We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Han Hamel (they/them) Katie King (she/her). We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Han Hamel (they/them) below.

Han Hamel (they/them), appreciate you joining us today. Going back to the beginning – how did you come up with the idea in the first place?

In 2022, we met and quickly became friends, bonding over astrology and disability justice. The longer we were friends, the more we realized that social events in our community were inaccessible. In 2024, the frustration of feeling left out came to a head, and we decided to start organizing our own accessible, COVID cautious events. Thus, MaskedNH was born.

We started slowly with one “unofficial” valentine’s making event. To our surprise and delight the event was a hit. After the validation of a successful, accessible event under our belts, we knew we needed to continue.

That validation was echoed in our social media presence as well. Along with beginning to organize our events we were also creating educational content around COVID. We felt that not only were COVID cautious events missing but easy to comprehend public health information about COVID was sorely lacking as well. With Katie being a Registered Nurse and Han being a graphic designer we were a good team to create this missing educational material. Our social media quickly grew and it seemed that others were wanting this information too. In our first nine months on Instragram we reached over 600,000 people.

The ultimate validation that this has been a worthwhile endeavor is the feedback that we’ve recieved from our attendees. In particular, one person comes to mind. During our 2025 Shiny New Year’s Dance Party, someone had shared with us that our event was the first time they were able to safely go out dancing IN FIVE YEARS. The fact that our events provide people with respite from a society that rarely thinks of them and with access to much needed community makes it all the more worthwhile. We have people who drive hours to come to our in person events and folks from across the country who attend our virtual events. This reiforces the fact that our events really make a difference in people’s lives.

Can you talk to us about how you funded your business?

For the first year and a half of MaskedNH we funded everything out of pocket. This proved to be pretty unsustainable for the both of us, as we are two working class individuals. Due to the unsustainable nature of how we started, we executed our first ever fundraiser in August of 2025. We set a goal of $1,000 to help us pay for supplies, booking fees, a Zoom subscription for our virtual events, and other event related costs. Not only did we meet our goal but we surpassed it by $300. This is all due to the generosity and buy in from our community. Yet again, this demonstrates the need for spaces like the ones MaskedNH creates.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

MaskedNH built our social media audience by seeing a need and filling that need. We recognized that there was a gap in accessible, easily understandable information about COVID. So, we stepped up to the plate to fill that gap.

For those just starting to build their social media following we would recommend first building a brand. As a graphic designer, Han wanted to make sure that MaskedNH had it’s own recognizable visual identity. Han always says “good design is good communication”. When building your brand, take into consideration the particular demographics your trying to reach. Think of what emotions you are aiming to evoke in your viewer, and what need you are trying to fill for them. Better understanding these questions will help inform how you build your brand.

Lastly, consistent communication is key. Building a consistent look will help you to better communicate with your viewers.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/maskednh/

Image Credits

Image of Han and Katie outside on the grass playing cards – taken by our friend Maxine on her film camera

Image of Han taking a photo of Katie, and our friends Nadia & Olivia – taken by our friend Maxine on her film camera