Interview with Lea Aymard

Monika: My today’s guest is a Slovenian transgender rights activist. Lea Aymard is a Program Coordinator at Transfeminist Initiative TransAkcija Institute, an organization that provides support, empowerment, and alliance of transgender and gender non-conforming persons in Slovenia. It is the first and only non-governmental organization devoted specifically to the human rights of transgender persons in Slovenia. Hello Lea! Thank you for accepting my invitation.

Lea: Thank you very much for the invitation! It’s an honor to have piqued your curiosity!

Monika: I am always eager to learn about how my sisters are doing in other countries. Is it challenging to be a transgender woman in Slovenia?

Lea: Yes, of course! Like anywhere else, trans people are heavily discriminated against in Slovenia. Slovenia is quite unique because of its very small size as a country, a very traditional and homogeneous society, but with a rich queer heritage.

Interview with Galia Salimo

Monika: Today I would like to introduce to you one of the most inspirational women that I ever met. I am talking to Galia Salimo, a French cabaret artist, model, dancer, TV celebrity, the star of the Parisian shows at Le Carrousel, Le Palace, l'Alcazar, le Queen, le Manko, known as the queen of Parisian nights. She is the author of "Quand j'étais petit garçon" (2017) and “Quelque chose en moins... ou en plus” (2022). Hello Galia!

Galia: Hello Monika!

Monika: You look fantastic. What is the secret of your everlasting beauty?

Galia: The look of the others.

Monika: I must try it myself! Could you say a few words about yourself?

Galia: What to say about me??? A few words won't be enough that's why I started to write a biography we are now at volume 2 and I am writing the third volume.

Interview with Tara Wels

Monika: Today I would like to present to you an inspirational woman. Tara Wels is an Algerian-born restaurant owner and transgender activist. Her restaurant "Oh! Quai Latin" is a lovely place in Paris, which is friendly to the LGBTQ + community. Hello Tara!

Tara: Hello Monika! I am Tara Wels, a transgender woman in Paris in France. I try to transmit kindness to the LGBTQ + community by facilitating the diversity of genders in my restaurant called Oh! Quai Latin.

Monika: How are you doing in these crazy pandemic times?

Tara: This period is very difficult to live for everyone but I try to stay positive and to create new ideas for the future.

Monika: You were born in Algeria. Did you have a happy childhood?

Tara: Yes, I was born in Algiers in a caring, loving family, surrounded by love. I was the only boy with 3 sisters.

Interview with Andréa Colliaux - Part 2

Monika: It has been almost seven years since I interviewed Andréa Colliaux, a French stewardess, transgender activist, the author of the autobiographical book titled "Carnet de bord d'un steward devenu hôtesse de l'air", one of the most inspirational women that I had the pleasure of talking to. Therefore I am extremely delighted that Andréa has decided to chat with me again. Bonjour Andréa!

Andréa: Hello Monika, long time, no see but I always have a look at your page on Facebook and I am always delighted to read the stories of all these extraordinary women who have chosen to transition from one gender to another and to live their life as a woman.

Monika: Andréa, you look so lovely! It seems that beautiful women never get old!

Andréa: Yes, I'm 55 years old now... and I feel like I am still 25 in my head! Still in the '80s. Listening to ABBA, and I think that growing old is not so bad especially when you feel so young in your mind. And I assume the fact is that I have had plastic surgery and injections recently. 

Growing old is not a problem to me, but in good health, physically and mentally. And then I sometimes wonder if the air conditioning in the plane does not preserve me like an old mummy!!!

Interview with Marie-Pierre Pruvot

Monika & Elaine: Today it is our pleasure and honor to interview Marie-Pierre Pruvot, also known as Bambi, one of the most inspirational transwomen in France, a former showgirl of Le Carrousel de Paris, actress, French literature teacher, the author of two biographical books. Hello Marie-Pierre!

Marie-Pierre: Hello, dear friends.

Monika & Elaine: The French transgender cabaret culture is regarded as one of the most important elements of the history of transwomen in France. Your unforgettable shows at Chez Madame Arthur and La Carrousel attracted a lot of interest, which helped the audience to get acquainted with the trans phenomenon. How do you recollect those years?

Marie-Pierre: I left Algiers at age 18 and I came to Paris to work at Mme Arthur’s and at the Carousel. It was 1953. Coccinelle was 22 years old. She was already famous in France and the French-speaking world.

Interview with Karine Solene Espineira

Karine Solene Espineira stands as one of the most brilliant and influential voices in contemporary transgender thought. Born in Santiago in 1967 and shaped by a life that spans Chile, France, activism, scholarship, and cinema, she has spent decades mapping the cultural, social, and political landscapes that define trans identities in our world today. Her work as a sociologist and researcher at the University of Nice Sophia Antipolis, as well as her role in the Gender and Sexuality Studies Laboratory at the University of Paris VIII, has made her a leading authority on the media constructions of trans identities, transfeminism, and the cultural frameworks that shape how society perceives gender itself. She has also been a driving force in international activism, contributing her expertise to the Stop Trans Pathologization campaign and serving on scientific committees dedicated to fighting racism, antisemitism, and anti-LGBT hatred.

 

At the same time, her creative life as a filmmaker, writer, and longtime community organizer has rooted her work in lived experience and collective memory. Her journey from Santiago to the heart of French academia is marked by an unshakeable commitment to widening the cultural lens through which society understands gender. Whether dissecting media narratives, documenting the hidden histories of trans communities, or challenging institutional norms, she has never stopped pushing for a world where knowledge and lived experience meet on equal ground. Her work shows how scholarship can carry the pulse of activism and how activism can carry the precision of scholarship, creating a vibrant space where trans voices do not merely react to culture but actively shape it. Karine is a woman whose intellectual courage, humor, and unwavering commitment to justice have helped shape the modern transgender movement in France and far beyond.

Interview with Ellah A. Thaun

Some lives unfold like a carefully written score, others like a feedback-soaked improvisation played at night, alone, with the windows open to the world. Ellah A. Thaun belongs unmistakably to the second kind. Born in France and shaped by sound, image, intuition, and survival, she moves through music the way some people move through dreams, intensely, vulnerably, without compromise. From the first shock of John Lennon’s voice in childhood to the restless urgency of teenage distortion, from noise and shoegaze collectives to intimate lo-fi folk confessions recorded on the edge of sleep, her art has always been less about genre and more about truth. Guitar strings, drum machines, sketches, photographs, and whispered melodies all become extensions of the same searching gesture, an attempt to translate lived experience into something that can be felt rather than explained.

 

As a transgender woman, Ellah speaks of transition not as a label but as an awakening, a filter through which the world suddenly becomes sharper, more dangerous, more beautiful. Her work carries the weight of that awakening, love as an absolute necessity, anger as fuel, tenderness as resistance, and creativity as a way to stay alive in a society that too often refuses to listen. Whether performing solo in quiet rooms or shaping expansive soundscapes with Valeskja Valcav, she stands at the intersection of music and art, fragility and defiance, romance and rage. This interview is an invitation to step into that intersection, and to listen closely, not only to what Ellah A. Thaun creates, but to what she has lived, endured, and transformed into song.

Interview with Estelle Roedrer

Estelle Roedrer is a French cabaret artist, singer, dancer, and beauty pageant queen whose life and career have been marked by movement, creativity, and an unwavering commitment to being herself. Over the years, she has performed in cabarets across Germany, Spain, Egypt, and France, building a reputation for her versatility, charm, and the passion she brings to every stage. Whether performing as a classic cabaret artist, a bold impersonator, or in more provocative roles, Estelle has always approached her craft with authenticity, creating shows that reflect both her talent and her individuality. Beyond her work in cabaret, Estelle has also taken part in international transgender beauty pageants, including the Miss International Queen contest in Thailand.

 

While she admits she is far from a pageant enthusiast, these experiences allowed her to meet remarkable people from around the world and gain a broader perspective on life, beauty, and self-expression. True to her nature, she has never followed anyone else’s path or relied on role models, preferring instead to carve out her own journey, guided by honesty, self-awareness, and a desire to live fully in the present. Estelle’s story is one of courage, independence, and the simple joy of embracing life as it comes. She speaks candidly about her transition, her encounters with love, and the realities faced by transgender women, all while maintaining a grounded, unpretentious outlook. In this interview, she shares not only her artistic journey and achievements but also her reflections on authenticity, freedom, and the art of living unapologetically as oneself, showing that for her, the stage is not just a career, it is a place where she is fully, unmistakably alive.

Interview with Andréa Colliaux

Andréa Colliaux is one of those remarkable women whose personal journey was also a pioneering struggle against the limits society placed on transgender people. A French flight attendant and author, she grew up carrying a profound sense that her body did not reflect who she was, while facing loneliness, misunderstanding and discrimination at a time when transgender people in France were still widely treated as mentally ill. After beginning her transition in her thirties, Andréa faced another battle when the airline where she worked attempted to dismiss her. With determination, patience and legal support, she fought back and eventually returned to her job as Andréa, becoming one of the first transgender women to work openly as a stewardess in France. Her extraordinary story later became the subject of a documentary, and she also published her autobiography in 2001, Carnet de bord d'un steward devenu hôtesse de l'air, to challenge the prejudice and misinformation surrounding transgender lives. In this interview, Andréa speaks with striking honesty about a childhood marked by tragedy, the long journey towards transition, her experiences as a transgender woman in the aviation industry, love, surgery, fashion and activism. Above all, she shares the perspective of a woman who refused to allow others to define her identity or her future. Her story is one of courage, resilience and determination, but also of a simple and powerful conviction: she has always known who she was.