Hey y’all, my name is Indya Moore and I’m doing The First Time with NET-A-PORTER.
The first time I read the ‘Pose’ script,
there were a lot of things that I felt at once.
One of them was a little bit of anxiety and reluctance
around taking on Angel.
I didn’t want to replay and relive Angel’s experience as a sex worker.
Her storyline came really close to mine in ways that… at first,
I was a little ashamed of.
So there was a lot of fear and anxiety around telling Angel’s story.
And so the first time that I read the script,
that was sort of the beginning of my healing.
And so ‘Pose’ helped me to feel unashamed,
for my history, but it also prepared me to be OK with being free,
and also having access to other possibilities.
The first time I remember feeling pride in the person I am
was in middle school.
I was completely terrified of anybody knowing that I was queer.
I couldn’t imagine myself being out, and people knowing,
without having enough support.
When people started to see me
and come up around me to support me,
I started to feel more comfortable and proud of who I am.
When you have people who are your elders come to you and
let you know that you’re beautiful and that you belong here,
there’s something really affirming about that.
There’s something really affirming about people
who’ve already experienced life and seen it
all, or seen a lot of it, come to you and say that you’re OK;
that there’s nothing wrong with you and you’re doing great.
And when I went to middle school, I had that.
So thank you Francis, thank you Miss Javier,
for giving me that.
The first time I felt like I could make a difference was in my own life.
I felt like I grew up under a set of rules
and boundaries that created restrictions around who I am,
and my identity
That was my first time that I experienced the power of saying no to power.
There was so much power in my being able to say no
to restrictions
that didn’t allow me to be or exist in this world.
I chose myself, you know? And I broke rules in doing that.
Sometimes good people break bad rules.
That was the first time
I felt like I could make a difference, when I realized that.
The first opportunity I had to do a job I really loved!
Oh, a job that I really loved?
It was ‘Pose’! Um, it was actually ‘Pose’.
Yeah, like, there were jobs that I worked that I thought I would love,
that I would really love,
and I didn’t, but ‘Pose’ was a job that I actually really enjoyed.
And it was also the longest job that I ever had.
So, like, growing up, I struggled with discipline;
I learned so much about discipline
and how to have discipline,
and the importance of consistency and its relationship to discipline in our work lives.
And ‘Pose’ gave me that opportunity to learn that lesson.
I wish I had more gratitude when I started
because…
it’s like this crazy, brilliant, incredible thing just happens to you,
and you’re like, “OK, this is in my lap, and I’m going to just do it,”
but you don’t really get to sit and process with the magnificence of what you have.