Creating Community In and Outside of Your Circle with Lio Mehiel ’15

HELEN KIM: Welcome to Northwestern Intersections where we talk to alumni about how key experiences propel them in their life's work. I'm helping Helen Kim from the Northwestern Alumni Association. And today, we'll hear from Lio Mehiel, a Latinx next artist, actor, filmmaker, and activist. They're a co-founder of Warrior Productions alongside two fellow Wildcats. And currently, the trio are developing a TV series in collaboration with Ben Stiller's company Red Hour Productions.

Lio's an organizer who works to raise awareness and engagement around wealth redistribution, reparations, and the mutual interest activism. Lio, thank you so much for being on our show today. Where are you tuning in from today?

LIO MEHIEL: I'm in my brand new apartment in LA. I just moved here. I mean, I guess I started the move a couple weeks ago subletting in different apartments or different neighborhoods to get a sense of where I wanted to live. But I am in my own apartment with a signed lease for the first time as of a week. So it's super exciting.

HELEN KIM: So it's very, very recent.

LIO MEHIEL: Yes. Literally the paint is still drying.

HELEN KIM: And where were you moving from?

LIO MEHIEL: From New York. Yeah. Where my family lives, and where I've been since graduation. So it was a pretty big move for me. I packed up my car, and drove across country during the pandemic. But it had been a move that I was thinking about for a long time. And so it kind of felt like the perfect time to just do it since life was on hold anyways.

HELEN KIM: Oh, my gosh. I had no idea you were going to drive literally across the country.

LIO MEHIEL: Yeah.

HELEN KIM: Oh, my gosh.

LIO MEHIEL: With all my plants. I'm like a plant person. I have 17 plants. I could not leave them behind. So I put them all in my car, and drove. And there were like snowstorms that I was driving through first in New York and then through Virginia. And I was like taking the plants into my Airbnb each night when I would stay at a place just to make sure they didn't freeze in the car. It was so, so hectic. But when I finally got south to like New Orleans and stuff, it was a lot warmer. And so the plants were doing a lot better.

HELEN KIM: How long did that entire trip take?

LIO MEHIEL: Well, it could have taken me a week if I was driving aggressively every day. But I kind of wanted to take it slow, and visit family and friends along the way that I was able to. So it ended up taking closer to like two weeks because I stayed in New Orleans with my brother, Virginia with my aunt, Austin with my sister. And so it was a nice little tour that I took.

HELEN KIM: That's really smart though because you got a chance to travel, and take as many trips in each state.

LIO MEHIEL: Yeah, exactly. It was pretty fun. And the nature that I was able to see was amazing. I went to White Sands National Park in New Mexico, which I had never been to. And was so awe inspiring. Just dunes. Like hills, and hills, and hills of pure white sand rolling. And it almost had the grandeur of the Grand Canyon. But it was white sand and blue skies. And I just was totally-- I was like, this is one of my favorite places in the entire world. It was so transformative.

HELEN KIM: Oh, that must have been so beautiful. Especially that just change of scenery during the pandemic. You learn to appreciate nature even more.

LIO MEHIEL: Yeah, totally.

HELEN KIM: Oh, my gosh. So you mentioned that you were in New York since you graduated, which is year 2015. Walk us through-- if you could just go back down the memory lane, walk us through your Northwestern experience. Like what was your college undergrad life like?

LIO MEHIEL: Well, Northwestern was my dream school. And I didn't even really realize it in high school. But when I was doing the revisit day after I had been accepted to the different schools, I went to Northwestern-- I think it was April-- to do a revisit tour. And I just started crying. I was so overcome with the energy in the space.

And I remember seeing through the windows of the old theater building, the costume shop. And all of these students and staff professors building these beautiful costumes in this massive intricate costume shop. And that just supported so many different theater productions I could tell. And I just was like, oh, my God. The scale at which I can work and create here is so massive. So much bigger than I could have ever imagined. I mean, my high school just wasn't at this scale.

And so when I saw what was possible at Northwestern, I was just really overcome, and crying, and whatever. And so I ended up choosing Northwestern, of course. And I majored in theater. And did the integrated marketing communications program also because, I don't know, I felt like I had to do something else besides theater. And I don't know. It was interesting.

I think the first couple of years of college I was doing the sort of traditional archetypal partying experience. I was living on North Campus away from the artists that were on the South Campus. I don't know if that divide is still in existence. But it was when I was there. And I definitely like in retrospect regret not being more commingled with other art students because I think my experience would have been different. But coincidentally, living with folks on North Campus, people who did not identify as artists, ended up sort of being the impetus for one of my most meaningful experiences at school, which was starting this collective called the Voyeur Theater Collective.

And it was a group of multimedia student artists that came together. I think I started at my senior year with a cohort of kids who were also seniors, junior, sophomores, whatever. I think by the end we had 50 people in our group. And we basically came together to revitalize live performance for our generation of peers. And it came out of this experience I was having where I would be as a theater major at these shows. Because Northwestern has one of the most robust student theater communities out there.

And I would be at these shows having these beautiful cathartic experiences, feeling so connected to my classmates, to the human experience just like watching these plays. And all of the kids that I was in dorms with, in sorority with, they weren't there. They were just at bars. Maybe going to DJ sets. Maybe going to the movies. But not having these meaningful experiences that I felt were really valuable.

And so I started this collective with other students. Some of whom were engineers, journalists, studio art kids, theater kids, to try to figure out how can we revitalize this ancient art form. And this really vital experience of like sharing and live storytelling with others. And bring that to our peers who were much more interested in going out to bars, or going to sorority formals, or whatever. And so we started that collective, and put on these series of events that were at the intersection of nightlife and performance. And what's pretty cool is that I think VTC still exists at Northwestern.

I don't know what's going on with COVID because it's based in live performance. But up until COVID, it still existed. And I would say that that piece of my Northwestern experience-- kind of seeing what was going on around me, and then coming together in community with other student artists-- was probably one of the most meaningful learning moments. Honestly, like how to do that. How to have that energy. Entrepreneurial spirit. And also I still work with the people that were in that collective with me.

I mean, I started my current company, Voyeur Productions, with two people that were in VTC. And then the other members of the collective, many of whom are literally my best friends and frequent collaborators. So I would say that Northwestern gave me my professional life, some of my best friendships, and this spirit of seeing something that you want to change and stepping up to the plate to actually do something about it rather than just complain.

HELEN KIM: Oh, you're still in communication and still friends with people you started the collective within your senior year. And are they also in LA? Or are they just all over the place?

LIO MEHIEL: Dulcinea, who's one of my creative partners lives in LA. And is sort of the reason why I moved here. She was a VTCer. She was doing the video for VTC and. Now we write together and make films together. And then Russell Kahn, was in LA for a second. But is now in New York. And he is also a part of Voyeur Productions. A couple other people are still in Chicago. One is now in Texas. But we find ways to work together. Like just this past fall, a couple people that were in DC that are based in Chicago came out to California. And then some from New York came out to California, and we all made a film together that Dulcinea wrote and directed.

And so we're still like-- I mean, flights were pretty cheap during the pandemic. And so we're still figuring out ways to work together. And more than that, we have like Zoom sessions where we just talk about what it feels like to be an artist, and how we can keep supporting each other and the like non-linear path of artistry and creative work.

HELEN KIM: I think that's kind of expected path for a lot of artists. It's very non-linear. And I kind of want to go back to what you mentioned earlier before how you took the IMC program. Did you take that because you felt pressure to do something else on top of everything that you were doing, which was which is a lot in itself?

LIO MEHIEL: Yeah. I think that it was a recognition that I needed. Like an internal pressure to do something in relation to the marketplace-- in relation to industry. So what was interesting to me about integrated marketing communications was that it took a holistic approach to understanding consumer behavior, and how storytelling can play a part in industry in selling products, or services, or brands, or whatever. But it was that sort of intersection of storytelling and industry that was interesting to me.

And I think I had, like many Northwestern students have, this internal drive to have some kind of success with in the marketplace. So I felt like just doing theater would satisfy my creative impulses. But wouldn't necessarily give me the entrepreneurial skills I might need to be able to transform my artistry into something that is ultimately sellable because we all have to make a living under capitalism.

HELEN KIM: Yeah. I really like the intentionality behind that of putting those two together to allow you to become who you are today. So let's talk about the transition from becoming a student to a recent alumni. I think no matter how much you prepare mentally and physically for that transition, once you're in it, it's a completely different world. And it's not easy. It's not like everybody lands a job immediately. They don't exactly know where they're going to be heading. So for you, how is the transition? And what really helped you feel adjusted and feel good about leaving college and going into the professional life?

LIO MEHIEL: Honestly, that transition was really hard. It felt like my community from Northwestern either went to LA or stayed in Chicago. And I was the only one who went to New York it felt like. And I felt compelled to return to New York because that's where my family is. And I felt like I could be the most grounded. I could live at home, which was a financial decision for me right out of school to save some money and kind of get my bearings.

And those first six months really I was depressed. I was uncertain. And I was sort of floundering around trying to understand what exactly I wanted to do because graduating and becoming an actor is not you do this, and then this, and then this. There's no ladder or even entry point. That's really obvious.

And so I was doing different residencies for performance art. I was interning at different companies, whatever. And I realized that the thing that felt like it was missing the most was that sense of being surrounded by community. And specifically, when you're a student, students can dive into creative projects together without worrying about money while having a ton of time. Without worrying is this going to be successful.

And so being out in the world, and all of a sudden having to basically hustle. And ensure that if you're doing a project you have the ability to pay people because they live in a city like New York, and the cost of living is quite high. It's not really like Chicago even where indie projects have a lot more ease developing.

So that was my biggest difficulty. It was like I want to be surrounded by community, but I don't know how to do that. And so once I kind of realized that was the thing I was missing, it was less about what I want to be doing and more about who I want to be doing it with. What kind of community I want to be surrounded by. I started to just go to every free talk, panel, workshop that I could find at small museums, gallery spaces, film institutes across New York, which is an amazing city in terms of being able to get culture without having to pay or have any credentials.

So I was like learning about the blockchain at the New Museum. I was learning about virtual reality at these public programs at NYU. I was going to free salsa dancing classes. I was just trying to meet people. I was learning about documentary filmmaking at IFP, which is an amazing film institute. And just kind of going up to people afterwards asking them about their experiences because many of these people were in their 30s and 40s. And looking back, a lot of what they said to me was your 20s are about finding out what it is you don't want to do, and who it is you want to do things with.

And that gave me a lot of comfort in those early days to just kind of be like it's OK that I'm working as a server in this insane Times Square Restaurant. And I'm tutoring people. Neither of which have anything to do with what I want to do in my life because I'm over here doing on the ground research about what kind of community I want to be a part of. And what aspect of art making makes me the most inspired.

And so through those experiences, I ended up getting a lot of like random new skills. And I think for someone like me, and anybody else who's a multidisciplinary artist, or people who have interests at the intersections of different professions, I think that period of experimentation and exploration is really key. And we shouldn't be hard on ourselves about that. And so that was my come to Jesus moment or whatever over the course of that first year.

And I would say the turning point for me from sort of going from that grad haze into what felt like a more professional path was really realizing, yes, I want to be an actor. And I want that to be one of my primary sources of income. And so what resources are around me that I can have access to for free in order to build a project that would allow me to be a lead actor in something? And the one resource I had was my older siblings who I didn't grow up with. I grew up in a house in Westchester. And it was still empty. My family had been trying to sell it for a long time.

And so I had this empty creepy house in Westchester that could serve as a location for something for free. And so I reached out to everyone I had met over email, and was like, hey, I have this free location. Does anyone want to make a movie with me? What's going on?

And a bunch of people responded. And so I ended up making a series of short films in that location for basically no money. And one of them was a short call Dysphoria, which I wrote, and was in, and directed. And built my team basically through random Facebook groups because that is what was going on at the time. Women in Film in New York was a Facebook group. And I went on there and was like, I need a producer.

And so basically made this movie that was kind of a fulcrum point for me. It was about my gender transition. It was the first time I had ever made a movie because I didn't do that while I was at Northwestern. And it kind of made me realize, oh, I can maybe have some professional success here because it got into quite a few film festivals and allowed me to get agents. And from that point on, I can track that as the moment that I kind of entered into the more formal marketplace of being a creative within the film industry and as an actor. And so all of that experimentation leading up to me making the short film I think was probably my post grad journey into professional life.

HELEN KIM: I just want to commend you for being so brave, and going out to all those meetups and meeting new people. Because that is not easy, especially after you graduate and you move to a city that you weren't at before-- like for the past four years of your undergraduate years. You don't know a lot of people. You're trying to figure out what you want to do in your life.

As you were sharing the story I was like, I don't know how they did all of that because I remember I was just so nervous, and I was so upset at the void of community. But it really sounds like wherever you went you are actually the catalyzer of forming communities, and bringing people from different groups together into one area. Literally, one house. Like your own house. Your family's house.

LIO MEHIEL: It's like literally comes sleep with me for a weekend in this creepy Westchester house. Everyone slept over because we couldn't go back to the city--

HELEN KIM: Yeah.

LIO MEHIEL: But yeah. I think something, though, that was with me was my ability to say, hi, my name is Lio. I went to Northwestern. I just graduated. I'm interested in x. It's not a joke that the Northwestern name and the purple mafia exists. And so I think taking advantage of that since we spent all that money and time going through it, we might as well reap the benefits. And then use it to be the catalyst for building community.

HELEN KIM: Since you were part of a lot of communities back then till now, do these communities look and feel like they're part of a community that you want to be with? How was it fitting in adjusting to these new groups of people in your life?

LIO MEHIEL: I would say in the first couple of years they weren't necessarily representative of the kind of communities that I feel like I'm entering into now and building towards being a part of. I mean, in college it was hard. I didn't come out as non-binary transmasculine until 2017. So two years after graduation. So there was a period there, I mean, in college and then immediately after graduating where I thought that I kind of had to be this cisgendered woman. I was going by my old name Isabella. And like that's what people knew me as.

And I thought that the only way I could be a valid and legible person in the world was to be in that identity because even as an artist, if I transitioned, then I had people telling me well are you worried that you're only then going to ever be able to play like the queer people? Or do something about queerness? Are you putting yourself in a box by doing that or by living her truth? And I'm like, oh man, they meant it in a loving way. But it's like that ideology is or was a lot more pervasive even just two years ago. Or not two years ago, but four years ago at this point. And you can see it starting to shift now. But I was living in that space of uncertainty.

And so it really wasn't until, honestly, I was an actor in this indie production of Hamlet in New York. And I got cast as a non-binary Horacio, who in this production was the love interest of Hamlet. And so this rehearsal process, and this show was the one place in my life at that time where everyone used they them. Me being around this community of people who see me as I am, and they don't know anything else about me. And so having that experience of just having one space that was affirming allowed me to realize how much better I would feel if that was my entire life. If everywhere I went people would know me and see me for who I am.

And so from then on, I started to go by Lio and use they them pronouns, and tell people that. And what I found was that I actually had a lot more success living in my truth as an actor even. Because I think ultimately our industry and our world is moving to a place where we recognize that gender diversity is beautiful. And that there can be complex stories held within different bodies that are not white, not cisgender. And it doesn't just always have to be the tokenized storyline.

But I think that little moment was really pivotal for me. Now I think even more than gender diversity what has been consuming my experience and awareness as an artist, and as a creative, and recently identifying as an activist, is this awareness about the internalized dominance of white supremacy that's present in all of us. And that's a heavy intense phrase. But I think as a white person, I feel this calling to talk with other white people about this problem. About the ethos of competition. About needing to dominate each other to prove our own worth. And really just taking ownership over the fact that this is our problem. Our problem, as in white people's problem, to solve. It is not that of people of color.

And even the gender binary is tied up with white supremacy. And so that has been something that's been at the forefront of my awareness. And has been driving a lot of my participation in community and in collaborations of, is this a space that is actively dismantling white supremacy and the norms that are associated with it? Because even when a space is all white, white supremacy is still at play. People are still trying to dominate each other. And by not naming those things, not putting language to the fact that we are all a part of this, and we all are perpetuating these norms unless we're actively not doing that, we're sort of continuing to build the world that we don't want. So we have to be active, and put language to this stuff.

And honestly-- sorry, this is sort of a tangent. But my friend, and actually fellow Wildcat, Zach-- Zach Nichol, he lives in Chicago. He's amazing. We were on the phone the other day having a catch up like we always do. And something he said to me that really resonated is once you recognize that race itself is a constructed concept to hold up anti-Blackness and white body supremacy, then you can start to recognize, oh, this is just a pathology. This is a problem that I'm here to solve. It doesn't have to consume me.

And I think the reason why I bring that up in relationship to your question is because we've been taught that we just have to survive in these spaces. These white cisgender spaces where we might be a marginalized person. We kind of have to be on the side or whatever, and internalize all of these microaggressions that we experience. Or these experiences of feeling othered. And instead of just surviving in them because that's what Hollywood says is appropriate, or the theater company says, oh, we want this kind of person to cast, or whatever-- instead of doing that, the more vocal we are, the more we put language and share our experience of feeling other or feeling alienated from this system of oppression because we don't identify with it, the more we can actually shift the conversation. And be a part of that shift.

So I think before I was really in the place of hiding in order to survive because I thought that's what I needed to do to succeed. And then I realized coming into my truth gave me more success, and also put me in community with people that I'm more interested in being in community with. And then now it's kind of this new moment of, OK, how can I take on responsibility to be more of an advocate, a vocal advocate, for not repeating these systems of oppression even in groups that hold privilege and power? Because if it's happening there, then it's going to happen with people of color. And that's then doing a different kind of violence. So anyway. That that's kind of been floating around in my mind in the past year especially. Sorry, that was a lot.

HELEN KIM: No. The reason why I just sat here in silence because I needed that silence for myself and all the listeners to really take in what you just shared with us because it's so, so relevant. And so true. And I appreciate you really taking us through your own personal journey. What you learned as a white ally. And sorry. I just want to thank you on that. And appreciate you for that. And I mean you even did an event for us a couple of weeks back, Moving Beyond Allyship In The Fight Against White Supremacy, which I will include the recording to that event in our show notes.

But I think the word active really comes into play when you're trying to actively think and unlearn what we grew up-- what society has really made us think that the world is supposed to look a certain way. We have to follow these certain protocols, and make others feel othered.

LIO MEHIEL: I do just want to share because even when I was going by Isabella, and she/her pronouns, I was also identifying as a Latinx because I'm Puerto Rican. And I lived there till I was five years old. I even felt alienated from my own whiteness. But as I've come in to my truth of my identity, I've also been able to come into the truth of in the world, in this world we live in, I'm white. People read me as a white person.

So how can I actually use that truth in pursuit of building the world I want instead of just being like, oh, I'm Latinx. I'm white passing. I'm distancing myself from this thing that I don't want to be associated with. Actually, let me call it into my identity and identify what are the ways that I myself perpetuate the system. What are the reasons why I care personally and selfishly about dismantling it so that it can become a personal thing? I think that has been the biggest difference for me is recognizing that we need to make these things really personal.

I hate identity politics so much. But it's important to like name the different ways in which we read each other and code each other so that we can take ownership over our power and participation in this whole conversation. And so that has been also a surprising journey as I've continued to learn about this, and be in community with other activists who are a lot more nuanced in their thinking than I am as of now.

HELEN KIM: Yeah. And it's an ongoing practice. It's not something you learn by going to a bystander training once, and just check off that box. And be like I'm an activist. I'm an ally. It's an ongoing practice really unpacking a lot of the things that we grew up to learn. And I know that a lot of the things that you're doing right now are related to your passion. Are related to supporting and really speaking out for the marginalized community. So tell us what you're up to now.

LIO MEHIEL: Right now I'm doing a couple of different things. I'm working as part of this amazing organization called Subscribe to Solidarity. And we're actually in a slight transition moment in terms of how we're moving forward. But the whole premise of Subscribe to Solidarity, which was founded by Tristan Marshall and Lauren Jackson-- these two amazing young black women who started the organization after the murder of George Floyd-- it basically encourages folks to match one of their monthly subscriptions like Netflix, Hulu, Peloton, whatever it might be, and commit that same amount of money to a Black led non-profit organization that has partnered with Subscribe to Solidarity.

So Lauren and Tristan identified 10 Black led non-profit mutual aid orgs that have been around forever on the ground supporting Black community. And basically encouraged their followers to subscribe to these organizations. And then I reached out to them, and basically asked them if they would be interested in expanding their effort to asking folks to subscribe to orgs to asking folks to subscribe to a fund that goes directly to individuals in the form of a people led reparations campaign. That's what we were calling it. And right now, we're facing a lot of questions and uncertainties about taxes because of course, the American government makes it really difficult to lead reparations efforts. And the IRS makes it really difficult to redistribute funds amongst people that are not family members.

But that effort has just really inspired me to again kind of make tangible and make consistent my participation in the social justice movement. Because I think for me, my lane is really like redistributing wealth is something I'm super passionate about. And then the other side of it is like talking to other white people, and getting them fired up and inspired to participate in this fight in a way that's personal to them. So Subscribe to Solidarity has been a really beautiful entry point into that work.

And then on the sort of creative side, I just booked a gig. A very small part on a TV show with Jared Leto. Actually, yesterday I booked it. So fun to share. I can't like talk about it I don't think. But it should be cool. And Jared Leto is crazy in the best way. He's an amazing actor.

And then I'm writing my first feature, which is based on the short film Dysphoria that I was talking about before. And this time, the film is not just about kind of like my gender transition, but it's actually about my medical transition because that has been a question for me as like a non-binary transmasculine person. Do I want to go on testosterone? Do I want to have top surgery? And through the process of writing that script in collaboration with a lot of the people from VTC actually, Northwestern alums, I have come to the realization that I want to get top surgery. So I'm getting top surgery in like two weeks actually.

So a lot is happening all at once. But I'm really I'm really excited, and I'm grateful to share it with people because I feel like if I talk about it it'll help to normalize it. And I think it's beautiful that people have gender health access nowadays, and be able to get these gender affirming surgeries. And so I feel grateful to be a part of that.

HELEN KIM: Lio, so many things to celebrate.

LIO MEHIEL: I know.

HELEN KIM: Oh, my gosh.

LIO MEHIEL: Yay.

HELEN KIM: Oh. I just want to say congratulations. And you've really outlined and shown us the progress and the journey of your life from beginning of college to now, and what's to come in the future. There are so many adventures and many exciting steps for you in the future. So let's talk about if you were to go back to your college years-- let's say like the time that you really felt really discouraged, tired, weren't sure, confused. And then after having gone through all of these accomplishments, successes, and maybe some setbacks have really led you to learn a lot from those setbacks, what would you tell your past self after all these experiences?

LIO MEHIEL: It's so cliche. But the path is not linear. And I'm a huge podcast fan. I've listened to almost all of the Northwestern podcasts. But I also listen to a lot of other podcasts from the time I graduated to now. And everyone says over and over in interviews no one has the same path. No one has a linear path, especially in the creative field.

But I guess I just didn't understand it in my body until now because I think some people graduate and have a razor sharp specific idea of what they want to do. And it's centered around a singular thing. And that's beautiful and amazing.

But I'm not one of those people. I have interests and passions that span a lot of different disciplines. And at first, I felt like that was bad. I was like, oh, I'm just a jack of all trades, but a master of none. I'm not going to get anywhere. But something that my mom said recently, which is I think what I would say to my younger self, is that what I'm doing right now, the career I'm building quote unquote, is actually me. I'm the thing I'm building. Each project I participate in, each step I take on coming into my personal truth, I am building myself up as a human being who is going to be able to participate in the complex and multidimensional life that I want to have. All of these different things I'm doing are building towards that, and also helping me to uncover who I am and what kind of life I want.

So I feel like I would just tell myself that it's not linear, and what you're doing is developing and building you. Not your career. You're building you and your life. And that that is just as good as building the fancy career that has sort of the single title and the linear path.

HELEN KIM: Yes. Yes. And whatever that path may look like for you, it may not look exactly the same as others. But if it feels good for you, and if it makes sense for your lifestyle, then you should go for it. Yeah. Another thing to celebrate is Pride Month in June. We're in the month of June. And for you, what is Pride Month mean? And how do you hope to celebrate it this year? Last year everything was virtual. We had to watch on YouTube live. But what does it really mean to you? And how do you hope to celebrate it?

LIO MEHIEL: Actually, this will be the first time I plan to go to New York, go back to New York, for Pride from LA. This will be the first time that I experience Pride in New York because in previous years-- I think it's internalized transphobia, internalized homophobia. It always felt kind of overwhelming to participate in the celebrations for some reason. Again, not against anyone else. I would see everyone to be like, wow, everyone is so beautiful, and vibrant, and prideful. I love that and support that. But there was something within me that felt like it wasn't my place to participate. Or I didn't want to claim ownership over that or something.

And honestly, COVID providing this unexpected opportunity to really go in and have a lot of time in solitude, I think, is what has allowed me to come into a more honest relationship with my queerness, with my transness, with my body. And now that I've kind of gone into the depths of that place over the past year, coming out, and getting to go to New York, and knowing that everyone's going to have masks on and be safe, but be out in the world celebrating together for the first time in a long time, I'm so excited about that.

And also, I will be four weeks post of top surgery. And so I won't be like drinking, or smoking, or doing anything like that because I want to take care of my body. But I will be walking with everyone, and observing, and just kind of like being in that atmosphere knowing that for once I've like taken a scary step of like I want to do this thing. This thing is going to feel really good. As in top surgery and sort of owning my transgenes. And so here, I get to be surrounded by other people who are only affirming that, and only doing that for themselves too. And so I'm particularly sentimental and excited about Pride this year. And the idea of coming together after such a moment of deep grieving and solitude.

HELEN KIM: My gosh. I am so happy for you. It's been about six years since you graduated. And you went through so much since. What career advice do you have that you want to share with the Northwestern Network?

LIO MEHIEL: That's a great question. I think honestly what's coming up is the transformation that I think we all went through during COVID. And feeling like our world has been revealed to us. And we have been revealed to ourselves by spending time on our own or in isolation. Even if it's with a partner or whatever. The machine stopped. And in that space, a lot of truths were revealed.

And I feel like from that, my personal relationship to my own ambition has really changed. I've gone from I got to get ahead, I got to hustle in that New York mentality. Meetings, meetings, meetings. Hustle, hustle, hustle. Get success. Get power. Fame. Whatever.

My ambition has really transformed from that space to a ferocious ambition about being a part of building the world that I want to see. And I think what I would share with the Northwestern community is the question, how can I be of service? How can you be of service in your purpose? Honoring who you are and what your passions are. And also honoring the fact that we are here to be in service of one another. Because COVID showed us like we're interconnected. Our health is intertwined. Our humanity is intertwined.

And so that question of how can I be of service in my purpose because you don't have to just relinquish what you want to do in order to do something you think is good for the world. We all have our own lane to be in. I'm not out here being the spokesperson at the protest. That's not my lane. My lane is to be over here talking to you, and saying, how can we redistribute wealth together? And other Northwestern alums. And so how can you be of service in your purpose?

And then how can you actively not replicate systems of oppression in every dynamic you're in? Because I think in a place like Northwestern that's filled with high achievers, the implicit assumption is we are going to get to a place of power and wealth. And yet, a lot of students as progressive people talk about together, oh, I don't want to hoard power. I hate systems that hoard wealth. I hate these systems of centralized power. Well, if we really believe all those things, then in every interaction we have in the building and designing of our own lives, how can we divest from centralized structures? Even Hollywood. How can we divest from Hollywood and invest in local community based efforts across your career, and in your hobbies, and in your interactions?

Literally with your best friend, can you be having non-violent communication where you express your feelings and hold people accountable? But you do so in a non-violent way that upholds your humanity and the humanity of the other person. So I think that piece is something I really hope that the Northwestern community listening takes with them because I know we all have a really good heart, it takes a little bit of work to translate that good heart, good intention, into good consistent action.

HELEN KIM: Thank you for tuning into today's episode of Northwestern Intersections. For more information about our podcasts, please visit northwestern.edu/intersections. Until next time, stay safe. And take care of yourself and your families.