Laya Mosto

Like, media representation was huge for me.

Totally.

And I was like, wow, look, this is amazing.

And I'd, like, meet some queer people at, like, work or in school, and I'd be like, I'd feel something, but then I was like, no.

I had bigger fish to fry.

Of course.

So how did you get to a point where you could figure that out?

I think as soon as I got to New York.

It didn't even take me a month.

Like I got to New York and I was like all the time I felt like, you know, there's a project I need to be working on.

Like there's some sort of self-improvement.

There's some sort of like something that I need to be doing like to like almost like fix myself or like be better.

I was like, let me get on like dating apps and stuff.

And I was like, OK, like I put myself astray.

I was like, OK, like let me go out on dates.

And I was going on a few dates with this guy.

And I was like, I didn't want to be touched.

I didn't want to talk.

I generally thought this is what you're supposed to do.

Like I thought these are the steps that you have to go through.