On Season 4 of The TMI Project Story Hour: Pride Stories, co-hosts Julie Novak and Blake Pfeil profile 13 of our favorite LGBTQIA+ storytellers, all of whom share radically true pride stories to record history, explore identity, save lives, and celebrate being queer and alive!

Podcast co-hosts

Julie Novak

Pronoun: She/Her/Hers
Workshop Leader

“To be a part of helping people release the shame that binds them, to see people transform in the most positive way after sharing their truth is what gives my life meaning. Countless times I have witnessed how the act of being seen and heard can create true connection and lasting change.”

Julie is a multi-talented performer, writer, and musician who enjoys making people laugh, feel loved, and consider their role in making the world a better place. Aside from co-founding TMI Project, Julie is a media producer and facilitator with The Future Perfect Project, a queer-led organization that offers free arts programming to LGBTQIA+ youth across the globe. She has performed all over the United States, including a tour of her one-person show America’s Next Top, which had a successful run in the NYC Fringe Festival. Currently, Julie is the host of No One Like You (broadcast on TMI Project media partner Radio Kingston/WKNY), a weekly program where she interviews everyday heroes who share uplifting stories about turning their kryptonite into their superpower. Learn more: julienovak.com

Blake Pfeil

Pronouns: He/Him/His
Operations & Programs Manager, Workshop Leader

“It’s humbling to be part of a mission committed to exploring the cultural dynamics of intersectionality. For centuries, the art of true storytelling has allowed for unheard voices to find an audience and untold stories to come to light. In a day and age when truth is constantly under fire, there is hope when all kinds of marginalized voices are able to find platforms like TMI Project to share common ground.”

Blake Pfeil is an award-winning multidisciplinary artist. He cofounded folk-fusion band Macabre Americana and hosts “The Pfeil File” on Radio Kingston/WKNY (107.9 FM/1490 AM in the Hudson Valley, NY). Blake’s work appears on stages, concert halls, or clubs; through your headphones, speakers, radio, Diskman, or TV screens; or in magazines, books, or journals. In all his non-existent spare time, Blake is also currently working as an associate producer for season 5 of History Colorado’s Lost Highways. His current project is All-American Ruins, a multimedia travelogue in which he recounts his experiences exploring abandoned spaces across the United States and reimagines them via multimodal storytelling. The podcast arm of the project, abandoned: The All-American Ruins Podcast, was an Official Select at On Air Fest 2023 and winner of the Top of the Rockies – Best of Podcasts (2023). All-American Ruins was also recently shortlisted for the Elevate Creatives Fund.MA, Arts Entrepreneurship, Purchase College; BFA, Musical Theatre, Emerson College. Audio Podcast Fellow, SUNY Stony Brook. https://www.blakepfeil.com

EPISODE #1 | How a Sticker for The Trevor Project Saved Ray’s Life

EPISODE #2 | Meet Your Hosts: Julie & Blake’s Gay Agenda

EPISODE #3 | Ness Breaks Through The Mirror

EPISODE #4 | What Marilyn Monroe Means to Zelda

EPISODE #5 | Liam Makes Room to Dance

EPISODE #6 | Bailey Finds True Strength

EPISODE #7 | Pat & Ralph: Pride Stories from LGBTQ Elders

EPISODE #8 | Windy’s Coming Out Story: Past, Present, and Future

EPISODE #9 | Kiebpoli & Erik: Black Trans Stories Matter (Season 5 Preview)

About TMI Project & the Podcast

Since 2010, TMI Project has led nearly 150 true storytelling workshops and staged live storytelling performances by nearly 3,000 storytellers, which have been presented to audiences of over 250,000. In the past, you had to wait on line to get seated in an off-broadway theater, a cafeteria in a detention center, or perhaps you were coming to hear activists perform their stories at the United Nations. Now, you can listen from anywhere in the world. Tune in and join us. While you listen, don’t forget to ask yourself, “What is my TMI story?” We all have one.

Podcast Partners

Funders

TMI Project programming is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.

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