Some artists defy neat categorization. Mya Byrne is one of them. An award-winning songwriter, poet, actress, and trans/queer activist, Mya’s creative path is as multifaceted as it is fearless. Since making her stage debut at New York City’s Dixon Place in 2014, she has become a vibrant force in music, theatre, and literature, with performances at some of North America’s most celebrated music festivals and a body of work that has resonated far beyond the stage. Her songs have found homes in intimate venues, bustling city streets, and even the ears of children discovering the freedom to be themselves. Her words, in poetry, prose, and song, have been featured in outlets like The Advocate, Time Out, Huffington Post, Buzzfeed, and MSNBC, earning her recognition not just as a performer but as a cultural voice unafraid to speak truth. Mya’s artistry is deeply intertwined with her activism. She has written passionately about the history, visibility, and contributions of transgender artists, from the revolutionary sounds of Wendy Carlos and Laura Jane Grace to the powerful storytelling of Lili Elbe, the Wachowskis, and countless unnamed creators whose works were lost to history.
Her perspective challenges narrow definitions of “transgender art,” asserting that trans creativity doesn’t need to be labeled to be transformative, it lives in the daring, the rule-breaking, and the unapologetically authentic. Her 2023 solo album As I Am marked a new era in her music: rawer, more radical, and fully infused with her post-transition confidence. Where her earlier work sometimes carried hidden messages waiting to be unearthed, her current songwriting radiates ownership of self, with a voice that’s both literal and metaphorical, stronger than ever. Whether she’s performing a high-energy set in ripped stockings and a leather vest, writing children’s songs that celebrate identity, or crafting short stories steeped in queer life, Mya approaches her work with both tenderness and fire. Offstage, Mya is no less committed. She has spoken at events like the San Francisco Gender Strike in solidarity with International Women’s Day, advocated for trans inclusion in feminism, and amplified the stories of trans women who inspire her, from elders like Miss Major to modern changemakers like Angelica Ross and Jen Richards. She is candid about the struggles of transition, the complexity of family relationships, and the ongoing fight for equality within and beyond the LGBTQ community.
To speak with Mya is to encounter a whirlwind of creativity, history, and honesty, someone who can move seamlessly from discussing queer punk safe houses to unpacking media representation, from sharing thrift store fashion tips to envisioning a gender revolution. She is an artist who refuses to be hemmed in, a voice that refuses to be silenced, and a reminder that the journey of self-discovery can be as radical as it is beautiful. Today, I have the pleasure and honor of sitting down with Mya Byrne to talk about her music, her activism, her influences, and the many ways she’s shaping, and being shaped by, the world around her.
Monika: Hello, Mya! Welcome to The Heroines!
Mya: Hey there, Monika! Thanks for having me.
Monika: You have such an impressive range of talents: songwriter, poet, actress, activist. If you had to define yourself with just one creative identity, which would you say fits you best?
Mya: When it all comes down to it, I’m a rock-and-roll poet to my core. I mean, that encompasses everything I do.
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| Wide River by Mya Byrne (YouTube) |
Monika: Do you believe there is such a thing as “transgender art,” and if so, how would you define it?
Mya: I don’t think there is anything that can be compared to transgender art. So much great art has come from trans people, and it’s beautiful to witness this being recognized, from the music of Wendy Carlos, Anohni, Lynn Breedlove, Star Amerasu, and Laura Jane Grace to the celebrated writing of so many featured on your website, the brilliant films of the Wachowskis, actress Mya Taylor, and all of the people before our time who might have been considered trans today, especially in the Black lesbian and blues music scene before World War II, and of course the countless people who were living openly as gender-variant in Weimar Germany. Lili Elbe was an artist and a muse, too, openly celebrated in her time.
Monika: When you reflect on the history of trans art, what moments or tragedies stand out to you most?
Mya: I think of all of the records that were destroyed by the Nazis, how many stories did they hold of our ancestors? There are so many who toiled at various labors, whether in stealth or openly but hidden across media, some of whom we will never know by name or story.
Monika: In your own writing, you’ve spotlighted important trans artists from the past. Could you share an example that has stayed with you?
Mya: In one of the articles I wrote for The Advocate a few years back, I highlighted folk genius Dave Carter, who died before coming out in 2002. Her trans status was not revealed until much later. I’ll never know the name she would have chosen, and as Carter was huge in the music scene I came up in, I often wonder how she might have affected my own transition had she been present while I was just starting out, which was right around the time she passed.
Monika: How do you feel about the way art by trans creators is categorized, or sometimes not recognized as trans at all?
Mya: What’s interesting about Dave Carter’s work is that it represents something I think is a major problem with those who transition after having already established a career. Her songs are absolutely not classified as transgender art by many who listen to and are inspired by her. Just as The Matrix isn’t necessarily designated transgender art by its fans, despite the Wachowski sisters saying straight out that of course it is!
Monika: What do you think trans artists contribute to the creative world that makes their work stand out?
Mya: In other words, some of the best art has come from trans people, whether we knew them as trans or not. It’s some of the hardest-hitting, most cerebral, remarkably rule-breaking, and inventive work, because of all the effort we put into pushing through to our deeper selves. And we don’t get enough credit for our past work being trans-focused. Even if it’s not explicitly about transition in external content, it’s there, in its passion, imagery, and the way we push ourselves. That carries over to tech, too, by the way. Some of the most brilliant technology has been developed by trans women!
Monika: So, after all this reflection, what does being a transgender artist ultimately mean to you?
Mya: Well, from my preceding rant, you can tell that I’m constantly searching for the answer to that question.
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| Mya backstage at Great America Music Hall, San Francisco. |
Monika: Your debut solo album after your transition, As I Am, received great feedback from both audiences and critics. How would you describe the shift in your music compared to the sound you created with your former New York, based band, The Ramblers?
Mya: Well, I think for one, I’m much more comfortable with myself, and certainly, my voice has changed a little bit. In the past, it seemed that I was writing songs with hidden messages that I could feel but not fully see. Having revisited those songs now, I find that I was, in fact, writing so many messages of, “Look! I’m here, waiting for you to find me!” That part is no longer such a big presence in my writing.
Monika: How has your songwriting evolved since stepping into your solo career?
Mya: For me now, my songs have gotten harder, more critical, and more reflective of love and the world, a hell of a lot more radical in thought and theory, instead of being driven by that pent-up transition that needed to happen. That said, I think there’s a definite continuum between the Ramblers and my solo work. But overall, it’s less of me as a rugged, whisky-soaked Kris Kristofferson type and more of me simply being myself, which is much closer to Lucinda Williams and Chrissie Hynde.
Monika: And how has your transition influenced the way you perform on stage today?
Mya: To be free of the veil of masculinity meant, and I didn’t realize this until after my transition, that my music became more about my feminine power, the energy so often dismissed by misogynists. It’s incredibly powerful to play on stage now, and I breathe utter confidence. People have told me that what I do on stage today, well, I couldn’t have done that ten years ago. Part of that is maturing as an artist, but more of it is just owning myself, my identity, and getting out on stage like I own the damn world.
Monika: In addition to music, you’re also a writer. Could you tell me about the kind of literary work you’ve created?
Mya: And short stories! I’m proud to have my work included in an upcoming anthology of trans women’s writing published by Lambda Literary Award–winning publisher EOAGH, who published the groundbreaking Troubling the Line anthology a few years ago, and a short story of mine featured in The James Franco Review late last year.
Monika: You’ve also stepped into the world of acting. What has that experience been like for you?
Mya: I was blessed to emerge into a world of trans authors and artists who embraced me in New York. The work I have done has been incredibly fulfilling. It’s all been trans-focused.
Monika: You’ve also created music for young audiences, including songs for transgender children. One example is your participation in the Rainbow Train children’s album, which encourages kids to explore and embrace diverse identities. How did you become involved in that project?
Mya: My songwriting friend Chana Rothman approached me the very day I came out publicly, telling me that she was writing a sort of updated version of the classic Free to Be inspired by her gender-nonconforming child, and asked me to participate on that album. We talked on the phone and came up with the idea to write a song about how one should have the autonomy to choose their own name, and it was so amazing to think about how to approach that in language a child could understand.
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| Devil's Backyard by Mya Byrne (YouTube) |
Monika: That’s a beautiful concept. How did you go about crafting a message for children that avoided gender labels yet still celebrated identity?
Mya: As a fan of Sesame Street and Free to Be, I thought about what I would have wanted to know as a young person. I mean, the truth is, everyone has the ability to choose their own name, no matter what age you are! From the Bible to Hollywood, culture is full of stories like that. So why can’t gender-nonconforming people change their names? In that song, there’s no mention of gender at all, just identity and what you want to be called.
Monika: What do you hope children, and maybe even adults, will take away from that song and the album as a whole?
Mya: My hope with that album is that it will empower people of all ages to truly ask what makes them comfortable in their lives, to know they have the autonomy to own it! If it’s at age five or fifteen or fifty, we need to support people. If in ten years a teenager comes up to me and tells me that song helped them accept themselves or someone else, I will probably burst into tears of joy.
Monika: Growing up as the daughter of a rabbi must have added unique layers to your personal journey. When did you decide to transition, and what led you to that point?
Mya: Oh my, I fought with my own self-awareness for years. I began identifying as genderqueer around 2007 while still retaining my former name and pronouns, and in 2012, I realized I needed to transition, but pushed it back down for a year. So, generically speaking, in my early to mid-thirties.
Monika: How did your upbringing in Jewish traditions influence or challenge that process?
Mya: It was so difficult to transition as someone raised deeply in Jewish traditions. There are a lot of expectations placed on Jewish children in general, especially those assumed to be male, and there’s a strong emphasis on the body-as-covenant, which was part of what held me back. My transition ripped some of my closest relationships apart. They are mending somewhat now, but to be honest, my father’s influence, he always pushed me to explore my life on the deepest philosophical and spiritual levels, was part of my being able to accept myself, even if he doesn’t necessarily accept me still. I don’t know. We’ve only just started talking again.
Monika: When you were transitioning, were there any transgender figures who inspired or guided you?
Mya: I think it was the day Chelsea Manning came out that I started looking at her and others as true role models. But honestly, it was finding the now-defunct Tumblr page MTF Butches that I finally saw, well, people who looked like me, or rather how I felt I wanted to present, for the first time. Turns out a lot of those folks were right here in San Francisco!
Monika: Beyond that discovery, who were some of the people who had the greatest influence on your journey?
Mya: Laura Jane Grace and Red Durkin were two other big influences, as were Laverne Cox, Kate Bornstein, Morgan Sea, Tom Leger, Stephen Ira, Zinnia Jones, and a whole mess of folks on Tumblr and Facebook I will never be able to thank enough for encouraging me to live my truth. And especially Jenny Boylan, who answered a random email from me when I was a very scared person who didn’t know anyone who was trans. She gave me so much courage to go on. And also to Tobi Hill-Meyer and Mina Caputo, who both took time out from their busy lives to help me figure out how to come out publicly when it was time to do so.
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| Mya live at Doc's Lab, San Francisco.Photo by KC Turner. |
Monika: Which transgender women do you admire and respect most today?
Mya: There are so many! Monica Roberts, CeCe MacDonald, our living elders, Stonewall veteran Miss Major, and Felicia Elizondo, who was part of the Compton’s Cafeteria riot in 1966. Then there’s Julia Serano, Persephone Smith, Michelle Bonner, Villainette, Imogen Binnie, Jen Richards, Angelica Ross, Ryka Aoki, Mx. Justin Vivian Bond, Riley Silverman, Avery Edison, Trace Peterson, Cat Fitzpatrick, and some other people I know personally whom I don’t feel comfortable naming in a public interview out of respect for their privacy. There are also a number of amazing non-binary people and trans men who have influenced me greatly, but I know we’re focusing specifically on trans women here.
END OF PART 1
The main photo: Mya at the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival, photo by Laura Foord.
All photos: courtesy of Mya Byrne.
© 2025 - Monika Kowalska
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