Queering Vegan
TikToking Toward a Revolution
Gem Nwanne has a goal: to build small, resilient communities where queer Black people are loved and well-fed — through shared meals that celebrate the plant foods of the African diaspora, and through the collective dissemination of radical leftist theory in digestible bites that inspire hope, awaken class consciousness, and ignite revolution.
Kwanne was born in Aba, Abia in Southwest Nigeria and relocated with their family to Central Jersey as a 10-year-old. Now, the 25-year-old community organizer and self-taught vegan home cook publishes under the moniker @urdoingreat, drawing hundreds of thousands of views on TikTok. Their videos hone the art of text bubble subtitles, lip syncing, and viral dance moves atop an office desk at their day job as a data analyst. Almost exclusively political, their TikToks break down binaries and show how political discourse relates to everyday life — all in under 15 seconds. Nwanne’s satire is clever, joyful and spares no one. Not even leftists.
