Throwing Looks and Making More Pathways to Money with Mister Cool Mom
Quench Finance: How was money discussed while growing up? Was it discussed with you or something you could talk about easily in your environment?
Mister Wallace: My Paternal Grandmother was always talking about the value of a dollar. That always puzzled me growing up because I thought a dollar equals a dollar but now that I’m older I know a dollar means one thing to one person and another thing to another person. The value of a dollar changes depending on class, gender, race, sexual orientation, age, ability, and for many reasons people don’t value their dollars. I was taught to value all of my dollars but to not forget to be generous to those without because a dollar is only a dollar and a life is a life…
QF: How has being out impacted your perception of money?
MW: I’ve had my sexuality and its intersection with my race impact how employers have handled me often making me feel or downright disposing of me. I’ve had them go as far as [to] block my ability to access unemployment and therefore I see being out as something that can hold you back depending on the circles and communities you’re involved [in].
Being in queer spaces and learning about how many queer people experience homelessness as a youth I feel very privileged to have grown up without having to leave home upon coming out. To see how our society treats trans individuals and their ability to find work has made me honor and participate in mutual aid and fundraising tactics. Money doesn’t have to be inaccessible to queer people but so many folks use their power to make it feel that way.
QF: Do you discuss money differently with straight folks than with other queer folx?
MW: I encourage straight folk to give up their money to QTBIPOC liberation movements and I encourage queer folx to learn to navigate grant writing and institutional resources or find someone who can because there is money available you just need to make it come to you.
QF: How has 2020 changed your views on handling money, personally &/or professionally?
MW: Money is something I’m gladly willing to spend on the things that I NEED and some of the things that I want but I need to know that it’s coming and when. I will no longer go without because that could mean putting myself in life-threatening circumstances… I need to have a practice of searching out access to funds through social programs, mutual aid, government assistance, and grant writing on a daily basis because not being able to help the ones I love most in their times of need is no longer an option. Budgeting, and planning for the future are more important now than ever.
I’ve been able to take my art collective FUTUREHOOD and created an LLC to manage our record labels finances, as well as business to business sales. We just launched a Merch collection direct-to-consumer and we are very excited about what this will allow us to do in 2021.
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Mister Cool Mom Wallace is the Chicago IT girl and founder of FUTUREHOOD, the record label centering non-binary, genderqueer folx, providing the sound of the future, today. They also collaborated with OTV (Open Television), #bravefutures, & The Blaq Agenda, a sex-positive non-binary trans-led social experiment indexing black queerness to talk about the politics of pleasure.
