“You show up, speak from the heart, and let your voice light the way for someone else. If we all did that, think about how much brighter the world would be.”
SAM DYLAN FINCH, via Subconscious.org
The world needs braver, bolder stories.
When Sam Dylan Finch started his blog, Let’s Queer Things Up!, in the summer of 2014, he had one objective: Start a conversation.
Finch, a writer living with obsessive-compulsive disorder and ADHD, had no shortage of stories to tell. With a passion for raising awareness about mental health, particularly within the LGBTQ+ community, he quickly became a recognized and respected advocate and journalist, amassing millions of readers worldwide in a few short months.
A blog was just the beginning, though.
In the years that followed, Finch would go on to write for The New York Times, Huffington Post, Teen Vogue, Upworthy, The Establishment, The Bold Italic, Headspace, and more, challenging conventional ideas about mental health, body image, and suicide, while also contributing to numerous books and anthologies.
He would also partner with organizations like the National Eating Disorder Association and Active Minds, as well as major brands like Instagram, bringing greater visibility to the challenges faced by the transgender community.
With a keen eye for compelling storytelling and digital media savvy, Finch set his sights on transforming the ways in which media covers mental health and chronic conditions. He took on numerous roles in social media, content strategy, and editing, developing viral content and social campaigns for popular platforms like Everyday Feminism, Upworthy, and Healthline.
He now works as the lead editor of mental health and chronic conditions at Healthline.com, one of the largest health information websites worldwide.
Never drifting far from his roots as a writer, Finch continues to reach millions of readers across platforms — with a combined social media following of over 80,000 — as well as speaking at universities across the United States.
Follow him on Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook (here and here).
“We show up for one another. We take up space. And we keep trying, knowing that there are kids like us growing up in the world that are going to need us to look up to.
We keep trying for them, the way we wished someone had been there for us.
…one of them was probably born, just now. (Let’s hope they find themselves a little faster than it took for us to find ourselves.)”
SAM DYLAN FINCH
