Not Your Father’s Masculinity: Trans-owned Nova Edge teams up with trans creatives to celebrate transmasculinity through athleticism
A social media collaboration with my dear friend and incredible creative, Miles Quezada, to highlight transmasculinity, transmasc creatives, and a NY-based trans-owned brand. As their media consultant, I wrote a press release and collaborated with GoMagazine NY to spotlight Miles’s and Olivia ‘LIT LIV’ Morgan’s incredible photo project. Click here to see the post.
Brooklyn, NY– For trans identities, gyms and locker rooms can be complex spaces to navigate, from childhood memories of athletics to the gendered restrictions of athletic spaces. However, clothing brands like Nova Edge, a local trans-owned brand, and creative producers Miles Quezada and Liv Morgan understand that representation is critical and are keen to make an impact. The two teamed up recently for a photoshoot project titled Submissive. “I saw this retro picture of cis white gay men in a locker room and thought, what if we recreate that?” said Quezada. “As a transmasc, you can feel like an afterthought sometimes, and then you enter those spaces, and suddenly there’s a huge lens on you,” they added.
With the continuous attacks on the trans community and trans people in sports, a photoshoot for a trans brand celebrating trans people of color in a queer-owned gym setting felt empowering to the models. “Entering the shoot, with a group solely formed by Trans people of color, I felt a sense of home, friendship, and immediate connection with all the guys in the space,” says model Caroli (Ro) Nalosco. While brands like Nova-edge can be beacons of representation in a cis-heavy world on social media, these shoots themselves often act as places for resource sharing, affirmation, packers, community, and even access to T if someone lost their health insurance. A lot of the models in the shoot either met at other shoots or were already following each other online.
The photoshoot represents a beautiful reclamation of “boy” hood, capturing them exploring their masculinity in a space they’ve reclaimed. The shoot is intimate but never overtly sexualizing; it shows the models as complex human beings celebrating their own identities without any limits on how/in what way they can exist.
Shoot Concept summary: Through touch, sweat, and intertwined forms, Submissive explores queer and trans eroticism as both empowering and deeply intimate. Set against a retro 80s–90s gym aesthetic, the shoot highlights a trans brand through the lens of athleticism, desire, and masculinity.
This one is my favorite of the campaign because of the joke I wrote at the end. I ended up having to sell the stakeholders on ending with a comedic “button”. I don’t die on many hills, but I was ready to make that one my final resting place. From artsy types on Instagram to more serious LinkedIn folks, it ended up being the most quoted line from the campaign. It didn’t hurt that our talent, Mandy Groves, was a dream to work with and incredibly easy to direct, even from 1,100 miles away.
This one is a fun animation. Like great color that matches brand guidelines and animated puffs of smoke that illustrate a competitive edge? Then this is the social post for you!
Some ideas I had for internal #worklife social engagement videos. They are in the concept graveyard, but they rock in my opinion. If you steal them, I will find you.
Sometimes for fun and strategy, I like to include two ideas when presenting to clients: 1) Very on-brand idea that’s still within the client’s comfort zone, otherwise known as the “safety”. 2) A “risky” idea, one that is a bit “weirder” and would drive new consumers and create some buzz. For the DTW2024 Nova Carter robot demo and the corresponding event social post, they did pick concept 1. Concept 2 was our “risk,” playing up the robot’s job to dodge obstacles as a VS. NBA match-up with the Bulls’ theme song in the background. It would’ve been fun, but I understand why they chose 1.