Sydney Baloue

After graduating magna cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania in 2011 with a B.A. in Political Science, Sydney pursued public policy research as a German Academic Exchange (DAAD) Scholar and Transatlantic Fellow in Berlin, Germany from 2011-2014 before completing a dual-degree masters in Urban Policy at the Paris Institute for Political Studies and the London School of Economics from 2015-2016. Sydney's background in social, racial and eco-justice policy-based work laid a foundational bedrock for his creative interests. A voracious traveler who is fluent in French and German, writing is the through-line of all his work. As a Black and South Asian transgender man with roots in Trinidad and Tobago and Chicago, IL, Sydney is grateful for his global experiences as they have allowed him to connect stories across continents and have many of his own assumptions about the world blown apart. After trying to bridge his work in an academic setting and as a cultural producer, Sydney left his PhD in Africana Studies at the University of Pennsylvania in 2018 as he realized that storytelling through film and television was the best medium to share stories and connect people across continents, cultures and time. As someone rooted in diaspora and interested in traversing its intersecting lines, Sydney is excited to find and foster compelling narratives, which give space for the beauty and complexity of different life perspectives. Sydney is working on a book on the history and evolution of New York City's Ballroom Scene. He is a Producer on HBO Max's new series about the ballroom scene entitled, "Legendary" (2020).