Interview with Mana Weindel

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

Mana: Hello, Monika! Thank you for the interview, it is an honor to be able to participate. 

Monika: Could you say a few words about yourself?

Mana: Sure. I live in Denmark by myself in an apartment, and I have a lot of friends, which I love very much. I am not exactly big on words but I will do my best. 

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

Mana: I have seen a lot of transition videos myself, so maybe I got the idea from there. I have always loved attention, though I'm very critical about myself.

Monika: At which stage of the transition are you right now?

Mana: At this point I have been on HRT for about 5 months, and even though it might seem longer I can only say I know my makeup.

Monika: Are you satisfied with the results of the hormone therapy and GRS?

Mana: Yes I am, very. GRS is not until later though, but I am getting to it.

Interview with Jordyn

Monika: Today’s interview will be with Jordyn (aka JordynJordynJordynS), a young video blogger that documents her transition on YouTube. Hello Jordyn!

Jordyn: Hello! Thank you so much for inviting me to talk with you!

Monika: Could you say a few words about yourself?

Jordyn: Sure! Well, I’m 24 years old and I’ve been transitioning full-time for about three years so far, and I’m also pursuing a career in the film and TV industry to hopefully direct my own projects someday that focus on trans* and LGBT issues.

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

Jordyn: For me, watching YouTube videos of other trans* individuals talking about their experiences was really helpful when I was starting my transition and hadn't met anyone else yet who was trans* and so I decided to share my own experiences as well, in case they might be helpful for someone else the way they were for me.

Monika: At which stage of the transition are you right now?

Jordyn: I feel very grateful and fortunate to be almost at the end of my transition actually, for all intents and purposes at least. I’ve come out to all of my friends and family, had my name changed legally, updated all of my documents.

I’ve been taking hormones and living as myself full-time for almost three years, and I had GRS at the end of 2012. It’s been without a doubt the most difficult thing I’ve ever done in my life, but overall it’s absolutely been worth it.

Interview with Living Smile Vidya

Monika: Today’s interview will be with Living Smile Vidya known as Smiley, an inspirational woman from India, actress, film director, the author of the biography titled "I am Saravanan Vidya" (2008), a transgender activist and blogger, recipient of the British Council-Charles Wallace India Trust fellowship to study theater in UK. Hello Smiley! 

Smiley: Hi, it’s my honour to be in your list.
Monika: So, You pursue your career in theatre and cinema. You worked as an assistant director in Kollywood and acted in Tamil theater. Could you say a few words about your movie and theater career?
Smiley: Well, Theatre is always my first love. When I was 19 years old, I decided to be an actress and while doing my post-graduation at university I spent most of the time in the Theater Department rather than my Linguistics Department. So I was able to do a couple of plays. But at that time I was known to my colleagues and classmates as a boy.
After my post-graduation, I went to Pune for my castration and I had to stay there. Once I came back I was challenged to find a mainstream job, and after a long struggle I found a job in a rural bank. And only then I realized that I was the first Transwoman in India who worked in a mainstream job rather than working for NGOs.
Beyond this I wanted to work in theater but I realized that all my friends in theater were not sure how to handle a transwoman as an actress. That was when my autobiography was released and I became quite famous, so some film directors heard about me.

Interview with Merryn Witherspoon

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

Merryn: Hello Monika!

Monika: Could you say a few words about yourself?

Merryn: I’m not best known for only saying a few words Monika but I’ll try! I’m a middle-aged digital creative living in the lovely Cotswolds in South Gloucestershire, west England. Essentially I’ve been ‘T’ since I was three years of age but for a variety of personal reasons have tried to conform to society’s male expectations until very recently.

I’m now single again after losing my late partner eighteen months ago but have some wonderful family members in the UK and South Africa. My main non-work time is largely devoted to songwriting and live music and quite intensive cardio fitness sessions at my local gym.

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

Merryn: Partly as a ‘walking talking’ resource for my friends and family rather than the static photos I tend to circulate with every ‘coming out ‘ email! – and partly for my own cathartic and vanity reasons I guess I wanted to try and explain thing in a more conversational, human way than merely words on paper.

Interview with Donna Rose

Monika: Today it is my pleasure and honor to interview Donna Rose with whom I would like to discuss the role of transgender women in US politics, culture, and society. Donna is an athlete, a writer and educator, and a well-known LGBT advocate and activist. Her 2003 memoir “Wrapped in Blue” continues to educate and inspire. She is the former Executive Director of the LGBT Community Center Coalition of Central Pennsylvania, and a board member for the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), and the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce (NGLCC). Hello Donna!

Donna: Hi Monika. I appreciate the opportunity to chat with you today.

Monika: Could you say a few words about your career so far?

Donna: I’m not sure what career you’re asking about. In my “real” career I’m an IT consultant and have been working with Fortune 500 and DoD clients for the better part of the last 35 years. That’s my “career” – it pays my bills, it’s my profession, it’s where I spend half of my time.

Interview with Dana Zircher

Monika: Today it is my pleasure and honor to interview Dana Zircher, an American software design engineer, and actress. Hello Dana!

Dana: Hi Monika, first and foremost I’d like to thank you for asking me to participate in this interview. I’m really impressed with the collection of interviews and information that you’ve accumulated for your website. I think it’s a great asset to our community. Thank you so much for pulling it together. It must be a labor of love!

Monika: Could you say a few words about your career so far?

Dana: I’ve been really fortunate with my professional career, I was always a bit of a techy nerd and decided to pursue a career in electronics. The software was more or less a natural fit and I have been writing software professionally for about 20 years.

I’ve had the pleasure of working on products like Lotus Notes, Groove Workspace, Microsoft Office, SharePoint, and even Windows. It’s been a wonderfully challenging and rewarding career so far and I’ve had the opportunity to work with and learn from so many brilliant industry leaders.

I also love performing, it offers me rewards that are hard to quantify with words. When I was younger, I played different instruments with several local bands, studied music theory in college, and was even fortunate enough to work with some regional roads acts for a short while.

It was always important to me to keep my love of performance as much a part of my day-to-day as possible, that’s not always so simple when you’re working on enterprise software products.