Nina Kennedy
“Being in the closet eats up so much energy and causes stress and anxiety,” says Nina Kennedy. “There’s strength in numbers, and people won’t know how many of us there are unless we come out.” Coming out has been nothing but good to Kennedy, a classical pianist, orchestral conductor, award-winning filmmaker, TV personality, and author. Holding a master’s degree from Juilliard, the multihyphenate presented her first complete piano recital at age nine and appeared as a soloist with the Nashville Symphony at age 13. She currently hosts “The Noshing with Nina Show,” an award-winning monthly talk show on Manhattan Neighborhood Network (MNN). Aside from her current success, being an out lesbian allowed Kennedy to relate to and understand her audience, making her projects — like writing lesbian erotica, producing short films, and doing spoken-word — more relatable and popular. Kennedy just released “Practicing for Love,” her first book in a series of memoirs about her early life as a child piano prodigy, her young adulthood, and her “budding sexuality.” The music video for “Blue White and Red,” a trap/classical single, dropped on Juneteenth. —IL
