Exploring less usual careers in human rights
Summary
Moana, the guest of this episode, is a Senior Policy Officer at Equinet at day, and a stand-up comedian at night.
By doing the European Master in Human Rights and Democratisation, she had for the first time a sense of belonging and a sense of legitimacy. The master created career opportunities working for human rights (e.g., paid traineeships, work as co-Secretary General of the EMAlumni Association, network of people and opportunities…). “When I was doing the master, it was one of the first time that I felt I belonged, that I was not shy to take the floor, and that I was the whole time very passionate about all the topics that we were talking about.”
Her hope regarding organisations working on human rights is that we will bridge the gap between theory and practice as this would have more impact. She also thinks that human rights education would be more efficient if the students were in touch early on with groups that are affected by human rights violations.
She entered the world of stand-up comedy through improv theatre that she started in 2021. Having some knowledge on feminism, anti-racism, intersectionality and equality, really helps her to filter what she is saying on stage. She uses her knowledge to write things that are the safest possible. She started applying her gender lens to her comedy work, because “it was the first time ever that I entered a professional world where sexism was so prevalent.”
She finds strength in the collective and created a feminist collective to create a support system for stand-up comedians who are not the standard stand-up comedian and support shows made by women. She noticed that when women and gender minorities feel in a safe environment, where they are supported and encouraged, they are funnier.
Her advice to people wanting to do comedy:
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Trust yourself! And Trust the people around you who find you funny!
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Take time to really cultivate what you love and what you want to show to the world!
If you want to learn more about Moana's work as a comedian:
https://www.instagram.com/moanagnv/
Take time to really cultivate what you love and what you want to show to the world!
Moana Genevey
Moana Genevey is a Senior Policy Officer at Equinet at day, and a stand-up comedian at night. She holds a double master’s degree in European Governance from the University of Kent and Sciences Po Grenoble, and is a Masterona from the European Master’s Programme in Human Rights and Democratisation from Global Campus of Human Rights (2014/2015). After graduating from the European Master in Human Rights, she did an internship at the EU Delegation to the UN, in New York. She then worked as the co-Secretary General of the EMAlumni Association, joined the European Commission to work on a project on gender-based violence in the humanitarian field and finally became a Policy Officer at Equinet, the European Network of Equality Bodies in Europe in 2018. She is passionate about improv theatre and started doing stand-up comedy in 2021. Since then, she co-created a show called "Fin de Soirée" with two other comedians, joined the national Belgian radio and is part of a feminist collective of stand-up comedians for women and gender minorities.