It Gets Better Project started as a viral video movement, with more than 70,000 people sharing their stories in support of LGBTQ+ youth. Now, those videos are back with a fresh look and feel, and kicking things off is 23-year-old artist, director, and author Chella Man. This is the first in a series of new It Gets Better videos, more of which will premiere this year.
“Being deaf made me really wanna figure out… how can I express myself without sound,” Chella Man — who identifies as "curious, stubborn, Deaf, transmasculine, genderqueer, Jewish, and Chinese" — explains in his video. “Going to school, so many hours... you just sit there with a pencil and paper for hours on end. And sometimes schooling wasn’t accessible to me, I couldn’t understand the teacher, I couldn’t hear the teacher, and I didn’t know sign language fluently. But I had a piece of paper and a pencil. That’s the place I felt most free.”
The reimagined look and feel of the It Gets Better videos mirrors a shift in how the art of storytelling has evolved over the years. This inside look at the new subjects takes viewers through their personal stories in an honest way and feels reflective of where today’s LGBTQ+ youth are: constantly evolving, consistently learning, and purposefully bold in being unapologetically themselves.
“Being deaf made me really wanna figure out… how can I express myself without sound,” Chella Man — who identifies as "curious, stubborn, Deaf, transmasculine, genderqueer, Jewish, and Chinese" — explains in his video. “Going to school, so many hours... you just sit there with a pencil and paper for hours on end. And sometimes schooling wasn’t accessible to me, I couldn’t understand the teacher, I couldn’t hear the teacher, and I didn’t know sign language fluently. But I had a piece of paper and a pencil. That’s the place I felt most free.”
The reimagined look and feel of the It Gets Better videos mirrors a shift in how the art of storytelling has evolved over the years. This inside look at the new subjects takes viewers through their personal stories in an honest way and feels reflective of where today’s LGBTQ+ youth are: constantly evolving, consistently learning, and purposefully bold in being unapologetically themselves.
"With our re-imagined It Gets Better videos, we wanted to give our audiences a chance to peer into the lives of their LGBTQ+ siblings and be inspired by their individuality and freedom of expression. Chella Man is such a dynamic example of what it means to be oneself and create one's own happiness. We are honored to present these stories - knowing that seeing ourselves well is a launching pad for building better futures." - Justin Pye, Digital Producer, It Gets Better Project
