Janet Mock Covers Marie Claire’s First-ever August Digital Issue

Mock, the acclaimed “Pose” director, producer, and writer, comes back to Marie Claire to open up about her original coming out story with the magazine in 2011. Inside the issue, Mock reflects on the experience of coming out as transgender and why being that beacon of representation has become so important in her life. Further, she expands on creating a world of fantasy in her TV projects for the Black and brown transgender community, what she learned from Oprah about Black art, and more.

In 2019, Mock made history by signing a sweeping deal at Netflix, making her the first out transgender woman empowered to call the creative shots at a major content company. The three-year multimillion-dollar pact gives Netflix exclusive rights to her TV series and a first-look option on feature film projects.

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Janet Mock reflecting on sharing her story with Marie Claire in 2011: “I remember at that particular time when I decided to do [the story]—because it was an intentional decision, but one that I kind of felt like I backed into, in a way, that did strip me of agency and voice.”

Janet Mock on the positive impact in coming out as transgender with Marie Claire in 2011: “It was strategic, too. A strategic placement that I’m grateful for and that [the writer, Kierna Mayo] was really supportive of…. To have a mainstream magazine say that this is an important story to tell in this particular time… People weren’t really talking about trans-ness in the way that we talk about it now.”

Janet Mock on what Oprah’s home taught her about Black art: “You step into [Oprah’s guest house] and you see Black images everywhere. It anchors you in the space [in a way that] if a white person walks in here, it’s like, ‘Don’t forget, just because she’s Oprah and you guys say she’s raceless, she’s not.’ And I thought, That’s the kind of home that I want. That was aspirational to me.”

Janet Mock on the fantasy world she creates for series FX’s Pose and Netflix’s Hollywood: “Instead of just turning the lens only on the murder, the violence, the abuse, and the space of lack, you then turn the camera and you say that actually in this space that you see as a space of lack, we’re thriving.”

[Photo Credit: Luke Gilford/Marie Claire]

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