A pro soccer player. A singer and actor. A paleontologist.
Queer people are everywhere, in every career field, including in the types of dream jobs kids list when asked “what do you want to be when you grow up?”
It hasn’t always been safe to be open about their identities though, and even after coming out, visibility comes with its own worries. But to these adults it’s worth the challenge to inspire the next generation of queer kids by letting them know their identities will not be detrimental to them achieving their dreams.
Meet three LGBTQ+ San Diegans in the types of professional roles others aspire to fill.
Didi Haračić: Authenticity on the field
San Diego Wave goalkeeper Didi Haračić stops a goal during a match against the Washington Spirit on May 15, 2026. (Photo courtesy of San Diego Wave FC)A young and vulnerable Didi Haračić shared her top goal – she wanted to play professional soccer. And the first person she trusted with that dream laughed.
The experience, at a tailgate in Washington, still sticks with her.
Before then, she wanted to be a marine biologist or something related to the ocean. She had played soccer since age 5, but didn’t see it as a career until her teens.
“As I got older, 13, 14, is when I was like, ‘Oh, I want to be like all these women that I see playing in front of me,’” Haračić said.
Wave FC in the 2025 Pride Parade. (Photo by Chris Stone/Times of San Diego)But people doubted her. After all, only one percent of college players make it professionally.
“I think it’s a pretty special thing,” said Haračić, who has played in the National Women’s Soccer League for over a decade and has been San Diego Wave’s goalkeeper since January 2025. “It seemed to work out, and I’m still enjoying it.”
It’s not just the playing that she likes about her career. Haračić, who is openly gay, enjoys the tight-knit experience of the team, the human interactions she has off the field and documenting her travels through video and photography.
DiDi Haračić of San Diego Wave FC celebrates after winning the NWSL match between Angel City FC and San Diego Wave FC at BMO Stadium on May 9, 2026 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Luke Hales/NWSL via Getty Images)Playing professionally can be an emotional roller coaster, she says. She struggles with internalizing the outcomes of games, especially as a goalkeeper.
“It’s a lonely position,” she said. “You’re really on your own in your little box.”
When she faces criticism for her playing or her identity, she hones in on living out her core values, which include being authentic to herself.
“When I was younger, I wasn’t comfortable in my own skin. And I know the older I’ve gotten, I’ve learned who I am and who I want to showcase out into the world,” she said. “For me, it’s being as authentic as possible, because I truly believe that’s how people connect. If I can be more personable, I think people connect with me more.”
She sees visibility as a path towards acceptance for LGBTQ+ people.
DiDi Haračić of San Diego Wave FC controls the ball during the NWSL match between San Diego Wave FC and Bay FC at Snapdragon Stadium on May 3, 2026 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Mike Nowak/NWSL via Getty Images)“We’re beautiful humans,” Haračić said. “I absolutely love being a part of this community, and I hope what people take out of that and take out of being around me is being your truthful, most authentic self.”
Van Angelo: Liberation on stage
Van Angelo as Tom Collins in “Rent” at New Village Arts Theatre in Carlsbad. Collins is a dream role for Van Angelo, who saw themself as the character in the film version as a teen. (Photo by Jason Sullivan/Dupla Photography)Multifaceted artist Van Angelo is doing exactly what they dreamed about since taking part in their first musical at age 8.
“My mom saw really early on that I didn’t like getting hit in football when we transitioned from flag football to tackle football. And she put me in a musical super young,” Angelo said. “I realized, ‘Oh, I just want to be on stage and perform,’ and specifically make music for as long as people will absolutely let me.”
Their career looks different their than childhood imaginings. They spend just as much time behind the table — directing, coaching and teaching youth musical theater — as on the stage. And that stage is in San Diego, not New York City.
“I don’t know if it lines up exactly with how I had imagined my life when I was 12, 13 years old, but I think 12-,13-year-old Van would be really amazed and shocked that we can do so many different things that are creative, that involve music, that involve musical theater, and we get to make a living doing that,” Angelo said. “As long as I get to create and, honestly, pay my bills from creating in some way, shape or form, it works for me.”
The misconception that success only looked like Broadway partially comes from not meeting openly queer Black musical theater performers in San Diego. The ones Angelo knew about were on Broadway.
Lonely documentary filmmaker Mark (Brennen Winspear), with HIV+ lovers Tom Collins (Van Angelo) and Angel (Xavier J. Bush) in “Rent” at New Village Arts Theatre. (Photo by Jason Sullivan/Dupla Photography)“For some of us, it’s really, really hard to imagine a life where you have no frame of reference,” Angelo said.
Musical theater is a white-dominated field and being openly queer and nonbinary can still be challenging when roles require performing femininity and masculinity in certain ways.
“When I was a teenager, it felt very scary and very unknown, and, like, ‘Okay, I want to do this thing, but it feels very uncharted, and like I don’t know anybody else who has done it before me,’” Angelo said. “The reality was that there were people out there that were living their lives, being openly queer, being openly visible and creating a life in the arts. I just wasn’t able to see them.”
Angelo says being fully themselves is both encouraging to students in the same situation and makes their own stage presence more resonant.
“I find it extremely valuable and liberating to be so openly queer and present in the world of art making,” Angelo said.
Christopher Plouffe: Visibility in the lab
Lead fossil preparator Christopher Plouffe works on the bison found under Qualcomm Stadium in the new lab in The Nat’s basement on June 4, 2025. (Photo by Paula Sternberg Rodriguez/The Nat)Whether in the field to collect fossils or processing those fossils in the San Diego Natural History Museum’s Paleontology Center, Christopher Plouffe frequently wears a trans flag pin.
“Visibility is power. I’m a big fan of that,” Plouffe said.
That applies to scientific discovery as well as supporting trans people.
Christopher Plouffe finds fossils in the field. (Photo courtesy San Diego Natural History Museum)He educates people about paleontology, which is more than the study of dinosaurs. In San Diego, megafauna looks more like whales and even a 125,000-year-old bison discovered under Qualcomm Stadium.
However, the fossils of tiny creatures draw Plouffe in more. Since they couldn’t travel long distances, these fossils reveal more about the ancient ecosystems of the region by being highly adapted to their environment.
“There’s the large stuff, dinosaurs, whales, mammoth, mastodons,” Plouffe said. “Don’t get me wrong, they’re big and sexy, but the small sexy stuff is also really important.”
In June, he excitedly showed off fossils as small as the head of a pin, collected on a recent field trip to the ancient Lake Cahuilla in Coachella Valley.
“If you can just leave me with my rocks, I’m perfectly happy,” Plouffe said.
Plouffe grew up wanting to be a fireman or photographer for National Geographic. Paleontology was something he “fell into” late in college. It was a time of discovery for him, both personally and professionally.
He always knew he was different, but never could understand what made him different – just that it was unacceptable. “I didn’t quite understand it, because there was no visibility,” Plouffe said. “I just kept it all within.”
Christopher Plouffe, wearing a trans flag pin on his apron, works on a bison skull with an audience. (Photo courtesy of the San Diego Natural History Museum)Professionally, Plouffe has worked at The Nat for 23 years. One of the more exciting developments came a year ago when The Nat opened a visible lab as part of its basement Paleo Center. There, museum visitors can watch scientists like him work on fossils in real time.
Although he does not have time to interact with every visitor, he engages with those particularly curious, including LGBTQ+ youth excited to see someone like them working as a scientist.
“Somebody on that side of the window looking through and seeing someone queer and being like ‘Okay, I can be in this position. That person’s there. I can see me, I can see myself there.’ That’s why it’s important,” Plouffe said. “You don’t have to say much, you just have to have that visibility.”
Christopher Plouffe works on a bison fossil inside the visible lab at The Nat, where visitors can see and speak with him. (Photo by Paula Sternberg Rodriguez/The Nat)Hence then, the article about what do you want to be when you grow up meet three queer san diegans succeeding in dream careers was published today ( ) and is available on Times of San Diego ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
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