Seven seasons in, it’s clear that Queer Eye’s breakthrough moments are really what makes the show so profound. The week the Fab Five spent with Ray “Speedy” Walker has left a lasting impression on many of us — and that’s why he “manifested” this experience.

“I want to help people and continue to be more vulnerable with my story, and Queer Eye really helped me find another purpose,” he tells Tudum. “[This experience] taught me to love myself and to be even more confident than I already was.”

The featured hero in Season 7, Episode 3 is a young man from New Orleans who wants to use his story to help inspire others. As the former captain of his high school basketball team, Speedy once dreamed of playing professionally. But his life was suddenly shattered two years ago, when his mother and aunt were killed in a car accident that also left him paralyzed from the chest down. In the aftermath, he’s worked hard to keep his spirits up by channeling his energy into his TikTok account, but he’s struggled with untangling his grief and trauma. 

Below, Speedy shares the lessons he learned from Jonathan Van Ness, Bobby Berk, Karamo Brown, Antoni Porowski and Tan France and reveals what he’s been up to since the group came marching in. 

What has life been like since you met the Fab Five? 

Now that the show is out, I’m not nervous anymore and all the butterflies [are] gone. I felt like I really impacted a lot of people and that was just my goal. People have been saying, “You inspired me to keep going.” Queer Eye helped me out a great bit. I’m into coaching right now still and have another job opportunity to be a social media ambassador for the gym I work out at. Life has been great, actually.

What are some of the lessons you learned over  the course of that week that have stuck with you? 

They all taught me a lot of things over that week. Jonathan showed me how to just live in the moment and that you don’t have to figure everything out right now. Karamo taught me to be vulnerable, grieve and get in tune with my feelings. When I was in the hospital, I didn’t get the chance to grieve because I was so focused on bettering myself. Bobby, he’s a pretty great guy. Tan told me that I got to give them something to look at with my clothing if people are going to stare. I’ve also just been trying to better my health after Antoni gave me his cookbook.

How has your approach to TikTok and social media evolved since the show? Do you feel like you’ve been able to lean into vulnerability? 

It has changed and it’s actually gotten better. My following blew up on TikTok, so I get to reach a bigger audience thanks to Queer Eye. Now, a lot more people are reaching out with positivity and messaging me about their stories and how I inspired them to get through their own tragedies. 

You know me, I keep everything real and transparent. but I never got the chance to really share that with the world. Thanks to Karamo, I did it and he brought that out in me. I always try to ignore [my trauma] or try to put it behind me, but I have to get in tune with it and just let those feelings fill out and then go from there. I want to keep doing what I’m doing by teaching people to be more grateful about life because [tragedy] can happen in a split second. It don’t matter who you are. I just want to let people know that before they’re caught off guard, because I was caught off guard.

You’ve shared your struggles with social anxiety and how it can sometimes feel overwhelming. Have you been able to tap into your confidence more?

I’ve just been focusing on things I can control and blacking out things I can’t control. With Tan, I told him what type of specific clothing I was looking at so I could stand out even more and not be nervous about what other people are saying. The first day I wore that sweater [the floral-printed one from the episode picked out by Tan], I was getting nothing but compliments. Everybody was telling me, “Oh, I like your sweater.” It’s still sounding off in my TikTok comments and that boosted my confidence even more.

I feel great just being myself. Queer Eye taught me that by being myself I don’t have to live up to anyone else’s expectations. The clothes Tan gave me definitely boosted my confidence, so now I can just walk in a restaurant without having to worry about what other people think of me. I’m still getting better with that, but I feel a sense of freedom.

What was it like to have Wesley be a part of your journey? Have you two stayed in touch?

It meant a lot, actually. I was caught off guard because they’ve never brought back a hero from a previous episode. It felt good to have somebody next to me that understands what I’m going through. His advice helped me a great bit. Me and Wesley definitely stay in touch. He was just telling me to take it one day at a time. I don’t have to feel rushed or the pressure to live up to anyone else’s expectation and [I can] respond to everybody when I feel like I need to. Actually, me, Wesley and [disability activist] Mark Raymond were just on the Instagram Live talking about mental health awareness with depression and anxiety and life after injuries.

It was an eye-opening process watching you go apartment hunting with Bobby. What has it been like to live in your new place? 

It’s been great.  It took a lot of pressure and depression up off me. I finally have the independence that I was seeking, so thank you Bobby for that. I don’t have the stress [from before] about getting in and out the house. I can just go up the ramp to [the] elevator, go inside and just come right back out whenever I want to. I don’t have to wait on family to help me out. I was worried a lot about getting out, but I feel like I’m free to do whatever I want and get out when I want. I love the apartment. Now, I can just pull up to the shower and walk in the shower and transfer to the chair. That saved a lot more energy from me.

Do you plan on staying? 

I’m thinking about staying for another year, but my goal is to move to Atlanta or maybe Texas somewhere. In New Orleans, the violence has gotten even worse. I just want to be somewhere more safe where I could just roll up to my car and transfer without having to rush.

What’s your relationship to basketball like these days? 

I still haven’t got back into it yet. I’m trying to figure out how to get my chair from home to the gym, but I’ll get into that in no time and get back on the court, so I can feel like my old self just a little bit. Obviously, basketball was a big part of my life, but I feel like it shifted to inspiring people, loving myself and being a leader for the wheelchair community. We have a lot of problems out there that people don’t even look at. I just want to use my platform that Queer Eye gave me to address those those problems and deal with them on a day-to-day basis.

Looking ahead, what does your next chapter look like? 

I can see myself being a content creator, which I’m already doing, but bigger than what I’m doing now, as the years go by — maybe a blog or a YouTube channel. I just want to stay healthy, keep my head on my shoulders and not pressure myself into anybody’s expectations. I want to move at my own pace and not anybody else’s.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.