Interview with Carla Combs

It is always a special privilege to revisit stories that once touched me deeply and to reconnect with the inspiring individuals who shared them. Back in February 2013, I had the honor of interviewing Carla. At the time, Carla was already a remarkable woman whose journey was defined by courage, resilience, and an unwavering commitment to justice. She was a wife, a parent, and a proud grandmother. She had served in the United States Air Force Space Command during Operation Desert Storm before being discharged in 1991 when it was discovered that she was transgender. By 2013, she was working as a software developer in Nashville, studying full-time, and finding her voice as a writer, speaker, activist, and advocate for the transgender community. Carla’s activism had been deeply shaped by tragedy. In 2008, she and her wife, Jaime Combs, were present when a lone gunman opened fire in their church sanctuary, targeting its welcoming embrace of LGBT people. That act of violence, which took the life of a close friend, set Carla on a path of speaking out for those who could not. Her voice became not only personal but also political, carrying the weight of lived experience and the determination to change a world that too often silenced people like her.

Interview with Carla Lewis

 

Carla Lewis is a woman whose life story is as inspiring as it is complex. Carla is a transgender woman, activist, software engineer, mother of two, grandmother, and U.S. Air Force veteran. She makes her home in East Tennessee, near the foothills of the Smoky Mountains, with her loving partner Jaime. To say that Carla has lived many lives would not be an exaggeration, her journey weaves together resilience, advocacy, creativity, and an unshakable belief in living authentically. Carla’s path has never been easy. Growing up in Arkansas, she carried within her a sense of difference that she could not yet put into words. Later, her dreams of becoming an astronaut led her to the U.S. Air Force Space Command, but her service was cut short when her gender identity was discovered. What might have ended as defeat became the beginning of a longer story, one of survival, rebuilding, and ultimately embracing the woman she always knew herself to be. Her transition in the late 1990s was marked by loss, heartbreak, and even moments when life itself hung by a thread. Yet Carla’s courage to begin again, to choose truth over silence, became the cornerstone of her new life. Over time, she reclaimed not only her identity but also her family, reuniting with her children after years apart and stepping into the joyful role of grandmother, a role she embraces with warmth, humor, and a touch of playful mischief.