Interview with Ar’lene D. Lafferty

Monika: Hello Ar’lene! Welcome to “Interviews with Transgender Icons”! How does it feel to be an icon?

Ar’lene: Hello Monika and Darling Friends, Sister and Brothers. I never thought I was a community “icon”. Thank you for the honor! It makes me feel proud and willing to do more for our “Trans-family”.

Monika: What are you doing these days?

Ar’lene: These days, I’m writing my autobiography, a task that seems highly difficult for me. Since I have a lot of impasses. All my reasons for the impasses will be revealed in my book.

Monika: Where did you grow up?

Ar’lene: I was first raised in Chicago. At age fifteen (15), my family and I moved to Los Angeles after a vacation (holiday) visit. We started, first for a few weeks in Hollywood, until my parents located an apartment in Sherman Oaks; a San Fernando Valley Community.

Interview with Marlo Bernier

Monika: Today’s interview will be with Marlo Bernier, an American actress and creator of Myrna, original drama television series. Hello Marlo!

Marlo: Hi Monika!

Monika: What are you doing these days?

Marlo: Well right this minute I’m attempting to behave during this interview – we’ll see at the end what the verdict will be.

Interview with Aleshia Brevard: Part 1

Monika: Hello Aleshia! I am very happy that you accepted this interview to be included in my series of “Interviews with Transgender Icons”.
Aleshia: Thank you for asking that I participate, Monika. I blush a bit at being labeled an “Icon”, but hopefully by my age one has learned to embrace any and all positive comments that come along – while summarily dismissing the negative.
Monika: What are you doing these days?
Alexia: I recently turned seventy-five, hooray-hooray, so thankfully as a rather long-in-tooth retiree my time is pretty much my own. Gone are those bothersome pressures of younger years. Much of my time is now spent writing, having just finished a first novel. It comes on the tail of my two published memoirs and several produced plays. Most importantly, however, I’ve found a contentment which I never even dream might be possible when I began my transsexual odyssey in the late 1950’s.

Interview with Andréa Colliaux

Monika: Today’s interview will be with Andréa Colliaux, the author of her autobiographical book titled "Carnet de bord d'un steward devenu hôtesse de l'air". Hello Andréa! 
Andréa: Dzień dobry, Monika! 

Monika: What are you doing these days?

Andréa: I’ve been flying a lot, and this has been quite difficult due to the snow we have in France. I was supposed to go to Austria yesterday, and it took me 18 hours! I came back home after a very hard day!

Monika: Why did you decide to write your autobiography?

Andréa: Because I was so tired to hear or read about transgendered persons, things which were not the true. It was a huge amount of lies, and “préjugés” about us. I wanted to tell the truth about our lives, the fact that in France, we were considered as psychotic persons. I wanted to help other persons and give them the hope that doing a transition in good conditions was possible, even if very difficult...

Interview with Josephine Emery

Monika: Today’s interview is with Josephine Emery, a writer, screenwriter, script editor and media and publishing strategist. Hello Josephine!

Josephine: Hi, Monika. It’s a little strange for me being asked to do this interview. I seem to have moved on a lot in my life since my gender history was a real concern of mine. Or writing, for that matter.

Monika: What are you doing these days?

Josephine: I’m 65 years old. I transitioned around the age of 58-59. Second Saturn Return to be astrologically specific. I’ve reached the point where I can say goodbye to the need to identify myself as a writer. I now live in a village of 1200 people, grow my own vegetables, I make bespoke furniture from reclaimed timber.
I fill in as editor of my local newspaper when the editor’s away. I’m getting better at blues guitar: playing slide, bottleneck, resonator. I’m catching up with the things I didn’t do enough of in the previous 65 years!

Interview with Diana Salameh

Monika: Today’s interview is with Diana Salameh, a remarkable woman and one of the most inspirational transgender icons. Hello Diana!

Diana: Greetings Monika, and thank you for asking me to take part in this interview. I hope you and your readers will have a better understanding about just who I am.

Monika: How would you define yourself? Are your more a film maker, comedy actress or stand-up comedian?

Diana: I feel myself to be a Renaissance Woman, I’ve had many artistic outlets over the years, photography, painting, sculpting, acting and now I think it has evolved into film-making, however that doesn’t mean you want see me doing cameo roles as Hitchcock did in his films or reviving a long dead comedy character if I feel the time is right.
Right now I love weaving together a collection of images to tell a story. It’s just possible that I am exactly where I need to be and everything I have done up to this point have been stepping stones.