Interview with Kira Maevska

Monika: Today I am chatting with Kira Maevska, a Belarusian lawyer and proud transgender woman who chronicles her transition on social media. Hello Kira! Thank you for accepting my invitation.

Kira: Hello Monika. My pleasure, thank you for inviting me. 

Monika: Could you say a few words about yourself?

Kira: Well, I’m 34 years old. I run my own small legal practice and specialize in web3 and fintech spheres. Currently, I live in Georgia and enjoy a nice sea view each day. Mmm, what else… I prefer to spend my free time with long walks and nice people.

Monika: What inspired you to share your intimate life moments on social media?

Kira: Here are two major reasons for that. First of all, my social media is my own way of better exploring myself as well as discovering my femininity and sexuality. Another point is that it is a kind of chronicle of my transition that could be useful for me, for example, being an anchor in overcoming gender dysphoria as well as serving as motivation for other trans people. I’m trying to divide what can go public and what should stay private.

Interview with Jessie McGrath

Monika: You do not like lawyers? Please do not go away because today I have invited a nice lawyer and an amazing woman. Jessie McGrath has been a prosecutor with the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office since 1988. Her areas of expertise include consumer protection, cyber-crime, narcotics, and juvenile law. She has been lead counsel or co-counsel in consumer protection cases against Apple, Uber, Sony BMG, Choice Point, Honda of Santa Monica, McKenna BMW, and Gunderson Chevrolet. In April 2002 she was named Deputy District Attorney of the Month. Ms. McGrath has served on the Board of Directors and was Executive Vice President of the Association of Deputy District Attorneys, the union representing the more than 900 rank and file prosecutors of the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office. She is the happy parent of five children, three of whom will be lawyers too. Hello Jessie!

Jessie: Hi Monika. Thank you so much for reaching out to me and asking me to participate in your amazing work.

Interview with Emma Shinn

Monika: Today’s interview will be with Emma Shinn, a transgender woman who documents her transition on Reddit as ScoutSeven. Emma is a retired US Marine Corps officer and now is an award-winning civilian attorney in Denver, Colorado. She is an LGBT activist and a member of the Board of Directors for the Colorado LGBT Bar Association. Hello Emma! 

Emma: Hi, Monika! Thanks for the opportunity to share my story.

Monika: Could you say a few words about yourself?

Emma: Sure! I am a criminal defense attorney, representing US service members across the globe at courts-martial and administrative separation hearings. I also represent Colorado residents at criminal proceedings in state and federal hearings.
Monika: What is the main agenda of the Colorado LGBT Bar Association?
Emma: The Colorado Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender (“LGBT”) Bar Association is a voluntary professional association of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender attorneys, judges, paralegals, and law students and allies who provide an LGBT presence within Colorado’s legal community.

Interview with Micheline Montreuil

Monika: Today it is my pleasure and honor to interview Micheline Anne Hélène Montreuil, a Quebec lawyer, teacher, writer, radio host, trade unionist, and politician from Canada. Hello Micheline!

Micheline: Hello Monika; how are you today?

Monika: I am fine, thank you. Could you say a few words about yourself?

Micheline: Well I could say that I am just an ordinary girl, but being also at the same time a little bit special because I am a transgender. Otherwise, on a professional level, I am just a lawyer, a professor of law, management, and ethics at university, a writer, and a lecturer.

Monika: You made yourself known with your struggles for transgender rights in Canada. Could you elaborate on some of your initiatives in this respect? 

Micheline: My first initiatives were about my name. I wished only to add the first name Micheline to my birth certificate to allow me to have a driver’s license under the name of Micheline Montreuil but unfortunately, the Registrar of civil status denied me this right.

Interview with Samantha Collins

Monika: Today it is my pleasure and honor to interview Samantha Collins, a British criminal lawyer, happy wife, and mother. Hello Samantha!

Samantha: Hello, thank you for wanting to speak with me.

Monika: Could you say a few words about yourself?
Samantha: Well, what is there to say. I'm in my mid-forties, I've six children from two marriages. I'm with a lovely caring woman who I have been 2ith mow for fifteen years, I'm a lawyer and a lecturer in law, and oh I'm transsexual. Sorry, I don't really let that define me.

I'm a person, a parent and a partner first being trans to me is no real difference to being blond or having blue eyes. It's a part of me but it's not ME. That said I transitioned a year ago, everything went fantastically, home life was superb work, was really supportive, and my friends and family were absolute rocks.

Interview with Joann Prinzivalli

Monika: Today it is my pleasure and honor to interview Joann Prinzivalli, a transgender activist, title insurance lawyer, blogger. Hello Joann!

Joann: Cześć Monika!

Monika: Could you say a few words about yourself?
Joann: Certainly! The problem with me saying a few words is not always knowing when to stop. But I’ll try. I’m a lifelong resident of the New York metropolitan area. I was the child of working-class parents of Italian-American extraction (half Sicilian, a quarter Napolitana, and a quarter Abruzzeze).
When I was four years old, I knew I did not fit in with the boys, but by the time I was six, I realized that if I wanted to live, I had to hide the real me from everyone. As a teen, I read Christine Jorgensen’s autobiography and realized that I was not the only person in the world like me.