Through storytelling, music, and advocacy, Los Angeles artist Ross Victory transforms personal healing into social entrepreneurship—building a global creative ecosystem for Bi+ visibility, education, and belonging.
In a world that prefers binary categories and bite-sized definitions, Embracing All of Me refuses to simplify. The Los Angeles–based storytelling and advocacy platform, founded by author and multidisciplinary artist Ross Victory, is challenging the narrow ways in which Bi+ and fluid identities are represented in media and community spaces. Through creative writing, podcasting, and cultural dialogue, Victory’s work pushes past the familiar “coming-out” narrative toward something more enduring: belonging.
“The collective story of Bi people has historically been told through confusion and curiosity,” Ross says. “I wanted to create a space that reflects our joy, grief, complexity, and shared power—something that puts us on the offense, for once.”
At its core, Embracing All of Me is a multi-pillar ecosystem. It’s a creative movement, digital portrait of a community, and educational platform that bridges storytelling, mental wellness, and advocacy, with a particular focus on narratives from Bi+ people of color.
Victory, a Black Bi+ man from Southern California, spent years searching for a mirror that reflected him fully. As he was raised in a rigid, deeply religious, and unaffirming household, coming out as a teenager wasn’t a viable option for him. There were neither role models nor roadmaps for being a queer teenager in the early 2000s.
“In church and in my family, silence was survival,” Victory recalls. “I, like many queer youth, learned to split myself to feel safe. It took losing my brother and father—and eventually pieces of myself—before I realized all those versions were still me.”
Those realizations became the foundation for Embracing All of Me. “I wasn’t the only one trying to piece myself back together,” he adds. “I started meeting others on the same journey, asking the same questions.”
“In many ways, Embracing All of Me reflects my actual journey—my interests, the conversations I want to have, the places I want to go, and, yes, the fact that I’m a Bi person trying to survive the binary, too.”
Today, Embracing All of Me spans an inaugural book for men, a podcast featuring spoken-word artists, mental-health advocates, community leaders, and abuse survivors across Africa, Asia, Europe, and North America, alongside a growing library of writing and multimedia storytelling programming.
Visibility vs. Validation
The Philippines is often viewed as one of Asia’s more LGBTQ-affirming countries, yet numbers tell a more complicated story. A 2024 study by the Trevor Project and the Psychological Association of the Philippines found that 63 percent of LGBTQ+ youth said their identity felt like a burden, while nearly 60 percent didn’t feel safe expressing their true selves.
For Bi+ people, including pansexual and fluid communities, that gap between visibility and validation can feel even sharper. With few local statistics available, bisexual Filipinos often exist as an ‘invisible majority’ within queer spaces.
“When bisexual people share our stories, it’s significant,” Victory explains. “You might be the only one in the room, and suddenly, when you find the courage to speak your truth, you’re expected to prove yourself. We become educators before we find our tribes. That’s the issue.”
He adds, “Embracing All of Me is about changing that dynamic and owning our stories, not just explaining them.”
The platform’s emphasis on education, creativity, and community transforms lived experience into advocacy. In practice, that means writing workshops, creator panels that elevate identity in art, and podcast conversations where guests can finally say, “This is who I am” without having to translate it for the room.
Breaking Away from Stale Narratives
Much of mainstream LGBTQ representation still centers on linear arcs, struggle, coming out, and acceptance. These stories have value, but Victory believes they overlook the ongoing reality of living at the intersections of race, gender, faith, and leadership. Embracing All of Me challenges that formula by spotlighting origin stories that reveal deeper emotional cores.
“What happens when we start to feel validated? That momentum can fade if it isn’t rehearsed and integrated,” Ross says. “Writing, journaling, imagining can help us practice embodiment.”
The project explores what Victory calls “the afterlife of visibility,” i.e., the emotional, spiritual, and cultural work of existing authentically after coming out. Through interviews, essays, and creative programs, Embracing All of Me shows how visibility and embodiment can coexist and how healing often begins not in protest, but in story.
Victory’s artistic foundation is, in fact, storytelling through written words and music. A former English teacher, Victory uses words and sound to explore selfhood and connection.
Ross Victory’s early works—such as the award-winning memoir Views from the Cockpit (2019)—opened the door to conversations about grief and masculinity. Subsequent projects expanded into self-discovery and identity. However, Embracing All of Me represents his most integrated vision yet, describing a bridge linking advocacy, creativity, and personal truth. As an artist and social entrepreneur, the initiative presents an important impactful solution.
For many in the Bi+ community, that bridge is a lifeline. Research shows that bisexual people face some of the highest rates of mental-health disparities and interpersonal violence compared with their gay and lesbian peers. Embracing All of Me counters that invisibility by creating a cultural record of Bi+ lives that are often overlooked or misrepresented.
“When people see themselves reflected and hear how others are navigating, they start to believe their experiences are real,” Ross says. “That’s the purpose these conversations and panels serve for me, too. I’m on stage, but I’m also in the audience—and that’s where belonging began.”
The podcast and workshops invite participants into identity-focused writing, a framework Victory developed to help individuals translate memory, cultural context, and imagination into art. The goal isn’t perfection or publication; it’s reclaiming authorship and with it, authority over one’s life.
From Los Angeles to the World
Though rooted in Los Angeles, Embracing All of Me has built a global audience, resonating with Bi+ people and allies across continents. Each story—whether about faith, family, or freedom—adds another thread to the tapestry of how bisexual identity plays out in real life, beyond social media feeds and statistics.
“Whether you’re in Manila or Los Angeles,” Ross reflects, “the difference is access to language, representation, and safe spaces. That’s what Embracing All of Me is trying to build and invite others into.”
Looking ahead, Victory envisions that Embracing All of Me will continue to expand as a dynamic ecosystem and a living archive of identity and imagination connecting art, advocacy, and education. He plans to evolve it through live events, creative collaborations, reflective card decks, greeting cards, and mission-driven storytelling projects such as workshops, webinars, and guest panels.
This November, Victory will launch Identity & Imagination: Unlocking Your Writer’s Voice and Perspective For Beginners, a beginner-friendly webinar series that will repeat monthly on Eventbrite in 2026. The platform also welcomes those who may not identify as Bi+ but want to help “bust the binary” and embrace fluidity and experiences that color outside the lines.
At a time when public discourse around sexuality can still feel reductive, Embracing All of Me offers a powerful counter-narrative. It isn’t about debate; it’s about reminding readers, listeners, and creators alike that they are worthy of belonging and being centered.
“If my work helps someone embrace one more piece of themselves, then I’ve done my job. A lot of this work is lifelong, but I’m here to plant the seed that you matter, especially Bi+ Black and people of color,” Ross says.
Learn more about Embracing All of Me on Victory’s website and Eventbrite page.
