Interview with Margaux Ayn Schaffer

Monika: Today it is my pleasure and honor to interview Margaux Ayn Schaffer, an American multi-media artist, designer, and activist. Margaux has had a long history of activism, going back decades; in Atlanta, she was the editor and designer of INSIGHT, deputy director of AEGIS, and art director and associate editor of Chrysalis Quarterly. She participated both as a panelist and planning committee member for the Southern Comfort Conference.

When a series of murders of transgender women occurred in Atlanta, Margaux was appointed to the Mayor’s Gay and Lesbian Task Force. This led to an op-ed in The Advocate, “Do Transgender Issues Affect the Gay Community,” which she co-authored with Dallas Denny. She was also an invited guest on the Joan Rivers Show.

After moving from Atlanta to Phoenix, Margaux worked in Information Technology. She played a critical role in the first all transgender production of the Vagina Monologues, presented on V-Day 2004 in Hollywood’s Pacific Design Center. Margaux not only performed one of the monologues (“My Vagina Was My Village”), but she created the visual materials, including the posters, keepsake books, and postcards.

Interview with Tracee McDaniel

Monika: Today it is my pleasure and honor to interview Tracee McDaniel, an American transgender activist, and advocate, the CEO and Founder of Juxtaposed Center for Transformation, Inc. in Atlanta, Georgia, the author of “Transitions: Memoirs of a Transsexual Woman”. Hello Tracee!

Tracee: Greetings Monika, thank you for your interest in my story.

Monika: Could you say a few words about your career so far?

Tracee: I believe that I am doing exactly what I am supposed to be doing as far as my career is concerned. I enjoy helping others.

Monika: What are the objectives and current agenda of Juxtaposed Center?

Tracee: Our current objective is to continue fighting for human rights, equality, and justice for transgender and gender non-conforming people. Our current community initiative includes membership on the Working Group on Prostitution, which was formed by Mayor Kasim Reed to address and make recommendations on how to address street prostitution in our city.

Interview with Vandy Beth Glenn

Monika: For today's interview I have invited Vandy Beth Glenn, an American writer, public speaker, and transactivist from Georgia. In 2007, she was dismissed from her job as a legislative editor at the Georgia General Assembly when she informed her supervisor, Sewell Brumby, of her transgender status. Following a lawsuit, her Glenn v. Brumby case became instrumental for the rights of transgender people that were discriminated against at work because of their transgender status. Hello Vandy! It is very kind of you to agree to be interviewed for “The Heroines of My Life”!

Vandy: Thank you! I’m happy to participate.

Monika: What are you doing for a living these days?

Vandy: I’m back at my job at the Georgia General Assembly, the job I was fired from for transitioning.

Monika: Where did you grow up?

Vandy: Here in Atlanta, Georgia.

Monika: Could you describe your childhood? When did you feel for the first time that you should not be a boy or man?

Vandy: My childhood was completely ordinary until I reached puberty. That was when I began to realize I was not like the other kids.