Last night, IUP’s Student Acitivity Committee hosted “An Evening with Karamo Brown” at Fisher Auditorium. Brown is known as one of the Fab 5 members from Netflix’s popular show Queer Eye and was joined onstage by two student moderators who held an open discussion with the television star. On the show, Brown is considered to be the “cultural expert” of the group, due to his past as a social worker and licensed therapist. However, last night he admitted that he would prefer the title of “mental health expert” or “life coach”, because he believes those titles better describe his role on the show.
(Photo from Unsplash)
Brown’s past careers and personal life allowed him to discuss a variety of hard-hitting topics with IUP students, including issues on racism, sexuality, toxic masculinity, and gun control. Brown was able to tackle these issues in a commendable way, with stating his own opinion on these subjects, but also reminding the audience to always respect the opinions of others and consider opposing points of view – no matter how difficult it may be.
As the night progressed and Brown continued to open up about his own experience with these topics, the audience members gained their own confidence to stand up in front of the crowd and ask him for advice about their personal lives during a Q&A session. This session was emotionally charged and truly showed how comfortable everyone was in opening up to Brown, especially in front of a large audience. At the end of the show, a meet and greet was held with Brown, where attendees were able to get a picture with him.
(Photo from Unsplash)
In all, “An Evening with Karamo Brown” provided an open and comfortable discussion about uncomfortable topics. Most importantly, audience members left the show with a new perspective on important topics and life-changing advice from Brown.