Interview with Antonella Lerca Duda

Monika: Today we are going to Bucharest, the lovely capital city of Romania, where I am meeting Antonella Lerca Duda, a Romanian LGBTQI activist, author, and transgender woman that documents her transition on social media. Antonella is the first transwoman in Romania to have run for public office, dedicated to improving the social standing of women, sex workers, and the Roma community. Hello Antonella!

Antonella: Hello Monika!

Monika: Could you say a few words about yourself?

Antonella: I would like to greet all the readers of this fantastic blog. I am a Roma transwoman, the author of the book “Sex Work Is Work, O Poveste Transgen” (2020), and a human rights activist. I have been an activist for five years.

Having spent 11 years in Italy, I could see that trans women are not represented in Romania, so I decided to come back to my home country and fight for the rights of my trans sisters and brothers. Since then I have been trying to be visible and vocal everywhere in Romania, supporting the transgender Roma community and sex workers.

Interview with Mary Ann Horton

Monika: Today I have the pleasure of talking to Mary Ann Horton, PhD, an American transgender activist, computer systems architect, Internet pioneer, entrepreneur, author, and speaker. In 1997, she persuaded Lucent Technologies to become the first Fortune 500 company to add transgender-inclusive language to its nondiscrimination policy, and to add coverage for transition care and surgery. Her work, which was soon replicated at Apple and Avaya, led Out & Equal Workplace Associates to present her with the 2001 Trailblazer Outie Award (since renamed the LGBT Corporate Advocate of the Year).

Mary Ann founded several transgender social and activist groups. She conducted a research study that proved the addition of transgender medical coverage would cost companies virtually nothing. She has been featured in the Daily Beast, Out Magazine, Google Arts and Culture, Salon, Diversity Factor, SHRM, L-Mag, Nokia, Faces of Open Source, and Out TV. Hello Mary Ann!

Mary Ann: Hi, Monika. Thanks for inviting me.

Monika: You give a lot of interviews. What is the most frequent question related to your professional career or transition that you are usually asked and you are already fed up with?

Mary Ann: You know, I get a lot of great questions, but none of them really annoy me. One of the most challenging questions is “Are you treated worse professionally as a woman than you were as a man?” After all, many professional women are talked down to, looked over for promotion, or asked to make coffee.

Interview with Ashley Adamson

Monika: Today I have a special guest for you. Ashley Adamson is an American speaker and writer on transgender personal growth and advocacy, YouTube vlogger, and transactivist. She is the founder of the Trans Resiliency project and Trans Club - a community dedicated to supporting the transgender community. She has spoken at conferences and for NGOs, including UNICEF, universities, and corporations, and appeared in major media outlets such as MTV, USA Today, and DW. Ashley is the author of Trans Kung Fu: Awakening of Self Acceptance (2021). Hello Ashley!

Ashley: Hello Monika!

Monika: You seem to be a woman of many talents. Could you say a few words about yourself?

Ashley: Thank youuuuu! I'm glad you see that. I actually have no talents haha! I am just good at teaching myself whatever I need to do and that makes me appear like I have many talents but honestly, I'm just decent at a lot of things. Uhm, I dunno I guess the most important thing in my life's mission is to help thousands of people questioning and/or trans figure out who they are and then follow their path or life's purpose.

Interview with Hanne Carrington Reay

Monika: Today I have the pleasure and honor of interviewing Hanne Carrington Reay, a British artist living in Mexico, poet, writer, transactivist, witch, and transgender woman that shares her transition story on social media. Hello Hanne!

Hanne: Hello Monika! Thank you for asking me to take part in your excellent series of interviews. I am from England, I was born in Cambridge but I grew up in the North-East, near Newcastle upon Tyne. I moved to Scotland in 1992 to attend Glasgow School of Art and after I graduated from the University of Glasgow, moved to the US where I lived for 13 years, before moving to Mexico in 2009.

Monika: Could you say a few words about yourself?

Hanne: Yes, of course. I am an artist and I use my work to talk about my experiences living outside of my culture. I have made installations, sound pieces, and video art, exhibited my paintings in both solo shows and in group exhibitions, plus I have curated exhibitions in Philadelphia and New York City.

Interview with Emilia

Monika: Today I am taking you on a journey to Budapest, a beautiful capital of Hungary where I have the pleasure of talking to Emilia, a Hungarian model, and transgender activist. Hello Emilia!

Emilia: Hello Monika and everyone! Thank you for having me!

Monika: Could you say a few words about yourself?

Emilia: Since I was a preschooler, I know I don’t feel good myself in my own body and I don’t feel the role I have to play as a boy. In fact, that’s the point of it all, I felt like I was playing a role if I wanted to act like a boy. As early as the age of four or five, playing house in kindergarten - when you pretend to be a family in the household with your friends, acting out housekeeping and different family roles and stuff - I’ve always assigned the roles of the mother or the daughter to myself, and my friends have also assigned them to me. It just felt right you know.

Interview with Stephanie Bruning

Monika: Today I have the honor and pleasure of talking to Stephanie Bruning, an American academic historian, LGBTQ+ activist, and transgender woman that documents her transition on social media. Hello Stephanie!

Stephanie: Hello Monika!

Monika: Could you say a few words about yourself?

Stephanie: I'm a historian and educator. I've spent most of my career developing instructional content in history for primary and secondary school students. I also sometimes present on topics related to education or on topics connected to LGBTQ+ history (my next presentation will be a workshop on LGBTQ+ history at the Keystone Conference). I started my transition in 2018 but didn't go full-time until 2020 - although I spent the better portion of my life going back and forth on the idea. Day to day, I can usually be found reading, binge-watching TV with my partner, or playing music.