On this episode, Cardioncè Ross-Derèon (Mz. Cardioncè) joins Caroline and Lusi for a conversation that moves through survival, migration, faith, and the material work of building support networks for trans people navigating violence and displacement. Mz. Cardioncè traces her early experiences with gender identity in a conservative Christian environment, the impact of domestic abuse, and the barriers she faced in education and healthcare while seeking affirmation outside formal systems.

She speaks about her current work supporting trans and queer asylum seekers, including coordinating community-based efforts that helped a gay man flee homophobic violence in Uganda and resettle safely in Toronto. The discussion centers the practical realities of mutual aid: social media as infrastructure, informal fundraising, cross-border coordination, and the role of trans-led networks in providing housing, documentation support, and pathways to stability.

The conversation also explores Mz. Cardioncè’s ongoing education in child care, her plans to expand nonprofit work focused on safe spaces for trans and gender-diverse people, and the importance of representation, self-belief, and collective care.

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About the Guest

Cardioncè Ross-Derèon is a Toronto-based trans androgynous, female-identifying artist, community advocate, and creative voice. Her work and lived experience sit at the intersection of self-expression, resilience, and community structure. Through art, public engagement, and digital platforms, she uses storytelling as a tool to support gender-diverse and marginalized people with an emphasis on authenticity, visibility, and collective care.

Her background includes organizing within women-centered spaces and developing group structures that prioritize resource-sharing and pathways toward independence. As she continues her education, her work has expanded to focus more intentionally on transgender, queer, and socially segregated communities, reflecting an ongoing commitment to growth alongside the people she serves.

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About the Podcast

The Trans Narrative Podcast is an international storytelling and archival platform dedicated to preserving trans and gender-diverse lives through long-form narrative. With over 150 episodes across five seasons and listeners in more than 80 countries, each episode documents lived experience as historical record.

🎙️ Trans or gender-diverse? Share your story at transnarrativepodcast@gmail.com 🏳️‍⚧️

Created and Produced by Caroline Essence

“Make it real to me” written by Athena Promachus

Featuring: Talk my Ear Off by Mateo Briscoe and Cameron Love, with the local Slothbois

Powered by Spotify for Creators

📧 transnarrativepodcast@gmail.com

💵 Support via PayPal: CarolineREssence

Find us on Facebook, TikTok, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartRadio, or wherever you listen.

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Resources

Suicide Hotline: 1 800 784 2433

Trevor Project: 1 866 488 7386

National Domestic Violence Hotline: 1 800 799 7233

Drug Abuse National Helpline: 1 800 662 4357

S A F E Self Abuse Finally Ends: 1 800 366 8288

Family Violence Prevention Center: 1 800 313 1310

National Human Services Hotline: 1 800 662 4357

On this episode, Angel Lovely joins Caroline and Jordan sit for a conversation that moves through care, survival, art, and the responsibility of witnessing. The discussion is expansive, grounded in what Angel names as “the dimensionality and depth humans can carry” and the multidimensionality we hold within.

Angel speaks about writing, painting, and self-portraiture as practices that held them through isolation, dysphoria, and dissociation. They trace how creative work became a method of returning to the body, building language for non-binary experience, and documenting lives often left outside official records. The conversation explores family distance with care, the impact of hypersexualization on gender perception, and the ongoing work of living authentically. Joy emerges as method: dancing, cooking, reading, and witnessing other queer people living openly become forms of survival and record.

The conversation moves into Angel’s archival practice, centering Black and Indigenous queer tenderness, pre-colonial gender fluidity, ecosensuality, and the ethics of documenting community without extraction. Angel reflects on spirituality beyond lineage, decolonizing ideas of madness and consciousness, and the importance of unlearning bias when holding other people’s stories.

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About the Guest

Angel (they/them) is an artist and writer whose work centers Black and Indigenous narratives as acts of witnessing and archival care. Their practice documents lives, homes, communities, histories, loves, and everyday tenderness often excluded from dominant records. They are interested in literature that feels like home, work that affirms possibility, fluidity, rupture in form, and decolonial, anti-colonial, and Indigenous practices.

Their creative work treats storytelling as a living archive that holds people with care rather than extracting from them. Estrangement from biological family is part of their history and may be discussed with care but is not the focus of this conversation.

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About the Podcast

The Trans Narrative Podcast is an international storytelling and archival platform dedicated to preserving trans and gender-diverse lives through long-form narrative. With over 150 episodes across five seasons and listeners in more than 80 countries, each episode captures lived experience from beginning to end, treating every story as historical record rather than soundbite.

🎙️ Trans or gender-diverse? Share your story at transnarrativepodcast@gmail.com 🏳️‍⚧️

Created and Produced by Caroline Essence

“Make it real to me” written by Athena Promachus

Featuring: Talk my Ear Off by Mateo Briscoe and Cameron Love, with the local Slothbois

Powered by Spotify for Creators

📧 transnarrativepodcast@gmail.com

💵 Support via PayPal: CarolineREssence

Find us on Facebook, TikTok, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartRadio, or wherever you listen.

⸻

Resources

Suicide Hotline: 1 800 784 2433

Trevor Project: 1 866 488 7386

National Domestic Violence Hotline: 1 800 799 7233

Drug Abuse National Helpline: 1 800 662 4357

S A F E Self Abuse Finally Ends: 1 800 366 8288

Family Violence Prevention Center: 1 800 313 1310

National Human Servic

On this episode, Stevie Bees (they/he) joins Caroline, Foxx Cant Jordan Braxton, and Kevin Werner to share their life, work, and community initiatives.

Stevie reflects on childhood in London, Ontario, where music and imagination offered refuge and space for self-expression. Growing up without clear role models, they learned through experience and discovered the first contours of their creativity and identity. These early years surfaced later in the ways Stevie approached personal expression, relationships, and community.

As the conversation moves into adulthood, Stevie traces the evolution of their identity and creative work. They share how their clothing brand began, how attention arrived unexpectedly, and how they responded by supporting community and mutual aid. They discuss the nonprofit they founded, Fairy Godparents, which provides youth and community support through sponsorship programs, toy and period equity drives, and memorial scholarships. They are also the author of the forthcoming children’s book, What Is a Safe Space?

Throughout the episode, Stevie shows how personal, creative, and community work intersect, emphasizing care, connection, and practical support. The conversation remains grounded in lived experience, preserving the nuances of their story beyond public recognition.

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About the Guest

Stevie Bees, who uses they/he pronouns, is a community organizer, artist, and writer based in London, Ontario. They founded an independently grown apparel brand and later established the Fairy Godparents nonprofit. Through this work, they support youth and community with sponsorship programs, toy and period equity drives, and memorial scholarships. They are also the author of the forthcoming children’s book What Is a Safe Space?

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About the Podcast

Preserving trans voices, one story at a time

The Trans Narrative Podcast is an international storytelling and archival platform dedicated to preserving trans and gender-diverse lives through long-form narrative. With over 150 episodes across five seasons and listeners in more than 80 countries, each episode captures lived experience from beginning to end, treating every story as historical record rather than soundbite.

🎙️ Trans or gender-diverse? Share your story at transnarrativepodcast@gmail.com 🏳️‍⚧️

Created and Produced by Caroline Essence

“Make it real to me” written by Athena Promachus

Featuring: Talk my Ear Off by Mateo Briscoe and Cameron Love, with the local Slothbois

Powered by Spotify for Creators

📧 transnarrativepodcast@gmail.com

💵 Support via PayPal: CarolineREssence

Find us on Facebook, TikTok, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartRadio, or wherever you listen.

⸻

Resources

Suicide Hotline: 1 800 784 2433

Trevor Project: 1 866 488 7386

National Domestic Violence Hotline: 1 800 799 7233

Drug Abuse National Helpline: 1 800 662 4357

S A F E Self Abuse Finally Ends: 1 800 366 8288

Family Violence Prevention Center: 1 800 313 1310

National Human Service Call Center: 2 1 1