Today we’d like to introduce you to TL Forsberg.
Hi TL, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I’ve always been fascinated by the people who don’t quite fit the mold because I’ve spent my life being one of them.
As someone who is Deaf and Hard of Hearing, I often found myself caught between worlds. Too hearing for some spaces. Too deaf for others. For a long time, I believed belonging was something I had to earn.
My life story was featured in the documentary See What I’m Saying: The Deaf Entertainers Documentary. For 13 years, I toured internationally as a singer and performer in the Deaf community. Some audiences affectionately called me the “Deaf Lady Gaga” because of my theatrical performances and larger-than-life stage presence. I loved creating work that celebrated Deaf culture and brought people together.
Then everything changed.
After becoming the target of public criticism and bullying within my own community, I found myself questioning not only where I belonged, but who gets to decide who belongs at all.
The experience took a profound toll on my body. I developed an autoimmune condition, and my body collapsed in a way that forced me to relearn how to walk. It became one of the most humbling and transformative experiences of my life.
I had to confront a deeper wound: the belief that something about me needed to be fixed.
From my wheelchair, I wrote my first solo show. Telling my story and allowing it to be witnessed gave me strength and changed the direction of my life.
I turned that experience into art.
I started writing and performing solo theatre because I wanted to tell the stories that often get left out of the conversation. The stories that make people uncomfortable. The stories that invite us to look deeper and question what we think we know.
Along the way, audiences began telling me they didn’t just see my story. They saw themselves.
That became the foundation of my work. Through theatre, speaking, and coaching, I help people reclaim the parts of themselves they have been taught to hide. My work is about creating permission, especially for Deaf and disabled people and anyone who has ever felt like an outsider, to tell the truth of who they are and live fully without apology.
The thing I spent years trying to overcome became the foundation of my career.
Looking back, I can see there were no wasted experiences. Every chapter shaped the work I was meant to create.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The biggest challenge wasn’t being Deaf or Hard of Hearing. It was believing I had to prove I belonged. I’ve experienced rejection from both hearing and Deaf spaces, including being publicly criticized for not being “Deaf enough” to represent my own community.
It hurt. Eventually, I realized I had a choice. I could spend my life defending my existence, or I could create art that asked bigger questions. That experience became a solo show.
Whenever life hands me something painful, I eventually ask myself, “How can this become something that serves someone else?” That question became the foundation of what I call Lived Advocacy.
Lived Advocacy means being willing to stand at the intersection of uncomfortable conversations. It means staying present with difference, engaging with what challenges us, and recognizing that the conversations we often avoid are often the places where healing begins.
I don’t believe transformation happens by pretending our differences don’t exist. I believe it happens when we have the courage to meet each other there.
Today, I don’t see my challenges as obstacles. I see them as invitations to build bridges between people who might never have understood one another otherwise.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I’m an award-winning solo performer, keynote speaker, Deaf and disability advocate, storytelling coach, and founder of The Theatre of Alchemy, where sI’m a storyteller, solo performer, keynote speaker, Deaf and disability advocate, and founder of The Theatre of Alchemy, where storytelling becomes a doorway for transformation.
The easiest way I describe my work is: imagine a TED Talk had a baby with performance art and grew up asking everyone the questions they’ve been avoiding. (A slightly dramatic baby, but a good one.)
I create experiences that entertain while inviting people to see themselves, each other, and the world through a new lens. In a time when so much feels divided, I believe stories have the power to reconnect us with our shared humanity.
At the heart of my work is one belief: the stories we are most afraid to tell are often the ones that hold the most freedom.
I didn’t become a coach because I had creativity all figured out. I became one because I learned what happens when we lose ourselves in the pursuit of creating.
After years of performing and touring, I came home exhausted, wondering why something I loved so much was leaving me feeling empty. Somewhere along the way, I had become the product instead of the person.
That realization became the foundation of my work today. I help artists, speakers, and storytellers return home to themselves so they can create with more courage, presence, and authenticity. Because the art grows as the artist grows.
Ultimately, I believe theatre is more than entertainment. It is a place where we meet the parts of ourselves we have hidden, judged, or abandoned. When those places are witnessed with honesty and compassion, something shifts.
We reconnect with ourselves. We reconnect with each other.
One of my favorite compliments after a performance was: “I didn’t know a solo show could do that.”
That’s the kind of work I want to keep creating, and the kind of work I invite others to create too.
What matters most to you? Why?
What matters most to me is helping people come home to themselves.
I consider my work my artist ministry and my contribution to the world. A big part of that is leaving a legacy for future generations of Deaf and disabled people that reminds them they never have to apologize for who they are. The ways we experience the world differently are not flaws to overcome. They are gifts to celebrate.
But my work is really for anyone who has ever been told, “That part of you is too much,” or “Maybe you should hide that.”
I believe the places we work hardest to conceal often hold our greatest gifts.
I care about truth. Not the polished, Instagram-ready kind, but the kind that makes you shake in your boots before you share it. The kind where you think, “Oh no, are we really going there?” (Yes. Yes, we are.)| If you want to get your ass kicked by your own shadow in a loving and creative way, come join one of my workshops. We’ll laugh, we’ll dig deep, and we might uncover a few things you’ve been keeping locked away.
Whether I’m performing, speaking, or coaching, my goal is the same: transforming shame into connection. When one person has the courage to reveal something deeply human, it gives everyone else permission to stop hiding.
I believe healing begins within. As we embrace the parts of ourselves we’ve pushed away, we naturally become more compassionate toward others.
The question I keep coming back to is: Who do we become when we stop apologizing for who we are? That is the work I’m committed to.
I often say, “I help people turn the places where they’ve been othered into the places where they become unforgettable.” Because when the artist and the audience both leave transformed, that’s when something meaningful has happened.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.tlfrosberg.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tlrockson/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tl.forsberg
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tlforsberg/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/tlforsberg
- Other: https://www.facebook.com/tlrockson
