Interview with Pia Notoriyas

Monika: Today we are going on a journey to the United Kingdom where we are going to meet a talented female artist. Pia Notoriyas is a Filipino-born singer and songwriter, model, YouTube vlogger, social media influencer, and transgender activist. Pia is known for The Euphoria Song Project, a song about the discrimination and the empowerment of trans lives, which in 2020 became the transgender anthem of the year. Hello Pia, I am so happy that you have accepted my invitation!

Pia: Hello Monika! Hello everyone!

Monika: Could you say a few words about yourself?

Pia: My name is Pia Notoriyas. I’m a transgender singer-songwriter and producer, Filipino, and based in the United Kingdom. 

Monika: Why did you choose Pia for your name?

Pia: Choosing your name is probably one of the most important stages in our transition, I wanted something that meant something to me and a name that embodied femininity and my culture, Miss Universe is a beauty pageant competition that celebrates femininity and countries from all around the world compete for the crown, in 2015 the Philippines won miss universe and she happens to be called Pia, and at that moment I knew that as the name I wanted, it represented strong femininity and my culture.

Interview with Amber Rose Washington

Monika: Today I am meeting Amber Rose Washington, an American author, songwriter, musician, producer, public speaker, and advocate for the transgender community originally from Liberty, New York. Amber has been featured on FOX, NBC, CBS, NPR, and a host of other media. In 2020 she published her memoir "Hiding from Myself: My Complicated Rebirth Into Womanhood and My Own Skin". Her new Podcast, "THE JOURNEY, Unscripted" is scheduled to begin airing in April 2021. Hello Amber!

Amber: Hello Monika! It’s nice to be here.

Monika: You are a woman of many talents. I have listed so many of your professions and interests. I am wondering which one you are most eager to pursue.

Amber: I’ve done many things in my life, partially due to what I call, self-inflicted Occupational ADD. I kept myself busy so I would have very little time dwelling on my incongruity. I spent nearly three decades in the music business.

Music was a perfect outlet for me. I began writing music at about the age of thirteen and was fortunate to have several successes along the way. Although I will always be a songwriter, I really enjoy writing stories as well as helping others tell their stories.

Interview with Brianna Tuerff

Monika: Today’s interview will be with Brianna Tuerff, a transgender woman who makes electronic and instrumental metal music under the alias ‘Brianna and the VSTs’. She documents her transition on Reddit.com as Neonnimrod and on YouTube with her channel BriannaIsGreat. Hello Brianna!

Brianna: Hello! Thanks for having me!

Monika: Could you say a few words about yourself?

Brianna: Well, my love and passion is music. Everything to do with writing it, playing it, recording and producing it, etc. The science of sound has always fascinated me. My first serious musical project was a comedy punk band called Thunder Stump that I fronted years before I figured out that I was transgender. This helped me let out some rage.

My life pre-transition isn’t really fun to look back on, but I do have a comfortable nostalgia in listening to a wide variety of music and playing Super Nintendo games as they both remind me of the bits of my childhood where I could zone out of reality. I was born in and currently reside in Phoenix, Arizona in the United States, but I feel that my future in creative success lies elsewhere.

Interview with Mya Byrne

Monika: Today it is my pleasure and honor to interview Mya Byrne, an award-winning songwriter, poet, actress, and trans/queer activist. She made her stage debut at NYC's Dixon Place in 2014. She’s played some of North America’s best music festivals, and her art has been featured in The Advocate, Time Out, Huffington Post, Buzzfeed, MSNBC, and many other media. Hello Mya!

Mya: Hey there Monika! Thanks for having me.

Monika: You can boast so many talents. Which vocation do you regard as most appropriate for you?

Mya: When it all comes down to it, I’m a rock-and-roll poet to my core. I mean, that encompasses everything I do.

Monika: Is there anything like transgender art? What does it mean to be a transgender artist?

Mya: I don’t think there is anything that can be compared to transgender art. So much great art has come from trans people, and it’s beautiful to witness this being recognized -- from the music of Wendy Carlos, Ahnoni, Lynn Breedlove, Star Amerasu, and Laura Jane Grace to the celebrated writing of so many here on your website, the brilliant films of the Wachowskis, actress Mya Taylor, and all of the people before our time who might have been considered trans today -- especially in the Black lesbian and blues music scene pre-World War 2, and of course the countless people who were living openly as gender-variant in Weimar Germany. Lili Elbe was an artist and a muse, too, openly celebrated in her time.

Interview with Deena Kaye Rose

Monika: Today it is my pleasure and honor to interview Deena Kaye Rose, an American writer, lecturer, one of the most recognized Nashville songwriters of her time with over 400 songs published and around 200 of those recorded and released worldwide, the author of the biographical book titled “Some Days Are Diamonds” (2016). Hello Deena!

Deena: Hi, Monika! It is an honor to be invited to share a bit of my humble story with you. Thanks, bunches.

Monika: You are a woman of so many talents! Could you say a few words about your fantastic career?

Deena: Well, I appreciate your very kind words. I have often thought that even a stray dog finds a ham-bone now and then! So I have stumbled upon some minor successes in the world of entertainment.

Interview with Jennifer Maidman

Monika: Today it is my pleasure to interview Jennifer Maidman, a talented British musician, songwriter, actress, music producer, humanistic counselor, and writer. Hello Jennifer!

Jennifer: Hi Monika. Thanks for getting in touch.

Monika: Could you say a few words about yourself?

Jennifer: Well you've covered quite a few things with your introduction. I suppose it seems like I’m someone who wears ‘different hats’, but I think of everything as belonging under one creative umbrella. Being human is about creativity, and I think any activity can be approached with an artistic perspective. I’m also fond of a term that is used in the world of counseling, the idea of the ‘reflective practitioner’. It’s an approach that can be applied to almost any field. That seems like a good place to start a conversation!