Monika: What drew you specifically to hard disk drive (HDD) technology, and what kept you engaged in that field for so long?
Keva: After graduate school, I worked briefly on DRAM at IBM Essex Junction, VT, before transferring to IBM Rochester, MN to work on hard disk drive (HDD) media. This job was a perfect match of my skills to a storage technology that was going to blossom over the next three decades. IBM shut down media development in Rochester in 1993, and I shifted to working on flex circuit technology for a year. However, I missed the hurried pace of HDDs and feared further IBM contraction of hardware development, so I moved north to work on HDD head suspensions at Seagate Technology in Bloomington, MN.
I spent 25 years at Seagate; most of that time, I had dual roles as a technologist and as a manager of a department of 6 to 20 design engineers. Over my 30-year career in HDDs, the cost of storing digital data decreased by 500,000 times, HDDs were, and are, a key enabler of the Information Age. My first digital camera even held a 1” HDD. Most rewarding was working with an amazing global team of brilliant folks.
Monika: Your professional success is already impressive, but pairing it with a beautiful family, a loving wife, and three children? That’s next-level winning. How did you two meet? Was it love at first sight?
Keva: More serendipity. We were both in our third year of college in 1981. I met Lynne at church one Sunday morning when my roommates, who I usually attended church with, were too hung over to accompany me. I saw this beautiful blonde woman in the front row and grabbed the one empty seat next to her. We shared the peace and I asked her to lunch. It was truly love at first sight.
Monika: The journey to becoming our true selves often comes at a steep cost, losing friends, family, even careers. In your case, you seemed to shield yourself from those losses by striving for perfection, pouring yourself into professional success, Christian leadership, and athletic achievement. But did that strategy really protect you, or was it just another form of hiding?
Keva: Prior to transition, I was driven by three factors. First, the need to distract myself from the pain of gender dysphoria. All of the striving seemed like an antidote to the pain, but really wasn’t all that effective. Second, I was desperate to feel a sense of belonging. My transness made me feel disconnected, unsocial, and misfit. I felt no one could possibly know me, love me or understand the real me, so I tried to create the persona that people expected at work, church and in the community. However, this persona felt increasingly fake. Third, I thought through achievement and winning I could find a way to love myself. I just hated myself so much. I learned self-love can’t be achieved in this way; it requires authenticity.
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| Vampire bride costume (2002). |
Monika: I’ve noticed that for many of my friends, their spouses left them soon after they transitioned. Yet your wife stood by your side. I imagine that must have been one of the toughest conversations you ever had. Would you say love really does conquer all?
Keva: Yes, there were challenges, but love won out! It was a long process. As a teen, my hope was that loving the right woman would cure me by filling the hole in my psyche. Indeed, after I met Lynne, infatuation cured me for about a year, but then cracks started to show. One month after our wedding (we were 22), I came out to her. I explained that there was this feminine part of me that I needed her to know and acknowledge. She might have thought my feminine persona was a kink at first, but she came to understand how essential it was to my being. Lynne was compassionate and supportive. As I struggled with my gender through the years, we learned together.
Monika: What were some of the most difficult moments you two faced during that journey?
Keva: We hid my gender from the kids for a few years (rather poorly, it turns out), and then I started costuming as a woman at Halloween in 2000. Two years later, I wore a wedding gown (vampire bride) while taking the kids out trick-or-treating, and there was blowback. Lynne was confronted by a neighbor friend about my feminine expression. This sent us into counseling for the first time. The therapist was terribly transphobic, which caused us to bond together tighter in defense.
Transition was scary to both of us, but Lynne realized that she loved me for who I was, both feminine and masculine. The challenge for Lynne has been dealing with others’ perceptions, their ignorance, misinformation, and judgment. Even after ten years, the microaggressions still keep coming. Support from our kids and extended family was important to keeping us together.
Monika: Do you remember the first time you saw a trans woman on TV or met one in real life that helped you realize, “That’s me!”?
Keva: I can’t say I’ve met or seen a trans woman just like me. Gender is complicated, the trans umbrella is diverse, and it seems none of us are the same. Only recently have non-binary genders been recognized. That said, I looked for gender-expansive role models from an early age. My first observation was comedian Flip Wilson in drag as Geraldine Jones. Geraldine was bad-ass. I understood this was only performance, but I felt the Geraldine persona had to be deeply embedded in Flip Wilson’s being.
Beginning in the mid-1970s, gender diversity was a topic on Phil Donahue and other talk shows. Three categories were displayed: female impersonators (drag queens), transvestites (crossdressers), and transsexuals (transitioned trans women), but I didn’t fit the stereotypes. The crossdressers were content presenting part-time in female personas but made sure to let us know they were men. Crossdressing was often presented as a hobby or a fetish, which didn’t fit me. I seemed to identify most closely with transsexuals, but felt I wasn’t trans enough, as I didn’t fit the stereotype, I wasn’t sexually and romantically attracted to men, I enjoyed sports and some stereotypically male pastimes, and I wasn’t passable as a woman.
The internet, including your blog, introduced me to many more trans women. In 2014, I finally met a trans woman in person who was very helpful to me in beginning my transition.
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| Fuckem Bucky painting (2020). |
Monika: Was it fate whispering in fives? You began your hormone therapy on 5/15/15, a date that reads like a secret code from the universe. Do you believe there was something symbolic about that moment, or was it simply a beautiful coincidence?
Keva: [chuckle] Coincidental, yes. And it is a date that is easy to remember.
Monika: Many of us feel the pressure to “pass” as women, and even after surgeries, society keeps judging us. How do you personally deal with the outside world’s expectations?
Keva: After I came out in the professional world, I made a concerted effort to pass. I was constantly misgendered by colleagues who knew me before transition, and I tried hard to be recognized as a woman. I hoped to exemplify “good trans,” conforming to the gender binary and just fitting in with women colleagues. After being blackballed, it was fun to flaunt feminine expression to spite the male-dominated workplace culture, where cis women toned down their femininity.
I certainly code-switch; everyone does to some extent. When working alongside male contractors building my cabin after I retired, it certainly wasn’t in heels and lipstick; femininity has its place, and this wasn’t it. Being identified as male in that environment didn’t bother me, it assisted me in completing the project.
Generally, I don’t much care how I’m read in public these days. I make the effort to pass only when I know I’ll be using a public restroom because of safety concerns, though I’ve never had a problem.
Monika: I remember the time right after my transition, it was pure euphoria. My closet is still full of dresses and shoes that I literally bought by the dozens back then, and I must have tried on hundreds. I felt like I had to make up for all those years that were taken from me. Did you feel the same way?
Keva: My fiscally conservative accountant wife didn’t allow me that much shopping exuberance. I still had fun; I opted for a few nice pieces. Since I retained and still wear many of my old unisex clothing, useful for outdoor work and casual wear, my closet space for dresses was limited.
One notable wardrobe addition was a black J. Crew women’s suit. I have worn the suit to several funerals for extended family. This suit provided me with self-confidence, courage, and power at these stressful events while having discussions with conservative aunts, uncles, and cousins.
I do love boots! I feel there is a perfect boot for each occasion and activity, from high-heeled knee boots, Chelseas, and Doc Martens, to logger boots for the woods and hip boots for fly fishing.
Monika: How would you describe your personal style? Do you follow any specific fashion trends, or do you have go-to outfits that make you feel confident?
Keva: My style is athletic and functional. I wear a lot of Lycra tights with athletic tops or tunics. Athleta is my favorite brand.
Monika: Do you love playing around with makeup, or is it more of a “throw on the basics and go” kind of vibe for you?
Keva: I strive for a natural look, mostly just to cover up the ravages of aging; however, many days are spent with only moisturizer and sunscreen on my face. I still love doing glam makeup for special occasions and particularly for costuming.
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| Sacred White Pine. |
Keva: I love compliments! My daughters give me the most feedback, both good and bad, so I believe them when they tell me something nice.
Monika: Are there moments when you catch a glimpse of your mother in the mirror, maybe in a smile, a raised eyebrow, or even the way you rock a dress?
Keva: I don’t see my mother in the mirror; however, I am just thrilled to no longer see my father. I can actually look in a mirror now, when I couldn’t before.
Monika: Watching what’s unfolding against the transgender community in the US, the UK, and beyond, I honestly can’t believe my eyes. Did we live in a bubble all this time, comforted by the idea that our rights were finally being respected? Were we celebrating progress, while in a parallel world, society was merely biding its time, waiting to reveal how little it had truly accepted us?
Keva: I have a scientific worldview and hold values of justice, equality, and human rights. I believe that policy and culture should be based on scientific evidence, not on religious tradition and political ideology. Since 2000, scientific evidence has been accumulating, which underpins the biological basis for gender diversity and the effectiveness and safety of gender-affirming care. It is a travesty that right-wing politicians dismiss this science and scapegoat trans people for political gain. The tide of social justice ebbs and flows, and I remain hopeful that the trend will reverse, and soon.
Monika: Your DEI efforts at Seagate were both pioneering and deeply impactful, from launching the PRIDE! network at a time when you were the only out trans employee, to helping the company reach a 100% score on the HRC Corporate Equality Index. And yet, despite all that progress, you still became a target and lost authority in your role. Given the recent backlash against DEI in many corporate and political spaces, do you ever wonder if DEI, as a concept, is losing its credibility? Has it become a checkbox, or do you still believe in its transformative power?
Keva: Belonging is a critical human need. Creating a workplace culture of belonging through DEI initiatives improves employee retention and creativity, which are required for business success. No one wants to work in a toxic environment where they hide their authentic selves. The anti-DEI movement is an attempt to maintain traditional hierarchies of straight, white, Christian male supremacy. Anti-DEI is a political tactic that most intelligent business enterprises will not buy into; businesses need the best talent, and many of these folks are not straight, white men. Businesses may feel forced to rebrand DEI, but key elements will remain in practice. Tech companies like Seagate rely heavily on recruiting and retaining a diverse workforce. I’m pleased that DEI at Seagate continued to expand after my retirement and, based on their website, seems to be thriving.
Monika: In 2011, Google made headlines by doubling its cap on transgender health care benefits from $35,000 to $75,000, sparking a wave of similar actions across the tech industry. Do you think these inclusive policies are here to stay, or are we at risk of seeing a slow erosion of transgender health benefits as the political and corporate winds shift?
Keva: Government bullying of businesses, medical providers, and insurance companies is having a negative impact today. Much of this has first targeted gender-affirming care for minors, but in some cases has restricted care for adults as well. In the US, we will see continued erosion of transgender care until MAGA politicians lose power. An upcoming Supreme Court ruling is important. The medical science community, people who are data-driven, not driven by ideology, remains supportive.
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| Keva and Lynne. |
Monika: I know you're a fan of Natalie Wynn and her dazzling ContraPoints videos, I am too. I find her work not only refreshing but intellectually exhilarating, like a philosophy salon in full glam. Do you have any favorite episodes that really stuck with you? And beyond Natalie, are there other brilliant sisters from our community you follow or draw inspiration from?
Keva: Natalie Wynn does a great job. Her videos are entertaining, intellectually stimulating, and truly on point. Her droll wit and costuming are fantastic! Of the episodes, “The Hunger” and recently “CONSPIRACY” stand out. There are many other brilliant trans women and genderqueer folks whom I follow. On philosophy and gender theory, Abigail Thorn (Philosophy Tube) and Judith Butler. Writers, Julia Serano and Torrey Peters. Trans rights, Florence Paré. LGBTQ+ legislation and news, Erin Reed (Erin in the Morning). Transgender history, Alicia Spencer-Hall and Gabrielle MW Bychowski. Technology trends, Bea Knecht and Vivienne Ming.
Monika: What was the most surprising part of your transition, something you never expected, whether good or bad?
Keva: I completely underestimated the positive impact of hormone therapy on my feeling of well-being. HRT was lifesaving and was far more important than all other aspects of my transition.
Monika: Many trans women are writing their memoirs these days. Have you ever thought about writing your own book, and if so, what would its central message be?
Keva: I started writing a memoir five years ago, but I’ve had issues and stalled deciding on a theme, a structure/format, and a target audience. Everyone’s story is unique, but mine is different from other trans memoirs such as Janet Mock’s and Jenny Boylan’s (which are both excellent), so people may find it interesting. At minimum, I intend to at least write down my biography and some of the stories from my youth for my children and potential grandchildren. My story of transitioning while working at Seagate requires a separate book or, better yet, a play or film, a dark comedy. The same week that I was lauded as a corporate hero by the technical community, I was chastised and gaslighted as “a total failure” by my VP. I became the “whipping girl.”
Monika: Finally, what’s next for Keva? What dreams and goals are you working toward now?
Keva: I’m living my retirement dream! I love learning about science and history, and I always have projects, art, and taking care of things at the cabin or in my forest. There is endless work in my forestland removing invasive plants and trying to regenerate oak stands. I would like to do stream improvement for trout habitat there as well. I find peace and satisfaction working on the woodland, and I’m hoping to be physically capable of this for a few more years.
I volunteer to speak on transgender and gender diversity to groups, but there has been less demand recently. I’m part of a trans support group. I enjoy sharing my experiences and learning in essays on Facebook and may document those in a blog someday. Spending time with family is important. My wife and I enjoy road cycling and cross-country skiing. Our children are in their thirties and are interested in learning about hunting and foraging in the woodland. I’m hoping to enjoy teaching grandchildren about these activities someday.
Monika: Keva, thank you so much for sharing your journey and insights.
Keva: It’s been fun, Monika! Thank you for sharing the stories of other trans women and for including me. This blog was important to me in the run-up to my transition, and I hope it remains inspirational to others going forward.
END OF PART 2
All photos: courtesy of Keva Schulz.
© 2025 - Monika Kowalska
What a story you have Keva! Thank you for sharing so openly and with frankness.
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