Gwen Richardson is the co-founder of The Effective Consulting Group, a boutique consulting firm dedicated to helping organizations, teams, and individuals achieve higher levels of effectiveness and personal growth. Her passion lies in the pursuit of personal wellness, and her research explores Diversity Studies, examining social differences related to race, class, gender, religion, ethnicity, age, and other identity markers. Gwen’s goal is to help people understand and navigate different cultures, improving their confidence and ability to interact across diverse social groups.
In addition to her consulting work, Gwen has led workshops on voice feminization training, where she helps participants build confidence and enhance their feminine voice and presentation. She also conducts seminars on transformative wellness, where she shares her personal journey of overcoming challenges in her 30-year career as a police officer. Through a focus on mental health and self-improvement, Gwen emphasizes the importance of transforming one's thinking and approach to life’s challenges. Gwen is the author of Transformative Wellness: Change Your Thoughts, Change Your Life!, published on March 4, 2025. The book details her journey from a police officer dealing with harrowing situations, including a traumatic first day on the job, to her pursuit of personal wellness and self-transformation.
Monika: Hello Gwen! Thank you for accepting my invitation.
Gwen: Hello Monika! You are most welcome. I’m very honored to be here!
Monika: For readers meeting you for the first time, could you share a bit about who you are and the journey that brought you to where you are today?
Gwen: I was born in 1960 (yes, I know, that makes me vintage, LOL). My life’s journey has been anything but linear. I’ve been married three times, but I truly believe I’ve found the love of my life, we’ve been together for over 20 years, and that kind of bond speaks for itself. In 2015, I finally felt safe and grounded enough to come out to her. That’s when 'Gwen' began to emerge more fully into the world. She had existed within me for decades, but it was only then that I started expressing her outwardly, dressing and going out as Gwen once or twice a week.
Why do I do it? Not just because I want to, but because something deep within compels me to. As for why I haven’t fully transitioned, it’s simple: I love my wife deeply. She didn’t sign up for this journey, and she still needs the man she married. So for now, we’ve created a space that honors us both. We’ve found a balance that works for our relationship, one that’s fluid, evolving, and deeply respectful of each other’s needs. And to be clear, she has told me she would still love me if I ever did decide to transition fully. That remains a possibility, but it’s a decision only the two of us will make, when and if the time feels right.
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| "Well, people are often suprised to hear that I was a police officer." |
Monika: I was wondering how to begin our conversation, since I don’t often have the chance to speak with someone who’s spent three decades in law enforcement. Was becoming a police officer always part of your plan, or did life simply lead you there in uniform?
Gwen: Well, for me, service to others started at a very young age. My mother enrolled me in a number of youth organizations where I was taught to “do a good turn for someone every day.” Helping simply became something that I did on a regular basis, like holding a door open for someone, helping someone load their groceries into their car, offering my shopping cart to someone in need, things that I do to this day.
Originally, I went to university, studying criminology, with a view to become a lawyer. However, once there, I was required to read a lot of legal case studies, which were pages and pages of text. Sadly, I found most of the material somewhat boring to me, and I eventually dropped out. A few years later, in need of a career and a way to make a living, and not wanting my criminology studies to go to waste, I joined the local police department.
Monika: We’ve all seen countless portrayals of police work in movies and TV shows, chases, dramatic showdowns, and perfect hair under pressure. In reality, how does the life of a policewoman differ from what we see on screen?
Gwen: Often, I find it difficult to watch most “police shows” on TV, as some of them simply aren’t realistically portrayed. Officer safety is often ignored, as you’ll see police officers pursuing suspects, by themselves, either down a dark alley or into a building. While this “may” happen on rare occasions, it is not what officers do routinely, unless they want to get shot by a suspect who could easily lie in wait for them.
Further, while TV might show officers and suspects pointing guns at each other in close proximity to each other and engaging in some kind of dialogue, a realistic encounter would be more like “drop the gun, drop the gun” BANG-BANG! So, while the desire for nice “hair & makeup” looks good on TV, it’s certainly not a priority, LOL!
Monika: Do people still expect you to be in action mode, even now that your biggest chase might be after the remote control?
Gwen: Well, people are often surprised to hear that I was a police officer, as I don't exude a “rough & tumble” or otherwise harsh personality of what some might think of as a stereotypical cop. However, as the saying goes, “once a cop, always a cop,” and so I can be seen flinching in my chair, while watching TV, while the “Hollywood” versions of police work show up on my TV screen, LOL!
Monika: You did not come out when serving as a police officer, did the badge ever feel heavier because of that secret, or did it give you the strength to carry it all?
Gwen: For me, my personal life was always just that, very personal to me. Being a police officer is what I did, not who I am. I think that being transgender is different for everyone, again, on a personal level. A person’s “identity” may change over time. I know many transgender women who actually started out in what many would consider traditionally hyper-masculine jobs (i.e., people who served in law enforcement, the military, officers, etc.) who, at the time, drew their identity from these roles.
As time went on, however, they became more attuned to their more feminine (or more male in cases of female-to-male transgender men) sides, and eventually acted on those feelings as they transitioned. More often than not, it is the actual act of transitioning that becomes the “burden,” as old identities, and ways of living, also change, and this may result in a lot of loss. Loss, in terms of friends, family, jobs, status, etc. Everyone’s story is often unique and quite different.
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| Available via Amazon. |
Monika: How would you define Transformative Wellness: Change Your Thoughts, Change Your Life!? Is it more of a survival guide for navigating life’s toughest moments, or is it an invitation to sit down with your own demons and finally have that long-overdue conversation?
Gwen: Speaking straight from my book: “My first day as a police officer, some as-yet-unidentified man called 9-1-1 and said, ‘come and pick up my body….’ At that moment, the police dispatcher could hear a large BANG, and the phone line remained open. Upon arrival at the residence in question, a man was found lying dead on the kitchen floor with a gun in his right hand and the phone in his left hand, and a blood trail that had oozed its way approximately 10 feet across the room and under the refrigerator. ‘Welcome to police work!’
As I embarked on a career that would last roughly thirty years, I realized that I would have to learn to deal with unexpected, and potentially horrific, situations such as the one described above. How, then, would I prepare myself for the inevitable onslaught of the things to come, and remain normal in a very abnormal job?” So, yes, this is very much a book about “a survival guide for navigating life’s toughest moments.”
Additionally, it can also be about “overcoming demons,” both internally (one’s own concerns) and externally (the issues that one faces). Also from my book, I suggest, “When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.” It is that transformation of one’s own thoughts, and the way of doing things, that brings about a better and more fulfilling life, and that’s what the book is about!
Monika: You chose to describe your journey as 'wellness,' a word that carries both strength and softness. Was there a particular reason you framed it that way, rather than calling it healing, recovery, or transformation?
Gwen: The term “wellness” has many meanings; to me, it is the focus on one’s physical, mental, social, and spiritual well-being. These may seem like “soft” skills to achieve, yet the “hard” truth is that without them, we will likely never achieve a balanced and fulfilled life. Some of us are fortunate to have “wellness” seemingly built in to our lives from the beginning. However, for most of us, it can seem quite elusive. More often than not, our lives are what we make them. Again from my book, I talk about the subject of resiliency, where “resiliency is a state of being that one may hope to achieve, it’s more than that: it is actually a skill.
The Merriam-Webster dictionary describes skill to be ‘the ability to use one's knowledge effectively and readily in execution or performance’ and ‘dexterity or coordination especially in the execution of learned physical tasks’ and ‘a learned power of doing something competently: a developed aptitude or ability.’ A careful read of the above quotes shows there are some common threads present: facing adversity, getting up and moving forward, overcoming obstacles through positive effort, and a firm belief in what you are doing, in what you are bound to achieve. Resiliency, therefore, doesn’t happen by accident, it happens on purpose!” So, healing and recovery may indeed be part of one’s journey, yet the emphasis here is on the “transformation” necessary to change one’s life through their thoughts and subsequent actions that will lead them to live their very best lives!
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| "Transgender rights are very near and dear to me. |
Gwen: Well, anyone who knows me knows that I am quite “fearless” in all that I say and do. From a young age, I rarely “followed the pack,” but instead chose to do what I wanted, what I believed to be right, regardless of what others might think. In my book, I teach people that they are largely “the center of their own universe,” and what they think and do is what ultimately matters in their own lives. Yes, transgender rights are very near and dear to me, especially now, when many feel that our community is under attack.
Now more than ever, we must stand resolute, which the Oxford Dictionary defines as “admirably purposeful, determined, and unwavering.” Staying in the shadows is simply not an option for me. As “service” is in my DNA, helping others overcome what they perceive to be bullying, hate, and threats of extermination is more than a worthy cause, it’s a calling, and I’m glad to have the opportunity to “fight for those who may not be able to fight for themselves.” Again, my book is a call to action for those individuals who want to live their best lives and may need some help in achieving it.
Monika: You help people with voice feminization training. When you first found your voice, did it feel like discovering a melody that had always been playing softly in the background?
Gwen: I like your analogy, actually. Yes, as a person with a feminine heart, finding my own voice is a physical manifestation of that. Honestly, it took some time to develop, but the results were definitely worth the effort. I know, firsthand, that it’s very difficult for many transgender women to even go out in public, let alone actually speak to someone. To me, this is another important piece of the puzzle for someone who wants to live their best life.
Monika: It’s always a little strange how surprised we are by the sound of our own voice, like it belongs to someone else.
Gwen: So true, what our voices “sound like in our heads” can be something different than what actually comes out of our mouths. To help with this, I encourage others to practice using one of the many voice apps that are available online and record their own voices. In this way, they get to hear what they're saying during playback and start to tweak and improve voice quality, tone, inflection, etc. It’s a bit like learning a new language, it takes practice and an ongoing concerted effort, but eventually people do find their own voice, one that will become second nature to them and they will have the confidence to go into the world and talk to anyone they choose!
Monika: Shifting gears a bit, choosing a name is such an intimate, personal decision, often filled with meaning. How did you come to choose the name Gwen? Does it hold a special resonance for you, perhaps reflecting a part of your journey, a feeling you wanted to embrace, or a vision of who you were becoming?
Gwen: Great question. In my case, I grew up with six sisters (and as I like to joke about, “the twitch is almost gone,” LOL). They were the ones who actually dressed me up as a girl one day. They also changed my name from “Glen” to “Gwen.” Well, it seemed like providence then as I’ve proudly adopted that name and like to think that it fits well. So, I suppose I can thank my sisters for the woman I have become!
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| "I suppose I can thank my sisters for the woman I have become!" |
Monika: Transitioning is not just a personal journey; it also reshapes our relationships, especially with those who support us. Have you noticed a shift in how people treat you since your transition?
Gwen: Yes, there are those that stay by your side, and those that will move on. As I often say, “change is inevitable, suffering is optional.” Some people really struggle with acceptance; others, especially women, seem to be “nurturers” by their very nature and they seem to have an easier time with it. My message to those that are transitioning or have transitioned is that: you are the same person that you were before, you’re just presenting yourself differently to the world.
END OF PART 1
All photos: courtesy of Gwen Richardson.
© 2025 - Monika Kowalska
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