Anna DeShawn grew up in a religious household on the South Side, where she says she “had no connection to queerness.” Once she reached adulthood, she saw a need for more coverage of LGBTQ+ issues. And in 2009, she founded E3 Radio to start telling those stories.

She was ready to be a radio personality. “Black women in radio from Chicago, it's a pretty lit lineup,” DeShawn said. “I didn't grow up thinking that this was something I could not do.” And earlier this year, she was inducted into Chicago’s LGBTQ Hall of Fame.

In this episode, host Erin Allen talks to DeShawn about E3 Radio, the Queer News Podcast and why it’s important for LGBTQ+ people to be the ones telling queer stories.