The trans activist takes us through his journey finding his voice on T.
Chella Man’s rise to online notoriety came about somewhat accidentally. “I’m very disorganized … It wasn’t ever to build an audience!” Man told Mission for our Youth Issue cover story. But his radical honesty has nonetheless found a devoted audience on social media, where he now has over 470,000 followers on Instagram and over 250,000 subscribers on YouTube. His large audience allows the artist and activist to have an intimate connection with his followers; as a deaf, Asian, Jewish, and trans artist, Man resides at the intersection of many marginalized communities, and is able to use his platform to share the beauty of being deaf or speak out against anti-Asian hate.
In honor of National Trans Day of Visibility, we revist the short film Chella Man created for Mission in which he documents finding his voice on testoterone. The simple, but powerful video encapsulates much of what draws so many to Man, as he shares day-to-day reality of being a young, trans, and deaf person of color today.
