Aloud to Be Yourself: Iestyn’s Story
Finding the confidence to be completely yourself
If you met Iestyn today, it would be difficult to imagine him as the person quietly standing at the edge of the room. He sings. He performs. He does drag. He is expressive, creative and increasingly comfortable being seen for exactly who he is. But that confidence has been a journey.
When Iestyn first joined Only Boys Aloud, he remembers himself very differently.
“I was the quiet boy in the corner. My confidence was so low I wouldn’t have been able to do a solo.”
He joined a choir. But what he found there became much bigger than singing. He found friendships. He found people who believed in him. He found experiences that pushed him beyond what he thought he could do. And, over time, he found the confidence to stop standing in the corner and step forward.
“Only Boys Aloud gave me the confidence to be who I want to be and do what I want to do.”
There is something important in the way Iestyn says that. Not the confidence to become somebody different but the confidence to be who he wanted to be. Aloud didn’t make Iestyn who he is, it gave him the space, the friendships and the encouragement to discover that for himself. And today there are many sides to Iestyn.
There is Iestyn the singer, Iestyn the performer, Iestyn who does drag, Iestyn who once wouldn’t have dreamed of singing a solo and the Iestyn who is now happy to step forward and be seen. None of those versions contradict another. They are all him – Drag. Choir. Both Iestyn. And perhaps that is where his story becomes about much more than one young person.
Growing up can come with an enormous pressure to work out where you fit. There can be a temptation to make certain parts of yourself smaller or quieter, particularly when they don’t fit neatly with what other people expect.
Iestyn found somewhere he didn’t have to do that.
“I’ve always been welcomed with open arms and allowed to be who I want to be.”
Those words sit at the heart of his story. Welcomed with open arms. There was no version of Iestyn he had to become before he could belong. He could sing, he could perform, he could explore drag. He could change, grow, experiment and work out who he was becoming. And the people around him were still there.
Finding your people
When Iestyn talks about what Aloud has become to him, he doesn’t begin with the stages he has performed on or the music he has sung.
He talks about belonging.
“A community. A place to go. A home.”
He has also described it simply as:
“A home from home.”
For Iestyn, those words carry real weight. Aloud has been part of his life through more than performances and celebrations. It has also been there through difficult moments and grief. Through those times, the friendships he made and the people around him became something he could hold on to. That’s when a choir stops being somewhere you go once a week, it becomes your people – a room you can walk into and know somebody will be pleased to see you. It’s a place where you don’t have to explain yourself or wonder whether you are too much of one thing or not enough of another.
It’s a place where you can simply turn up as yourself.
That feeling of belonging gave Iestyn room to grow.
The young person who once stood quietly in the corner began to step forward.
He took opportunities. He performed. He experimented. He discovered new sides of himself. Little by little, he became more comfortable allowing other people to see them too. Not because somebody told him who he should become but because he finally had the confidence to find that out for himself.
Aloud to Be Yourself
That’s why Iestyn’s story is at the heart of Aloud. On the surface, his story brings together two worlds people might not immediately expect to see side by side: drag and choir. Look a little closer and it isn’t really about either of those things. It’s about what happens when a young person finds somewhere they genuinely belong.
Somewhere they don’t have to edit themselves before they walk through the door.
Somewhere being different isn’t something to overcome.
Somewhere they are given the freedom to discover who they are — and the confidence to share that person with the world.
“Everyone should be allowed to be themselves.”
There will be young people reading Iestyn’s story who haven’t found that confidence yet. Someone who is still the quiet person in the corner. Someone who hasn’t found their people. Someone who worries that the things that make them different might also be the things that stop them fitting in.
Iestyn knows what he would say to them.
“Do what you want to do. This could be your moment where you shine and find something that you love.”
Because when Iestyn first walked through the doors of Only Boys Aloud, he couldn’t have known where it would lead. He couldn’t have known the friendships he would make, the stages he would stand on or the person he would grow into. He simply found somewhere that welcomed him with open arms. Somewhere he could stop worrying about fitting a mould and start discovering what made him, him.
And sometimes, finding a place where you are free to be yourself is where everything begins.
Aloud to Be Yourself.
