Interview with Shelli Renee Joye

Monika: Shelli Renee Joye, an American scientist, academic, painter, philosopher, and author, is my special guest today. Shelli is an amazing woman being able to explore her talents in such different areas as hard sciences, spirituality, consciousness, and painting. She authored many publications on the physics of consciousness. In 2022, she published her biography “My Transition Journal: A Transgender Arc of Self-Discovery”. Hello Shelli! 

Shelli: Hello Monika!

Monika: Your life is a constant travel. Born in Port O’Spain, Trinidad, you lived in Panama, Florida, New York, Saudi Arabia, London, and now Italy. Is Italy your final destination, the place where you want to settle down for good?

Shelli: Yes, I have fled California with its dreadful forest fires that threatened our cedar cabin every summer, and the redneck Trumpist fundamentalists that in their ignorance are destroying what was once a workable democracy in America.

Interview with Aeri Gosselin

Monika: Today I have the pleasure and honor of interviewing Aeri Gosselin, an American scientist and transgender woman that shares her transition story on social media. Hello Aeri!

Aeri: Hi Monika! Thank you so much for the introduction and for taking the time to chat with me!

Monika: Could you say a few words about yourself?

Aeri: I am a 27 year old transgender American, raised in Vermont. When I wasn’t in school or skiing I was generally eating fresh maple syrup on snow from a horse trough. I have just completed a five-year Ph.D. program in inorganic chemistry where I studied a class of porous materials known as porous coordination cages.

And most recently I’ve moved to Berkeley CA to begin a career as a synthetic chemist making materials to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. When I am not in the lab I enjoy spending time in nature, reading, painting, and caring for my plants!

Interview with Selena

Monika: Today we are going to Germany where I am hosting a special guest. Selena is a German space scientist and transgender woman that documents her transition on social media. I am going to talk to Selena about her amazing journey towards womanhood. Hello Selena!

Selena: Hello Monika, thank you for interviewing me.

Monika: Could you say a few words about yourself?

Selena: Well, I am a 56-year-old trans woman from Berlin, of Australian origin. I began a physical transition 2 years ago. I had a brief period 23 years ago when I prepared myself for transition, but I unexpectedly met my darling wife. She knew about the doubts I had over my gender, but the relationship was so unexpectedly lovely that we both thought I could stay male for the sake of it. She thought her acceptance could cure my pain, and I thought I could live with my doubts as to an "envy". And for the first years of our relationship, this worked.

We have brought two sublime children into the world. As a stay-at-home parent, I was heavily involved in the pretty much all-female world of childcare, and I had some lovely first Mum friends who didn't seem to see my gender - they just treated me as one of them. So that soothed me for several years too.