Yanni Young is a Black, queer, multi-disciplinary artist born and raised in Harlem, NYC. Yanni grew up performing in plays, musicals, played piano for five years and attended a performing arts high school as a vocal major. Other mediums that Yanni has explored have been podcasting as well as documentary filmmaking. For two years Yanni had a podcast called "Soul Rebel Podcast" centering Black artists, healers, and grassroots organizers, allowing them to speak on their work and their life journey that led to where they are in the present. They currently intern for a Black jewelry brand based in Brooklyn by the name of Heavy Metals NYC. Yanni is also an administrative assistant and teaching artist with the LEAP program of NYC in Brooklyn.

PROJECT - COMING IN STORIES: CONVERSATIONS w/ BLACK LGBTQ ELDERS IN HARLEM

The purpose of this project is to conduct interviews of Black LGBTQ elders in Harlem. The goal is to have them share their stories of coming into themselves, what that felt like and what that looked like. There’s not enough recorded history of Black LGBTQ folks, and I find that it’s easier to come across non Black LGBTQ history but harder to come across queer history within the African Diaspora. This is an intergenerational talk of Black lgbtq elders ranging from 50 years and up. This is not a “coming out” story but a coming in story. I want them to share what it was like growing up in Harlem, and whether they had Black elders in their lives to look up to. If not, how were they able to come into themselves with no examples of queerness around them. Did they have community? What were safe spaces in Harlem, for them, where they could be their most authentic selves?"