Interview with Bianca Lewis

Monika: Today’s interview will be with Bianca Lewis, a video blogger from South Africa that documents her transition on YouTube. Hello Bianca!

Bianca: Hi Monika, and everybody, glad to share my views with you today.

Monika: Could you say a few words about yourself?

Bianca: Well – I am definitely not defined by transition. Being female has always been a part of me that has experienced amazing journeys. I grew up in Apartheid South Africa, experienced bacterial meningitis with coma, then paralysis in a wheelchair for a year, love, divorce, death of almost all my family, the Middle East, war – and that is just the start of what has made me, well…me.

Interview with True Scarlet

Monika: Today’s interview will be with True Scarlet, an American video blogger from Florida that documents her transition on YouTube. Hello True Scarlet!

True Scarlet: Hello Monika, I’m glad to be here.

Monika: Could you say a few words about yourself?

True Scarlet: Well, my name is Arrietta. I am 30 years old, born and raised in Florida, USA. I have worked as a Facility Maintenance supervisor in a drug and alcohol treatment center for the past six years. I enjoy running, hiking, and spending time with my friends. I can be over-focused from time to time and often spend hours lost in whatever I happen to get into at the time; usually games or reading.

Interview with Jenna Arriving1

Monika: Today’s interview will be with Jenna Arriving1, a video blogger that documents her transition on YouTube. Hello Jenna!

Jenna: Hello Monika. Just to say that Jenna is an alias I use online and it’s not my real name.

Monika: Could you say a few words about yourself?

Jenna: Well, I am 38, single, and now living in London UK. I live full-time as a woman and started a medical transition in Oct 2011. I have been living full-time as a woman for one year. I initially transitioned as a teenager at age 16 and continued for 2 years until after my 18th birthday. Sadly I detransitioned due to ill health and other pressures. I restarted my transition at age 36.

Interview with Jessica Tiffany

Monika: Today’s interview will be with Jessica Tiffany, a young video blogger from Canada that documents her transition on YouTube. Hello Jessica!

Jessica: Hi Monika! Thanks for interviewing me for your site!

Monika: Could you say a few words about yourself?
Jessica: I’m a 27-year-old transgirl, I started on hormones almost 2 years ago and I’ve been living full-time as a woman for over a year. I’m much happier now than I was before, I love being female.

Monika: Why did you decide to share your transition details on YouTube?
Jessica: I’d watched a few random transgender video blogs before I decided for sure that I was going to transition. I used to frequent /r/transgender and /r/asktransgender on Reddit quite often and at the time people were posting videos occasionally to show what they looked and sounded like.

Interview with Meggan Sommerville

Monika: Today’s interview is with Meggan Sommerville, an American transgender advocate, and activist, former frame shop manager, writer, a blogger from Oswego, Illinois. Meggan hit the headlines in 2011 when she filed a complaint to the Illinois Department of Human Rights (IDHR) after she had been denied to use the women's restroom at the workplace. Hello Meggan!

Meggan: Hi Monika. I am honored you chose to pick me to be included in this awesome group of people.

Monika: Your professional experience covers a wide range of jobs: a veterinary technician in the Western suburbs of Chicago, an EMT/Paramedic, EMS Instructor, and a paid on-call firefighter for Bolingbrook, Illinois. Which did you like most?

Meggan: Well, to be perfectly honest, I loved them all. They all had their own ups and downs, but I am very thankful for each one of those jobs. Each job allowed me to better myself, challenge myself, and stretched my abilities, and at the same time, I was able to do something that truly made a difference.

Interview with Michelle Hendley

Monika: Today I am meeting Michelle Hendley, an American young actress and video blogger that documents her transition on YouTube, known for her role as Ricky in the film Boy Meets Girl, directed by Eric Schaeffer. Hello Michelle!

Michelle: Hello Monika!

Monika: Could you say a few words about yourself?

Michelle: Hmm, well I am 22 years old, I live in Missouri (USA) and I am a cosmetology student.

Monika: Why did you decide to share your transition details on YouTube? 

Michelle: When I first started my channel a couple years ago, I really didn’t know what I wanted to say on YouTube. For a while, I just made little updates about my life, and around that time I had my “gender realization.”