B. HAWK SNIPES.
Style icon, brand ambassador, model and actor.
Jamie Windust: POSE is now a Golden Globe nominated TV Show which is a true testament to the power it had on our screens. What lasting message or feeling did working on it leave you with? B. Hawk Snipes: Working on the TV show POSE has probably been one of my bi¦est accomplishments thus far, and not just for my entertainment resume but also for my state of mind. I stru¦led with owning my feminine energy emotionally and questioned if I was non-binary or GNC. It wasn’t until the show aired and I saw the amount of love from another GNC and non-binary people that I knew from listening to their words of encouragement and experiences that I identified more as non-binary.
JW: We are both signed models and have our heels firmly in the fashion scene. How do you deal with the fashion industry’s usage of trans and GNC identities as a trend?
BHS: I see it as a curse and a blessing honestly. I don’t like participating in anything that’s ‘trendy’, but I know that trends make money for the industry and I like getting opportunities to represent for other people like me.
JW: Pronouns are something that a lot of GNC/nonBinary stru¦le with in terms of getting people to adopt their usage. What’s your experience of this? BHS: Pronouns for me have been very challenging because for a long time my brain was programmed to know only him and her. Growing up in the Bronx in New York, I didn’t know anything else in between so it took me a while to own both of my masculine and feminine energies and use they/them pronouns.
JW: What are your goals for 2019 for you and the community?
BHS: My personal goals are to create more opportunities for myself and my community. I’m working on a TV talk show, a short film and more music. But I really want people in the LGBTQ community and our allies to come together to really do more work. We have to support each other more now than ever because most of the cis heterosexual white men that are in power don’t care about us. And that’s not shade, it’s just a fact.