and Pretty Little Liars.
During the pandemic, she started a YouTube channel to connect with her father called “Old Korean Dad Stories (and sometimes Mom),” which highlights his childhood and growing up around the Korean War.
This week, we welcome Benjamin Putnam to the show.
Benjamin is a drag queen, burlesque performer, and actor who goes by the stage name BenDeLaCreme.
Ben joins Tyler and opens up about acknowledging his queerness at a very young age, his mother supporting him through that process and her passing due to cancer. They also talk candidly about Ben’s relationship with his father, who supported him and tried to make life easier by sending him to a boarding school for arts.
This episode also highlights Ben’s relationship to the drag community and how they found a family and a sense of community through drag. Tune in to also catch a sneak peek into the origin story of his latest Hulu special "The Jinx and DeLa Holiday Special" with Jinkx Monsoon and how he is reclaiming the idea of coming home.
About the Guest
BenDeLaCreme has dazzled crowds throughout the Americas, Europe, and Australia, premiered four critically acclaimed solo shows Off-Broadway, as well as written, directed, and produced myriad narrative works and variety spectaculars that have played to sold-out audiences for over a decade. BenDeLaCreme has appeared on two seasons of the Emmy Award-winning RuPaul's Drag Race, her first go-round securing her a spot among the show’s “15 Fan Favorites of All Time.” After being crowned “Miss Congeniality” on Season 6, she returned to compete on the third season of RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars on VH1 where she garnered more challenge wins than any other competitor in the show’s history, among other series records.
DeLa’s production company, BenDeLaCreme Presents, produced its first national tour with, To Jesus, Thanks for Everything! -Jinkx and DeLa, co-created and co-written by BenDeLaCreme and Jinkx Monsoon. In 2020, BenDeLaCreme self-produced, directed and co-wrote her debut film under BenDeLaCreme Presents, "The Jinkx & DeLa Holiday Special,” which became a critical and commercial success, leading to an exclusive licensing deal with Hulu.
This week, we welcome Annalise Raziq to the show.
Annalise is a Chicago-based storyteller, actor, musician, peace activist and mother.
She joins Tyler to talk about growing up in a divorced family surrounded by various forms of mental illness and how she turned that tumultuous upbringing around in order to raise an empathetic and loving daughter. In this candid conversation, Annalise opens up about the complicated bond she formed with her biological father, how she set boundaries with her step-mother and how she developed a loving relationship with her step-father, Bill.
This episode highlights the importance of talking about emotions and how creativity can help us form intimate connections with the people around us. Those connections help us realize that everyone is dealing with something - and we just never know without leaning in to connect.
About the Guest
Annalise Raziq is a versatile performer; she has worked with renowned playwright Tony Kushner and also played the back end of a dragon. She sings professionally in a variety of venues, most recently with the Americana band “Annalise and the Backsliders,” and her warm and arresting voice is garnering attention on the Chicago music scene. She is a writer and improviser and used these skills to help create the show “Sisters Rising” with a group of formerly incarcerated women. Annalise is a three-time Moth Story Slam winner and has had a story featured on public radio’s The Moth Radio Hour. She has also told stories for Risk!, Story Jam, This Much Is True, Story Sessions, The Truth or Lie Reading Series, and the Boston Palestine Film Festival and the Palestinians Podcast. Her solo show "I Know A Place," a memory play with a live band onstage, was part of Chicago's 2017 Fillet of Solo Festival.
This week, we welcome Emilie Modaff to the show.
Emilie and Tyler start their conversation by digging into the finer points of addiction and what that means for the many relationships in Emilie's life. Hear them candidly talk about a more inclusive idea of love and relationships, including the families that result from addiction recovery groups. Emilie is also polyamorous and the two dig into the finer details of what that means. They close their chat detailing what it was like to grow up in a more traditional family unit, as well as their beautiful relationships with their parents, living with them during the pandemic as an adult and how that has got them closer.
About the Guest
Emilie “Em” Modaff (they/them) is a multi-disciplinary artist based in Chicago. They are an ensemble member at Red Tape Theatre and are represented by DDO Chicago. You might have seen them playing music with their band Modaff, on stage at Kokandy Theatre, Red Tape Theatre, The Gift Theatre, or reading tarot at events around the city. Em has spent the last year focusing on getting their Reiki Master certification, running their business An Opal A Day, and pining over the idea of returning to the stage.
This week, we welcome Danielle Badra to the show.
Danielle was born and raised in Kalamazoo, Michigan and currently resides in Virginia. She is the author of “Dialogue with the dead," a collection of poems in which she responds to the recovered poems of her deceased sister.
She joins Tyler to talk about the difficulty of losing our loved ones and how creativity can build a bridge to connect with them once they’ve left us. In a raw and candid conversation, Danielle highlights the importance of being in touch with family and the little things in life that bring enormous meaning.
About The Guest
Danielle Badra received her BA in Creative Writing from Kalamazoo College (2008) and her MFA in Poetry from George Mason University (2017). While there, she was the poetry editor of So To Speak, a feminist literary and arts journal, and an intern for Split This Rock. Her poems have appeared in journals, papers and elsewhere. Dialogue with the Dead (Finishing Line Press, 2015) is her first chapbook, a collection of contrapuntal poems in dialogue with her deceased sister. Her manuscript, Like We Still Speak, was selected by Fady Joudah and Hayan Charara as the winner of the 2021 Etel Adnan Poetry Prize and is forthcoming through the University of Arkansas Press fall 2021.
Season One
This week, we welcome J. Ivy to the show. Born and raised in Chicago, J. Ivy is an award winning poet, recording artist, songwriter, actor and author who's collaborated with hip-hop icons like Kanye West and Jay Z.
With Tyler, J. talks about growing up in the Chicago and dealing with generational trauma, as well as the struggles associated with his parents' divorce. He also brings to life the people that saw and nurtured his talents, about the process of forgiving his father and about the realization that those who raise us aren't the perfect "superheroes" we make them out to be.
As we end this crazy year, J. Ivy's story remind us of the beautifully messy ways we make our families - and the ways they end up making us.
About the Guest
J. Ivy is a poet, musician, actor, and speaker. He received a Peabody Award for his performance on Russell Simmons’s Def Poetry, and a Grammy Award for his contribution with Jay-Z on Kanye West’s The College Dropout album. J. has also collaborated with John Legend, RZA, The Last Poets, The Roots, Common, Mos Def, The Black Crowes, Bob Dylan, and more. He is also the founder of his Write to Live Academy and the Dear Father Initiative, encouraging young people to explore arts careers.
This week, Tyler talks to Arionne Nettles, a journalist, professor and mother to a special needs son.
Arionne was born and raised in Chicago and spent her college days at the famed Florida A&M University (FAMU). In college, she gave birth to her son Jackson who was later diagnosed with tuberous sclerosis, causing him to have various developmental disabilities. After college, Arionne moved back to Chicago where she now lives with Jackson.
In this beautifully open conversation, Arionne walks us through her dual roles as professor and mom and how she remains optimistic but honest throughout it all. She also gets real about how 2020 has been for her...and the sweet things she's learned from being Jackson's mom.
About the Guest
Arionne Nettles is a Chicago-based multimedia journalist, lecturer at Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism, and mom to 13-year-old Jackson. She's worked as an editor, producer and freelancer at the Associated Press and WBEZ, Chicago's NPR Station.
This week, Tyler talks to Lindz Amer, creator of Queer Kid Stuff, a web series focused on LGBTQ+ and social justice education for kids of ALL ages.
Lindz talks about growing up and not quite having the tools, support or media content to understand what they were going through and how that prompted them to create Queer Kid Stuff. They also open up about their own coming out process and the family they dream of for themselves in the years to come.
About the Guest
Lindz Amer creates LGBTQ+ and social justice media for kids and families. They write, produce, and co-host Queer Kid Stuff, an original LGBTQ+ educational web series for ages 3 and up. They also produce and host a brand new family-friendly podcast called Activist, You! where they explore social justice topics through interviews with kid & youth activists. When they’re not working, you might find them hanging out with their energetic cattle dog mutt and incredible partner on a beach in New England, enjoying a puzzle, catching up on the latest Netflix show, fiddling with their various instruments, or dabbling in acrylic painting!
Our guest this week is Corey Mitchell, the first-ever winner of the Tony Award for Excellence in Theatre Education.
Our guest this week is Corey Mitchell, the first-ever winner of the Tony Award for Excellence in Theatre Education. He shares his origin story with Tyler - about his family and those that supported his own upbringing - as well as how he supports his students today by playing dual roles as an educator and surrogate parent. Corey also opens up about how the pandemic has forced a deep examination of what his life looks like now.
About the Guest
Corey Mitchell has been teaching theater at the Northwest School of Arts in Charlotte, North Carolina for almost twenty years. Many of his students (like Miss Saigon star Eva Noblezada and Mean Girls star Renee Rapp) have gone on to make huge impacts in the musical theater industry. This year, he’s planning on retiring and starting his own program to bolster the chances of under-resourced students pursuing higher education in the arts.
With this episode, we hope to calm your nerves wherever or whenever you might be listening. We've got Sharon Salzberg, a legendary Buddhist meditation expert that Tyler's been digitally learning from for years.
Sharon tells us how trauma she experienced within her family of origin eventually set her on a path of learning and teaching Buddhism. The practices she's learned along the way have helped her (and those she's taught!) to turn moments of challenge and personal suffering into opportunities for compassion.
Sharon also gives us some tools to navigate difficult conversations and apply forgiveness to our interpersonal relationships. Plus, she leads a short guided meditation at the very end of the episode, hopefully sending you off into the best day possible.
Thank you for sharing your story and teachings, Sharon!
In this episode, Tyler speaks with Shereen Marisol Meraji, co-host extraordinaire of NPR's "Code Switch."
Shereen was born into an Iranian and Puerto Rican household. We discuss how her parents' relationship to their respective cultures shaped the ways in which she and her brother formed their identities. We also talk about her powerful bond with her father, despite not knowing as much as she'd like about his culture.
Since getting married four years ago, Shereen has been focused on growing a family of her own. More specifically, she's embarked on a difficult and emotional journey with fertility and IVF (In Vitro Fertilization). We learn about how the process has been for her, as well as her hopes and dreams for her future family.
Thank you Shereen, for your transparency, strength and kindness in sharing your story.
A young boy named Timothy grows up in Compton surrounded by violence and the fierce love of his mother. He grows up to become one of the most famous drag queens in the world. This is the story of that little boy, the queen he became and the many different families who have shaped them along the way.
On today's episode, we’re talking drag, drag queens and the families they make. We are honored to welcome to the #TIMFShow microphone, one of the most famous drag queens in the world...star of RuPaul's Drag Race and more...LATRICE ROYALE!
In this episode, Latrice talks about growing up in Compton, loving her mother deeply, being forced out of the closet at a young age and running away to Eau Claire, Wisconsin, which wasn't the most accepting place for young queer folks. She goes on to make her way down to Miami, spends a brief stint in jail and, on the other side, becomes a world famous drag queen.
Latrice has done interviews all over the globe, but today, we shift the spotlight to include not only Latrice in all of her fabulousness, but also the people and communities she's called "family" over the years. Join us for a series of funny and moving stories about how she shaped them and how they shaped her.
Two gay men, Tyler and Ziwu, fall in love, get married and have a baby. This is the story of that love and how they assembled an army of superheroes to make a boy named Sam.
“Family” means something different to every person. This year especially, you might be leaning on them like never before... or not. In this show, we navigate the beautifully messy terrain of building a life with loved ones. And we’ve got some very special guests to help us out.
To start us off, we hear from our host Tyler Greene and his husband Ziwu Zhou. Two gay men reared in two distinct cultures, who married and navigated the challenges of family acceptance and eventually...having a baby. Their story is just ONE of the endless ways of creating “family.” And that’s what we want to share with you.