Bailey Stover
Host & Creator of Alphabet SoupBailey Stover (she/her) is a multimedia journalist who who has developed visual, textual and audio storytelling skills so that she can create meaningful documentary pieces in both English and Spanish.
She is enterprising and constantly wants to learn more about the world around her. Simultaneously, she strives to listen empathetically, engage in people-oriented reporting and draw out the threads of humanity that connect us all.
Her journalistic passion lies in sharing the stories of historically marginalized and underrepresented groups.
When not reporting, she enjoys traveling, playing volleyball and spending time in nature.
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Kellen Sapp is a young transgender woman who grew up in Columbia. She spoke about the existence — and resilience of the queer community in the Midwest. -
Emma Rohan is a 20-something gender non-conforming lesbian. They spoke about the difficulties of having family members that do not accept them, and about how they stay hopeful despite that hurt. -
Nick Nack is transgender man who underwent top surgery. He spoke a little about the process and about the happiness and euphoria he now feels. -
Audra Sergel is a queer woman in her late 40s who's an active member of the community through her role as the artistic director of the Quorus, an LGBTQ+ choir. She spoke about the importance of love, support and music in hard times. -
Hannah Dolan lives in Jefferson City and was diagnosed with ADHD as an adult. She spoke about the importance of talking about and normalizing neurodivergent experiences. -
Tisya Cooke is a Jewish transgender woman and spoke about her experiences coming out and about how she personally defines gender affirmation. -
![David Hall sits on his couch on Monday, April 7, 2025, at his home in Columbia. “Even in Missouri there's certain areas that you still don't see that many queens of color. And especially in the bigger cities, how many of them do you see on cast in bigger bars that have, like, either a rotating cast or a main cast throughout weekends? I will give kudos to Kansas City because they've worked really hard on having that diversity within all of their cast, but still. Like, Columbia, one joke was like, ‘Kaycee can't work all the time.’ … ‘Kaycee can't perform in every show, so you can't really ding us on diversity.’ But I'm like, I still want to bring that representation,” Hall said. “Since [Nclusion Plus], one of the places I perform with, we go to smaller areas and perform. And I'm like, just to have one person look at me and say, ‘Oh yeah, I look like them. I can do that,’ makes me really happy. And it's like, ‘OK, what I'm doing, I'm on the right track for that.’”](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/92a6365/2147483647/strip/true/crop/1750x975+0+0/resize/280x156!/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F7d%2F9e%2Fe25c27e04e9a9b2be4ca9cb307d6%2F20250407-bas-queer-joy-david-hall-0291.jpg)
David Hall is a bisexual man of color. He spoke about coming out and the challenges of having others affirm his bisexuality when he's in a relationship with another man. -
Hallene Darland and Tina Sherman are a married autistic and ADHD queer couple. They spoke about the similar unmasking processes they went through when figuring out they were queer and when they got their ADHD and autism diagnoses. -
Abby Dickinson is a 23-year-old bisexual person. They spoke about how they're casually exploring their gender identity — without putting too much pressure on themselves. -
![Carol Snively, a queer woman and former President of The Center Project who came out in her 30s, stands on the building’s steps on Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024, in front of The Center Project in Columbia. “Because she was so likeable, everyone loved Ellen [DeGeneres]. She was so funny, and so I think it did help family members, although it took me a while to tell every one of my family members. I was very nervous about [coming out] for very silly reasons that didn’t end up being a need to be fearful. They’re all very accepting. It just took me a long time. But yes, having people in the public eye that were out—because after she came out lots of other people started saying what their identities were,” Snively said. “And so the fact that there were celebrities who were starting to talk about things and normalize identities, I think that really helped for me. It didn’t change who I was, but it made it easier for me to verbalize who I was.”](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/f47162d/2147483647/strip/true/crop/1750x975+0+0/resize/280x156!/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F2b%2Fbd%2F94ba4fa54eb5a2335f025df8de94%2F20241219-bas-queer-joy-carol-snively-0054.jpg)
Carol Snively is a queer woman in her 60s, and spoke about the birth of the Center Project, mid-Missouri’s LGBTQ+ community center.
![David Hall sits on his couch on Monday, April 7, 2025, at his home in Columbia. “Even in Missouri there's certain areas that you still don't see that many queens of color. And especially in the bigger cities, how many of them do you see on cast in bigger bars that have, like, either a rotating cast or a main cast throughout weekends? I will give kudos to Kansas City because they've worked really hard on having that diversity within all of their cast, but still. Like, Columbia, one joke was like, ‘Kaycee can't work all the time.’ … ‘Kaycee can't perform in every show, so you can't really ding us on diversity.’ But I'm like, I still want to bring that representation,” Hall said. “Since [Nclusion Plus], one of the places I perform with, we go to smaller areas and perform. And I'm like, just to have one person look at me and say, ‘Oh yeah, I look like them. I can do that,’ makes me really happy. And it's like, ‘OK, what I'm doing, I'm on the right track for that.’”](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/8765982/2147483647/strip/true/crop/1750x975+0+0/resize/560x312!/format/webp/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F7d%2F9e%2Fe25c27e04e9a9b2be4ca9cb307d6%2F20250407-bas-queer-joy-david-hall-0291.jpg)
![Carol Snively, a queer woman and former President of The Center Project who came out in her 30s, stands on the building’s steps on Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024, in front of The Center Project in Columbia. “Because she was so likeable, everyone loved Ellen [DeGeneres]. She was so funny, and so I think it did help family members, although it took me a while to tell every one of my family members. I was very nervous about [coming out] for very silly reasons that didn’t end up being a need to be fearful. They’re all very accepting. It just took me a long time. But yes, having people in the public eye that were out—because after she came out lots of other people started saying what their identities were,” Snively said. “And so the fact that there were celebrities who were starting to talk about things and normalize identities, I think that really helped for me. It didn’t change who I was, but it made it easier for me to verbalize who I was.”](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/69caa37/2147483647/strip/true/crop/1750x975+0+0/resize/560x312!/format/webp/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F2b%2Fbd%2F94ba4fa54eb5a2335f025df8de94%2F20241219-bas-queer-joy-carol-snively-0054.jpg)