hello, this is gonna be a pretty big rant about my oc, heather neveah holland! she goes by neveah holland, to be honest, i also think heather is a pretty name for her too and she got to choose her own name anyway, so her rules :)
content warning: politics (fictitious content), transphobia, etc.
to start with, neveah is one of the npcs i've created for my dazzler, she is a permanent & founding member of alison's management team "team +dazzler"; i'd surmise neveah's role as someone who handles the numbers, the statistics, the graphs, the data, the logistics, and often times, her work confluences into the social media management and pr / optics management side of dazzler's personal brand, though alison already has a social media manager and pr manager. officially, neveah prefers to be recognised as dazzler's PA (personal assistant), she doesn't like having much attention drawn to herself -- something something, look like the flower and be the serpent underneath.
of course neveah understands the power of social engineering, optics, and public opinion manipulation; she comes from a political and affluent background, being not just the youngest child of fictious universe of marvel and not real life new york's mayor turned president, but also his prized campaigner that helped him win mayorship i'd sayyyyyy 5-6 years ago. neveah was always a precocious child, thinking and talking faster than her chaotic, dysfunctional surroundings in her god-awful family. she found stability in the world of maths, data, statistics, and she ended up pursuing an education in fields pertaining politics, economics, finance, and legal studies; utilising her family's wealth and resources, neveah worked supremely hard to finish highschool fast and fairly get into an ivy league university the hard-earned way. she recognises she has resources many people won't, and she wanted to make the most of that instead of sitting on these privileges.
neveah is transfemale; her politics lean very democrat and liberal, while her family were centrist at best and in recent times took a hard right lean. neveah is also a mutant; while i have not settled down on the specifics, i'd say neveah doesn't really have any powers, her mutantism primarily shows up in the form of something subtle yet physical visual cues, like aquamarine scales or pointed ears. neveah hates all of her family. her father is a sexist old-timey tradbossman stereotype, her mother is an entitled enabler, and her siblings are the worst; her siblings are the likes of podcasters and lifestyle coaches and wellness gurus who really are just snakes oilmen that specifically prey on vulnerable people. neveah hates that. she understands how her siblings are successful and found a great financial loop, and neveah hates, hates, hates it. she likes manipulating numbers, not people. not real people with struggles, interiority, and emotions. that is not the work she wants to do just 'cause she's got a sharp memory and a strong analytical mind and can do complex calculations and make statistical predictions in her head.
neveah was in the closet up until she was 19-21; though she did not agree with her family, she wanted to play the long game and get the hell out of there. thus, the education, the preparation, the drive, the ambition. in hindsight, neveah regrets being the primary campaigner for her father and helping him win the mayorship of new york, but at the time, neveah was truly thinking he'd stop there and not get worse, and she truly thought that the pros would outweigh the cons and that at least her father would have her back.
he didn't.
shortly after her father became mayor, neveah was unfortunately outed as both a mutant and transfem long before she's even ready to come out. the optics of this get REALLY bad. democrats go from disdaining her to pitying her, republicans turn on her hard. her family drops her without a word. she's exposed, she's stripped of all defences and safety nets, she has to transition faster than she would've liked, she has to find a quick source of financial stability since she's going to be cut out of the family will and kicked out of her home soon, and she has to make sure she doesn't get hurt or worse, knowing damn well she's made a hell ton of enemies in the country during a terrible unstable time.
this is when dazzler shows up; it's by coincidence that this is around the time alison first started to seek out mutants in various industries and parts of the country after she rebelled and quit her very anti-mutant and exploitative record label, which is one of the huge and prestigious ones in the country. alison doesn't know the full extent of neveah's story, but she meets her as she is -- a promising young woman, by all accounts -- and asks if neveah would like to join dazzler's crusade, alison already convinced (my other oc,) civilian rights activist & lawyer turned hr manager who also got ousted by her job due to being exposed as a mutant tracy gatsby to be her manager.
though this is not what neveah ever had in mind, she was readily open to the idea for a number of reasons. neveah is young, fits dazzler's demographic perfectly; but most importantly, neveah likes to work with big numbers and general public optics, and dazzler is perfect for that, way better than any politician neveah could've once worked for. why? because alison is nice. alison doesn't want to exploit people for her success. neveah feels good about working for dazzler because she gets to experience her own interests and strengths without having to sacrifice her personal ethics.
currently, neveah maintains a safer life as a private citizen; though her father is literally the president (former or otherwise), working with dazzler as well as due to alison's love and protection of her people as well as the success of dazzler(tm), neveah has been able to bounce back from the controversies before. she's changed her name, grew out her hair, has been on estrogen, and she basically faked her death as the kid of that fucked up rich family. she doesn't forget where she comes from, of course, and neveah does wish that her life didn't get derailed from her lifelong plan of moving out quietly and growing into herself at her own pace in europe or something. and yet, neveah is glad she had said yes to dazzler, because even with all of the hatred and dysfunctionality in the world, neveah gets to be herself and grow into the promising strong woman that alison had seen when most people didn't.
neveah is very genz and up-to-date, she's very responsible for how dazzler's brand is actually following trends and adapting to the new time without ever giving off "how you doing fellow kids" type. neveah is real, but kind and sweet, and she and alison work so well because they both want dazzler's fans to have the best experiences at her shows and on their social media feeds. this is why they succeed ethically, because who knew you'd have more supportive fanbases and make money sustainably if you consistently look out for accommodations and accessibility, never alienate any age group or population, consider the needs of all your fans in mind, not participate in fast consumerism, and actually invest in quality in a way that generates profits? yeah. i love neveah and i think she's a very fun character in my head especially in adjacent to dazzler; alison sees her as a younger sister for sure, and neveah feels that kindred found family connection with dazzler. especially because neveah doesn't have to perform or hide parts of herself to be respected by alison.
my current fc for neveah is kate godwin of dc comics, who's also transfem nod nod... live action, i'm still looking, neveah gives me the vibes of kathryn newton honestly, i just would like to find a blondie who's also transfem to keep things harmonised <3
