Noelle Palmer ’23
What have you been up to since graduation?
I’ve been busy! In the two years since graduation, I’ve expanded the queer art business I began at Northwestern. My work is now stocked in over 100 stores nationwide, and my comics, art, and writing on social media get about two million views per month, which is absolutely surreal to me, a noted silly doofus! I’ve also produced enough stickers, prints, and pins to fill some sort of large fillable container. A big bathtub, maybe! Or a small pool!
On top of that, I’ve been performing in various productions across the spectrum of media; check me out in , and a secret third thing that I can only obliquely reference at the moment. Acting has always been a passion of mine and being able to represent trans women on the screen is a dream. Seeing someone like you when you’ve been denied that your whole life is like seeing a little light, and I hope I can be that for someone.
Relatedly, I’ve completed work on an illustration project near and dear to my heart, Ever’s Haply After. Ever’s Haply After is the book I wish I’d had as a kid, focusing on a young trans girl named Ever discovering who she is in the world. I’ve been working on this project in one way or another for four years. It’s the piece of art I’ve spent the most time on and getting to shop it around to agents and publishers is electrifying. I’m incredibly lucky to pursue work that’s rewarding and important to me.
What does success look like to you?
Success is a complicated, messy concept that can easily ferment into dissatisfaction with the here and now. Sure, I can pull off an individual big goal, but that only leaves me scrambling for the next big goal to attempt. My brain is always in a cage match between the lobe that wants to look for the next hill to climb and the lobe that wants to stop and smell the roses. Let’s be honest, the lobe looking for the next hill to climb has a glint in its eye and a steel chair raised.
Sure, I might absolutely kill it at achieving a career goal, but my sense of satisfaction lasts about as long as it takes for me to glance at social media, that devil. I’ve had to adjust and look for my own benchmarks for success and in the good that I can do with my work. If the work I do has touched one person’s heart or has improved a single life, I’ve succeeded. Simple as that.
What piece of advice would you give recent graduates as they prepare for life after Northwestern?
At Northwestern, you’ve got a thousand different people ready to help you for all of the University-side aspects of graduating (such as finding a job, moving yourself, applying for grad school), so I’ll say this: you’re about to lose the structure that you’ve had for the past four years, and you’ll have to work hard to find the shape of this stage of your life. Cook new meals, check out events in your city,make some new friends! The shift from college to adult life was so much more jarring than the shift from high school to college, and not a single person warned me that was going to be the case.
Also, do not forget to call your friends for, like, six months because you’re not used to living in different cities from them. Don’t ask me how I know that one!