Interview with Helen Belcher

Monika: Today it is my pleasure and honour to interview Helen Belcher, a British trans rights campaigner, member of the UK Parliamentary Forum on Gender Identity, and one of the founders of Trans Media Watch, software developer, and businesswoman. Hello Helen!

Helen: Hi Monika!

Monika: Could you say a few words about yourself?
Helen: It depends on what you want to know. I’ve just turned 50, I’m happily married with two fantastic children who are in their teens, I’ve been a computer geek since my teens, and have run my own company for the past 10 years selling software that I’ve written.
I sing in a good local choir, I’m a school governor, and I campaign on trans rights. It could all sound incredibly glamorous, but there is a lot of hard work and, generally, I think I’m incredibly boring! It’s just that I’ve had the good fortune to be in some of the right places at some of the right times.

Interview with Michela Ledwidge

Monika: Today it is my pleasure and honor to interview Michela Ledwidge, artist, director, and most recently the co-founder of Mod Productions, a production studio focused on interactive entertainment. Hello Michela!

Michela: Hi Monika!

Monika: Could you say a few words about yourself?

Michela: I’m a 40something artist and director living in Sydney, working on multi-platform media productions. I transitioned when I was 25. 

Monika: You are said to be a geek since you have been involved in the development of so many inventions…

Michela: That’s fair. I’ve been a technologist since the 80s when I used to sneak into my parent’s bedroom to play with Dad’s Commodore 64 which I wasn’t supposed to touch without supervision. I’m still mucking around with new tech all these years later and enjoy writing words, code, and music. I was fortunate enough to be exposed to the internet early on and networked communication has been the basis of my approach to media making ever since.

Interview with Donna Rose

Monika: Today it is my pleasure and honor to interview Donna Rose with whom I would like to discuss the role of transgender women in US politics, culture, and society. Donna is an athlete, a writer and educator, and a well-known LGBT advocate and activist. Her 2003 memoir “Wrapped in Blue” continues to educate and inspire. She is the former Executive Director of the LGBT Community Center Coalition of Central Pennsylvania, and a board member for the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), and the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce (NGLCC). Hello Donna!

Donna: Hi Monika. I appreciate the opportunity to chat with you today.

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

Donna: I’m not sure what career you’re asking about. In my “real” career I’m an IT consultant and have been working with Fortune 500 and DoD clients for the better part of the last 35 years. That’s my “career” – it pays my bills, it’s my profession, it’s where I spend half of my time.

Interview with Dana Zircher

Monika: Today it is my pleasure and honor to interview Dana Zircher, an American software design engineer, and actress. Hello Dana!

Dana: Hi Monika, first and foremost I’d like to thank you for asking me to participate in this interview. I’m really impressed with the collection of interviews and information that you’ve accumulated for your website. I think it’s a great asset to our community. Thank you so much for pulling it together. It must be a labor of love!

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

Dana: I’ve been really fortunate with my professional career, I was always a bit of a techy nerd and decided to pursue a career in electronics. The software was more or less a natural fit and I have been writing software professionally for about 20 years.

I’ve had the pleasure of working on products like Lotus Notes, Groove Workspace, Microsoft Office, SharePoint, and even Windows. It’s been a wonderfully challenging and rewarding career so far and I’ve had the opportunity to work with and learn from so many brilliant industry leaders.

I also love performing, it offers me rewards that are hard to quantify with words. When I was younger, I played different instruments with several local bands, studied music theory in college, and was even fortunate enough to work with some regional roads acts for a short while.

It was always important to me to keep my love of performance as much a part of my day-to-day as possible, that’s not always so simple when you’re working on enterprise software products.

Interview with Fiona Corwin

Monika: Today’s interview will be with Fiona Corwin, a young video blogger that documents her transition on YouTube. Hello Fiona!

Fiona: Hello! Young! You’re sweet to say so. I’ll be 42 this year!

Monika: Could you say a few words about yourself?

Fiona: I am a 41yr old trans woman. I started my transition in October of 2012, HRT in January of 2013, and living full time as a woman in May of 2013. It’s a complicated question because I am a lot of things depending on where you look from.

I am a Web Developer, an IT consultant, a manager, a business owner, a carpenter, a machinist, a musician, a writer, a lover, a poet, a martial artist, a fencer, and a bit of a pacifist who likes her guns. I am both fiercely independent and serially monogamous. I fall in love with people often – they fascinate me.

Interview with Christine Beatty

Monika: Today I would like to introduce to you an amazing woman and artist. Christine Beatty is an American writer, senior software engineer, musician, and transgender activist. She was born in San Mateo, California. In 2000 she was distinguished as Transwoman of the Year by the Los Angeles Transgender Task Force. Christine helped to organize the 2003 Transgender Day of Remembrance in Los Angeles, and a year later she appeared in a Calpernia Addams’ and Andrea James’ all-transgender production of the Vagina Monologues. In 2011 she started a publishing company for the TS/TG community, Glamazon Press. Christine writes articles for Spectator Magazine, Transgender Tapestry, TransSisters, and other LGBTQ publications. She is the founder of the Glamazon rock band, and the author of a semi-autobiographical collection of short stories and poetry "Misery Loves Company" (1993) and biography "Not Your Average American Girl" (2011). 

Hello Christine! Welcome to “The Heroines of My Life”.

Christine: Hi Monika, thanks for asking.

Monika: How would you describe yourself? Musician, writer, transgender activist, or someone else?

Christine: First and foremost I’m a writer. So far it’s not paying the bills — yet — but it’s the one creative thing I do consistently. I do plan to get back into performing and recording rock music again. Also, I started taking film school classes last autumn.

Monika: Are you a feminist?

Christine: Most definitely, long before I knew I was a girl trapped in a boy’s body.

Monika: Where did you grow up?

Christine: In my memoir, I describe my terribly ordinary upbringing in a suburb twenty miles south of San Francisco. It was terribly middle-class and ordinary; I hated it. I instinctively knew I wasn’t destined for ordinary or “normal.”

Interview with Abbie Pope

Monika: Today I would like to invite you for my chat with Abbie Kathryn Pope, a transgender lady and the author of the blog titled “Threads of Gender”. She currently lives in Portland, Oregon where she works in the high-tech industry as a computer engineer. Hello Abbie!

Abbie: Hello to you too!

Monika: What are you doing these days?
Abbie: Well, a lot! I’m moving to Portland, OR from LA in a few weeks. I started a new blog at somebeautifullife.com which is less trans-oriented and more geared towards personal and spiritual growth. And you know, just keeping the wheels turning to survive as a trans woman in America.

Monika: You are a computer engineer. Could you tell me why there are so few ladies that are successful in the IT business?

Abbie: It’s really quite unfortunate. I think there is a ton of cultural bias against genetic women pursuing careers in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, & Math) fields. One of the few silver linings of growing up trans is that there were never barriers to pursuing these fields.

Interview with Jessica Janiuk

Monika: For today I have invited a special guest. Jessica Janiuk is an American gamer, software engineer, writer, photographer, and transgender activist from the sunny state of California. She is known for her blog on which she shares her transition story. In addition, Jessica is a community organizer with Google's GDG and Women Techmakers programs. Hello Jessica! How lovely of you to agree to be included in my series of “Interviews with Transgender Icons”.

Jessica: Thanks for having me.

Monika: What do you do for a living these days?

Jessica: I’m a web developer for a trailer hitch company based in the state of Wisconsin, in the US of A. It’s a very glamorous job involving multiple computer monitors and pale skin from lack of sunlight.

Monika: Where did you grow up?

Jessica: I grew up in a small suburb of Milwaukee, Wisconsin called Delafield. It had between 5,000 and 8,000 people while I was growing up. I think it’s larger now though due to urban sprawl.

Interview with Carla Lewis

Monika: Today I am meeting Carla Lewis, a transgender woman and activist, software engineer, mother of two, and US army veteran. She lives in east Tennessee with her lovely partner, Jaime. Hello Carla! It is a sheer pleasure to interview you. Welcome to The Heroines of My Life!

Carla: Truthfully, I’m honored that anyone would care to know about me.

Monika: Honest as usual! What are you doing these days?

Carla: The only recent significant change in my life was a closed head injury as a result of a rear-end collision in December of last 2011. I’m plagued with constant migraine-like head pain that makes it difficult to do some of the things I normally take for granted. That aside, I’m part owner of a small computer service company. That keeps me busy during business hours.

When I’m not at work, I enjoy the hell out of science fiction and fantasy movies, hero comics, and a newfound love of sewing and cosplay. The highlight of every year is now our annual trip to Dragon*Con in Atlanta, Georgia where I get to dress up as my favorite superheroine, Power Girl, and Jaime gets to be whichever hero I feel like creating for her.