I used to wear so much makeup and be beat, and that would get me clocked, so then I'd wear less makeup.
When I was on 'Doubt' on CBS, there was a 60-second scene, but in that 60 seconds, people were so affected because it was trans women in a very normalized situation.
I've always had big dreams and very little means.
While I don't necessarily believe the cliche that 'everything happens for a reason,' I do believe that every encounter, every situation, and every challenge I've experienced has shaped me into the woman I am today. And I am proud to say that I have never backed down from life's challenges.
There are cis women who are being attacked and called men because they are wearing makeup and because they are too tall, and they might have an Adam's apple. Once cis women start to realize it's not just harmful to trans women, then we'll start to come together more and attack this together. It sucks, but we're all under the patriarchy.
What's hurtful is when you have portrayals like, you know, when you have someone like Jared Leto who accepts an award for 'Dallas Buyers Club,' after playing a trans woman, standing in a full beard and looking fully cis male: it is communicating to our audiences that underneath all of that, it's still a man under that.
I discovered my path to independence through technology as well as the potential for a global lifeline for trans people around the world who were looking for the same.
In 2014, I left my job and launched TransTech Social Enterprises, a for-profit and nonprofit hybrid model focusing on the well-being of the trans community, not on external profits for shareholders.
I don't know that I had context for being trans until I moved to Rochester, New York, to pursue my dream of acting, and started going to drag shows. I had never seen a transsexual before, and I didn't yet fully understand my own identity.
After I came out to my mother at 17, I ran away from home and lived with a friend. We come from a highly religious family, and she could not accept it. It was devastating, and I was depressed.
I was cast in commercials, music videos, and booked a lot of modeling jobs. But my acting career never took off because I was holding myself back. I was acting across from male partners who didn't know that I am trans. I was being taught by teachers who didn't know.
A man is able to take me to a restaurant, but he's not able to take me home to mom. Society is still not at a place yet where they see us as family.
Often, if someone wants to date me because they know I'm trans, it's for specifically sexual reasons, and it doesn't ever lead to a relationship.
Having a skill makes you undeniable.
I have the drive to spend five hours a day to teach myself a skill.
Basically, I'm working on global domination. I plan to have members globally. What I'm looking to do is expand in a way that allows us to provide more access and take advantage of the sort of 'world is flat' technology platform, where it doesn't matter where you're located.
They were totally uplifting my work and gave me a platform, and now I have an ongoing relationship with the White House. We're working on some very, very, very big things for the trans community.
