Inteview with Sara

Sara is a woman deeply rooted in the rhythms of the sea and the quiet strength that comes from surviving storms, both natural and personal. Born and raised on the island of Guernsey, she carries its wild cliffs, hidden coves, and salt-heavy air within her, shaping not only how she lives but how she cooks, moves, and heals. The ocean is not a backdrop in her life but a companion, one that has held her in her darkest moments and taught her how to breathe again when everything felt unbearable. In her kitchen, food becomes memory, ritual, and love, infused with the warmth of childhood, the joy of caring for others, and the belief that nourishment is as much emotional as it is physical. Her journey as a transgender woman has unfolded without spectacle but with immense bravery, marked by loss, misunderstanding, discrimination, and the quiet, stubborn decision to keep going.

 

When her world collapsed, she rebuilt it piece by piece, refusing to let prejudice define her worth or limit her future. Today, she stands as a respected professional, a devoted parent, and a woman whose authenticity has been hard-earned and fiercely protected. Sara moves through life with a surfer’s balance, knowing when to fight the wave and when to let it carry her. There is tenderness in her resilience, grace in her honesty, and poetry in the way she speaks about becoming herself. This conversation is not just about transition, it is about endurance, belonging, chosen family, and the courage it takes to live openly after years of silence. It is the story of a woman who learned that blooming can happen at any stage of life, especially when you finally allow yourself to face the horizon as who you truly are.

Interview with Patti Spangler

Patti Spangler’s life reads like an American road movie rewritten by truth, courage, and hard-earned self-understanding. Known to many as “Trucker Patti,” she has lived multiple lives across decades, identities, highways, and closets, not as an act of reinvention, but as survival. Born intersex with XXY chromosomes, Patti spent much of her life carrying a secret that shaped every decision she made, from love and marriage to career and geography. She was a Bourbon Street showgirl under the neon lights of New Orleans, a long-haul truck driver crisscrossing America in deliberate anonymity, a Navy musician navigating fear and loss, and a woman who spent 25 years passing flawlessly as “ordinary” while paying the price in silence.

 

Patti’s story is not about spectacle, it is about endurance, honesty, and the slow reclaiming of joy. Through satellite radio conversations on SiriusXM OutQ, Patti found community while driving alone through the night, and eventually the courage to come out again, this time with intention and purpose. Her story, captured in Beau J. Genot's documentary Trucker Patti (2014) and shared through activism and education, challenges not only straight audiences, but also LGBTQ communities, to expand their understanding of gender, intersex experiences, and the cost of invisibility. This is a conversation about closets and courage, glamour and grief, love and regret, fear and freedom, and what it really means to live an authentic life when the world keeps telling you to hide.

Interview with Jodi Gray

 

Jodi Gray is a Canadian author, advocate, and community leader whose life story is rooted in resilience, honesty, and a refusal to let shame have the final word. Raised in a deeply conservative and religious environment in North Carolina, Jodi spent much of her early life surviving in silence, carrying a truth she did not yet have the language or safety to express. Her journey took her through military service, poverty, abuse, mental health crises, and repeated encounters with systems that failed to listen, yet also toward moments of awakening, chosen family, and the freedom to live authentically. Along the way, she learned that survival itself can be a form of quiet resistance, especially when simply existing as yourself feels dangerous. Therapy, peer support, and unexpected allies became lifelines that slowly reframed vulnerability as strength rather than weakness. Jodi’s relationship with mental health is not a footnote to her story but a central thread that informs how she shows up for others with compassion and clarity.

 

These experiences shaped her belief that lived experience carries its own kind of expertise, one that cannot be taught in textbooks or earned through titles. Now based in Vancouver, Jodi works in supportive housing for marginalized communities, with a particular focus on trans and gender diverse people, drawing on her lived experience to create safer, more compassionate spaces. She is a sought after speaker, a mentor, and the first transgender honouree of the Courage To Come Back Awards. In her memoir, The Evolution of Jodi: The Truth I Carried, she writes with striking vulnerability about survival, identity, and the slow, hard earned process of coming home to herself, offering readers not a polished success story, but something far more powerful: proof that simply staying alive, becoming authentic, and helping others along the way is an extraordinary achievement.

Interview with Meghan Chavalier

Some interviews feel like work. Others feel like conversation. And then there are those rare moments that feel like sitting across from someone who has unknowingly walked beside you for years. Meeting Meghan Chavalier was one of those moments for me. As a transgender woman, I carry deep respect for the women who came before me, the ones who carved space in a world that was often openly hostile, so that the rest of us could breathe a little easier. Meghan is one of those women. She is not just part of transgender history, she helped shape it, with courage, creativity, defiance, and an unwavering sense of self. What struck me most about Meghan is not just her extraordinary life story, which spans stage performance, film, music, and writing, but her clarity. She knows exactly who she is, and she has never apologized for it. That kind of certainty does not come from ease, it comes from survival, from reinvention, and from choosing authenticity over acceptance, again and again.

 

There is also something deeply bonding about speaking to another transgender woman who understands the quiet things, the unspoken experiences, the moments of doubt and the moments of joy that only we truly recognize in one another. This interview is grounded in that shared understanding. It is not distant or clinical. It is warm, honest, occasionally funny, and deeply human. Meghan is an icon, yes, but she is also a storyteller, a sister, and a woman who has lived many lives without ever losing herself. I am genuinely fond of her, I admire her strength, and I am grateful she trusted me with her story. This conversation is not just about where she has been, but about what it means to live fully, on your own terms, and to leave the door open behind you for others to walk through. I hope you feel that as you read it.

Interview with Tina Marie Phillips

Tina Marie Phillips is a remarkable 70-year-old British woman whose life embodies courage, resilience, and authenticity. Her journey is extraordinary, not merely because she has undertaken what few dare to do, but because she has navigated her path with honesty, grace, and a unique sense of humor, even in the face of immense challenges. From her earliest days in post-war Britain to her transformative experiences as a transgender woman, Tina has consistently demonstrated an unwavering commitment to living truthfully. Her story spans continents and milestones: long and often arduous journeys to Thailand for gender-affirming surgeries, the physical and emotional highs and lows of recovery, and the everyday triumphs and struggles of fully embracing her identity. Through every stage, Tina has faced obstacles with remarkable fortitude, sharing her experiences in a way that is both educational and deeply personal, inspiring countless others to embrace their authentic selves.

 

Beyond her personal journey, Tina has been a pioneering voice in the transgender community online. She created the popular website Tina’s Transgender World, which became an essential resource for transgender individuals seeking guidance, reassurance, and community at a time when such spaces were scarce. Over the years, she has dedicated herself to documenting her life story, with her biography, From a Coal Miner to a Lady, promising to offer an intimate and powerful insight into her experiences. Tina’s influence extends beyond her own story. She has been an active advocate for transgender rights and awareness, organizing events and initiatives in Nottingham to support others in finding their voice and courage. Through her advocacy, storytelling, and sheer example, Tina Marie Phillips continues to illuminate the path for those navigating the challenges of gender identity, proving that living authentically is not only possible but transformative.

Interview with Penny

Penny is a woman whose story unfolds with quiet strength, deep honesty, and an extraordinary sense of grace. Penny is a landscape architect based in San Francisco, a partner at her firm, an artist at heart, and someone who has learned how to build not only physical spaces but also emotional ones where authenticity can finally breathe. Raised on the isolated beauty of Catalina Island and shaped by years of personal reflection, creative work, and love, her journey is one of patience, resilience, and profound self-discovery. Penny’s words carry the calm confidence of someone who has spent a lifetime listening closely to herself, even before she fully understood what she was hearing. In this interview, Penny speaks openly about transition, love, identity, and the subtle ways becoming oneself can transform every corner of life.