V127: The Thought Leaders Issue With Kyle Farmery

The designer and model on living in the epicenter of the pandemic, the power of each individual vote, and personal Thought Leaders.

V127’s Thought Leaders Issue is available for pre-order now.

“We all know 2020 has been a nightmare, but the question is: ‘What’s really wrong with this year?’ During the coronavirus situation, we haven’t been told the truth. It’s important to change that. We’ve been told all kinds of lies from our administration. We’ve got to get someone who can teach us the change. And in politics, the voices of LGBTQIA+ community are not really heard. I think there are a lot of powerful LGBTQIA+ leaders out there who are fighting for change, but I don’t think the administration really takes that completely seriously until it becomes a huge situation. There needs to be more listening to our voices and what that should mean for the world.”

“I’m a native New Yorker, and I’ve lived in Tribeca my whole life. A lot of people left during this pandemic, and I want to say, ‘Adios, sayonara, good luck to them!’ Of course New York is super scary during a pandemic. But if you don’t feel the pride in staying here, then go. Get out. Because it brought the community of people who are made to be here closer. I’ve heard some weird numbers of what percentage of New York is empty, and that’s fine. It was so dense before so I really think it’s okay. I think for nightlife it’s kind of scary, though. I’d love some genius to come up with a way to put us all in one space, but we need a genius. I don’t really have an answer for how to make it better. This [photoshoot] feels crowded and there’s five people in this huge room!

“The real problem is that people say, ‘I’m not voting in general because my neighbor is voting.’ But if a thousand people said that they aren’t going to vote because someone else will do it, then you get zero votes! It sounds cliché, but each individual vote is important. I haven’t always been political, but I’m making the conscious effort to get more involved.

“As this is the Thought Leaders issue of V [Magazine], I’ve been thinking about how my own Thought Leader is my mom. During the pandemic I moved in with her, so I’ve been getting daily updates about the election. It’s easy for a clown like me to get caught up with all of the other things going on. But you have to remember that it’s the trickle down theory, and that even if it doesn’t seem important, at the end of the day it will affect you.”

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