Lady Brags Interview: Veronica Kwiatkowski on Sex, Comedy + Dating

we met the amazing writer + comedian Veronica Kwiatkowski after we re-posted one of her brilliant tweets:

"Always ask yourself: is this person worth disrupting my vaginal pH for?"

It was so good we had to meet! Since, we've learned that Veronica is one of the funniest people on the planet. Witty, sarcastic and no stranger to lady parts struggles, we will probably know each other a long time! Get to know lady boss Veronica Kwiatkowski with us.

let's start out with a lady brag!

1)tell us the 3 things you love to brag about the most? 

2) we think you are hilarious. tell us why you got into comedy + what it’s like being an LGBTQ woman in this space.  

I got into comedy because I was miserable at my job and also because my friends were sick of hearing all my same jokes so I was like FINE I’ll take them to the people!  I had always been interested in slash a fan of stand-up but when the reality of my first corporate day job hit me I realized I needed to stop fantasizing about it and finally try it.   Being a woman in comedy is definitely not the easiest, because it’s a constant uphill battle of trying to get people (men) to take you seriously.   It even shows up in the littlest ways, like when you arrive at a show, your name is literally on the flyer, you say ‘I’m on the show and my name is literally on the flyer” and the person at the door goes “I’m sorry ma’am, can I see your tickets?”  But I think in a weird way being bi gives me an advantage because I’m like I’ve dated the whole spectrum, so let’s get into it, let’s connect.  Standup actually felt like a really safe space to explore the questions I had about my sexuality because it is such a vulnerable art form and I do well processing things when I’m trying to make them funny.  Also I get to do LGBTQ shows and those are just, of course, the most fun.

3) your comedic nod to sex + vaginal pH is what first caught our eye. did you make a decision to break taboos around sex/lady parts or is it just a natural extension of your approach to comedy? 

It’s always been a natural approach to my comedy, I think because I come from a family with no boundaries around these types of subjects and I’d gone through so many embarrassing sex things that talking about them became the only way I coped.  When I started to talk about these types of things on stage and online I noticed that other people were really relating to them and I sort of realized “wait, I have no shame talking about these “taboo” things so I need to be the person to give voice to them or no one else will.”  I think talking about taboos is so important - it makes people realize they aren’t weird or embarrassing and actually just very normal.  

4) so dating during a pandemic…WTH has this been like for you?

Weirdly good (???).  My girlfriend and I got together last summer because pretty much as soon as the pandemic started we were only spending time with each other.  We both had those realizations of ‘wait, you’re the person I feel like bringing into my bubble.  Also we are having a lot of sleepovers for two adult women so we should probably figure out what’s going on here.’  Also in a way I think the pandemic made my priorities more clear and took some of my walls down so I could finally be open to a relationship. Thankfully my latest hoe phase ended in 2019 otherwise the lockdown would have been so hard

5) you told us you have a "very cringe history" around vulvovaginal wellness. can you tell us what you meant?

Oh, you mean the time I didn’t have any form of sex for two years bc I thought I was allergic to it? Basically I was struggling a lot with chronic BV - and going back to taboo subjects, literally NO ONE I knew talked about it even though I learned later that so many of my friends also struggle with it - and I also had some irregular cell growth on my cervix that was causing me to bleed a lot (very fun and cute).  I went to so many gynos just being like ‘something is wrong’ and so many of them were like ‘you might just not be using enough lube’ and really dismissed me.  It wasn’t until I finally went to my current doctor that she was like ‘do these things to help with the BV, I’ll get rid of those cells, also you have a tilted cervix and that’s why certain positions hurt you.’ I was like...where have you been all my life.

6) what is the biggest takeaway from going from lady parts struggles to sexual wellness (or wellness-ish)? 

7) what’s the most common red flag you’ve encountered on a date?