Interview with Laura Smith

Monika: Today’s interview will be with Laura Smith, a transgender woman that documents her transition on Reddit.com as inharmony123. Hello Laura!
Laura: Hi Monika!
Monika: Could you say a few words about yourself?
Laura: I'm 49, single, and have been on hormones for nearly 3 years, and I live in the United Kingdom.
Monika: Why did you decide to share your transition details on Reddit?
Laura: As an older woman transitioning, I wanted to inspire others who transition later in life, and show them, that there is hope even for those late bloomers. So, what better way, was to show people what could be done, with makeup, and our appearance to make it possible to pass and blend in public? 
Monika: I am sure you get many questions from your Reddit audience. What do they ask for?
Laura: Where did I get my hair? What makeup do you use?

Interview with Melissa Seymour

Monika: Today it is my pleasure and honor to interview Melissa Seymour, a writer, a novelist from New South Wales, Australia, the author of “Mel's Fantasy Life” (2016) and “Mark's Real Life” (2017). Hello Melissa!

Melissa: Hi Monika, Thanks, I now reside in Melbourne, Victoria, which is an awesome place to live.

My novels have been renamed for a new broader website I have discovered. The names are now “Mel’s New Life” and “Mark’s Pathetic Life”—that is due for worldwide release July 30th, 2017 as I have made some minor adjustments.

“Mel’s Fantasy/New Life” is the first in my series, each part allows the reader to use their imagination as I stop sections abruptly. I also end each part on a Cliff-Hanger to hopefully maintain interest.

Interview with Meredith Guest

Monika: Today it is my pleasure and honor to interview Meredith Guest, a teacher, writer, and author of the memoir titled “Son, I Like Your Dress” (2015). Hello Meredith! 

Meredith: Greetings, Monika.

Monika: Could you say a few words about yourself?

Meredith: Well, I think of myself as a rather unremarkable person who finds great pleasure in doing rather ordinary things. I’m a writer who loves to write, but you’re not likely ever to see my work on the New York Times bestseller list – and that’s okay.

I’m an educator who feels passionately about education, though no one’s beating down my door to get my ideas. I’m a parent, and now a grandparent, who loves her children and grandchild. I love this beautiful planet and grieve what we have done to it. And I also happen to be transgender.

Interview with Paula Coffer

Monika: Today it is my pleasure and honor to interview Paula Coffer, a retired US Army Finance Officer with many years of military service in Vietnam, Germany, Korea, and the United States. She later served with the Department of Defense and Department of State in Afghanistan and is the author of the biographical book entitled “A Walk in Confidence” (2017). Hello Paula!

Paula: Hello Monika and thank you for taking the time for this interview. It is an honor to be a part of the illustrious group you have interviewed in the past.

Monika: You can boast a fantastic military career. Could you say a few words about yourself?

Paula: I enlisted in the US Navy at 17 years of age and during my 4-year enlistment I spent 3 years and 2 months on sea duty while making 3 WesPac (Western Pacific) tours of which 2 were to Vietnam. I joined Army ROTC while in college and accepted a commission as a Finance Officer. During these 24 years, I struggled with living the dual identity of satisfying my military responsibilities and family obligations and of accepting the gender identity that I held so close to within. Don’t ask, Don’t tell did not exist during my military career. If asked, I had to tell and I would have been released from the military as unfit and probably with an ‘other than honorable’.

Interview with Rachael Evelyn Booth

Monika: Today it is my pleasure and honor to interview Rachael Evelyn Booth, an American writer, poet, US Navy veteran, linguist, computer scientist, martial artist, entertainer, and the author of the biographical book titled “Wishing On A Star: My Journey Across the Gender Divide” (2016). Hello Rachael!

Rachael: Hi Monika! Thanks for talking with me.

Monika: Could you say a few words about yourself?

Rachael: I am a 64-year-old woman living with my wife in the beautiful mountains of New Hampshire. I grew up in rural northwestern Ohio where I first realized that there was something wrong inside of me. I would sit out in a little field behind our house waiting to wish on the first star so I could be a girl when I woke up the next morning. Thus the name of my first book.

As many other trans-people of my time did, I tried to find my way in society as a man by first joining the Navy, then getting married and having children all in an attempt to find something that would make me feel happy in my expected role in life. Nothing worked and all I ended up doing was bringing more and more people into my life that I hurt terribly when I finally had to move ahead and become the person I am today.

Interview with Nicola Jane Chase

Monika: Today it is my pleasure and honor to interview Nicola Jane Chase, a British writer from near Liverpool, who currently lives in New York. A former globe-trotting DJ and radio personality, she is the author of “Tea and Transition” (2015). Hello Nicola! 

Nicola: Hey Monika!

Monika: Could you say a few words about yourself?

Nicola: That's always hard! But I'd say I am a supremely content New York woman with a transgender history.

Monika: Why did you decide to write your autobiography?

Nicola: In fact, it started out as a journal, a diary, I didn’t set out to write a book. It was relatively early in my transition and I realized that I was having experiences and going through events that had never happened before and may not happen again. Starting hormones, the first therapy session,  and so on.