Hey Fam, I truly have the pleasure to introduce to some and present to many a truly beautiful individual. I am proud, deeply proud to call myself a sister to the Morehouse College Grad. Tre’vell Anderson is….. There are few things I could say that will add to the obvious SLAY, so let’s get right into it. This protector of individuality gave me this following introduction and who am I not to use it?
My name is Tre’vell Anderson and I am a journalist, social curator and world changer. Originally from Charleston, SC, I attended Morehouse College where I majored in sociology. After graduating in 2013, I enrolled at Stanford University where I earned my MA in journalism in 2014. From there I started my current job, as a reporter at the Los Angeles Times. I am black, gay and gender non-conforming – meaning, I slay. Like, perpetually.
Media often erases those of us in the margins, grey spaces and at the intersections of life. Through my work, I center our lived experiences, our hopes and dreams — all through the lens of Hollywood and entertainment. I aim to place as the subject of coverage, as opposed to object of exploitation, those who often are talked about (as if they don’t exist) or talked at (as if they can’t comprehend). It’s time for us to speak for ourselves.
1.What do you do? What is your job?
I’m a film reporter at the Los Angeles Times covering diversity in Hollywood and black and queer film. I write feature stories and profiles, for online and print, about the latest movies, and I cover red carpets during award season.
My favorite interview: Viola Davis, queen of all she surveys, on returning to ‘Fences’ six years later
2. Do you consider yourself successful?
Eh. I think some people would say that me having a job at a legacy media company at 25 is successful or that covering red carpets and interviewing celebrities makes me successful. And, I guess, they would be right. But I long for more. Where I am right now is real cute, and I’m grateful and thankful to have the platform and opportunity to pay my bills by doing what I love – writing about black and LGBTQ people.
But they say to whom much is given, much is required. I’ve been given a lot to deal with… so watch me werk!
3. What are you striving for in life?
I’m striving to remain happy. I’m striving to challenge myself, and challenge those around me. I’m striving to disrupt traditional notions of what journalism is and what journalists look like.
4. When you reach your ‘ultimate goal’ what does that look like?
I don’t know if I have an ultimate goal. I’ve never been one to truly chart out my life and plan too far in the future. Life seems to work best for me taking things one week at a time.
But if I were to choose a goal, it would be less about me and more about the message that I hope my final catalog of work carries: that everyone deserves to have their stories told, and to have it told either by themselves or someone who looks like them.
5. Of the things you have accomplished thus far (things that were previous goals that you now have under your belt) how easy was it to achieve these things? What did that look like?
In the words of brother Langston Hughes: “Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair. It’s had tacks in it and splinters and boards torn up and places with no carpet on the floor – bare. But all the time I’se been a-climbin’ on and reachin’ landin’s and turnin’ corners and sometimes goin’ in the dark where there ain’t been no light.”
Wanting to do the work that I do isn’t an easy feat, despite the bright lights, red carpets and celebrity hobnobbing. While many look at entertainment reporting as “fluff,” we make use of the same core journalism principles of intrepid investigative journalists. Now imagine doing this work as someone whose body is read as male, but adorned in high heels, dresses and other garb reserved for women. We all know what life can be like for trans and gender nonconforming people – and if you don’t, trans people, particularly those of color, are being killed just for living their truth.
So, to do what I do at the publication I’m doing it for in the clothes that I do it, is a miracle, a daily feat, something fairytales are made of. I shouldn’t exist (here or otherwise), and I wouldn’t if homophobia, transphobia or racism had succeeded in taking my life, my joy or my ability to envision more for myself. But I slay on.
6. What do you want People of Color under thirty to know about success? Is it only one version?
Success is hard-fought and hard-earned, and it won’t necessarily happen for all of us before we turn 30. Don’t allow what society tells you is successful to impact or influence the visions you have for yourself. What you define as success may not come until 30 years down the road. But don’t give up. Stay on course and in the race. The finish line will be within sight before you know it. And if you can slay it in a nice pair heels, that photo finish will be all the sweeter.
7. What are you planning as your next move in life?
Like I said, planning is not my forte. I do however hope to continue building my voice and my brand within entertainment journalism. I think I represent something missing in media, and I’m primed and ready to inject a little slay into the industry.
8. What would you have your younger self know about where you are in life right now?
I’d tell my younger self to trust his gut, to relish in the uncertainty, to accept the things he cannot change. People often say that things get better. For those who look like us, it doesn’t always. But for me it did, and the b.s. you’re going through now will be the wind at your back as you take on the world.
9. Is there anything you would like to share with this blogs audience?
From the outside looking in, most people look great, as if they’re living their best lives and not struggling. But behind those eyes, it’s often a very different story and their Insta feed is actually a sham. Be a friend and check in on folks.