Interview with Farah Zeiner

Monika: Today it is my pleasure and honor to interview Farah Zeiner, a German transgender activist, journalist, the founder of the YouTube vlog titled “Menschen dieser Erde”. Hello Farah!

Farah: Hello Monika!

Monika: Could you say a few words about yourself?

Farah: Hello, my name is Farah Zeiner. I studied social work, and I am a transgendered woman that advocates and promotes human rights, especially for transgender people in our society and around the world. I am living in South Germany at Lake Constance.

Monika: What inspired you to create a vlog where you place your interviews with transgender role models?

Farah: The inspiration to do interviews with transgender people came just naturally. Together with Michaela Werner, a good friend of mine and also a transgendered woman, we started making videos in our area, just for fun. So we developed the idea of doing interviews with transgender people. It was all going step by step; we found a brave transgender woman who gave us the first interview. After that interview, we got a huge fan base and more transgender people were able and brave enough to do interviews with our team.

Interview with Katie Sprinkle

Monika: Today it is my pleasure and honor to interview Katie Sprinkle, an American lawyer, former public defender, the founder of the Law Office of Katie Sprinkle. Hello Katie! 

Katie: Thank you for having me.

Monika: You can boast over 20 years of legal experience. Could you say a few words about your professional career?

Katie: I began my career in the private sector working for a couple of different law firms. I did that for about three years before starting to work for the Dallas County Public Defender’s Office. I was an assistant public defender in Dallas County for 14 years. I left Dallas County in 2011 to go to Burnet County to help set up and start a brand new Public Defender Office. I left Burnet County in the summer of 2013 to start my own practice. I had originally planned to start my own practice a couple of years ago but delayed doing so in order to complete my transition.

Monika: A year ago you opened your own firm Law Office of Katie Sprinkle. What services do your office provide?

Katie: I handle criminal defense cases, name and gender marker changes, wills and probate, and some family law.

Interview with Renee Reyes

Monika: Today it is my pleasure and honor to interview Renee Reyes, a successful American transsexual entrepreneur. She invented a product for cleaning “dry clean only” clothes at home in a household clothing dryer and holds eleven patents in this regard. She recently sold the enterprise that manufactured and distributed her product and now lives in Atlanta, GA. Hello Renee!

Renee: Hiya Monika! It’s a pleasure to catch up. Want to congratulate your progress and success by sharing the lives of accomplished trans-women from around the world. Know its lots of hard work and offers little reward. You’re making a difference: good for you!

Monika: You look fantastic, Renee. What is the secret of your beauty?

Renee: I’m now 52 – thus looking “fantastic” is not something that happens every day. Had my share of surgeries: FFS, breast & buttocks augmentation, and a bit of maintenance along the way. Some transgender women were naturals – ideally suited for a change of gender. I wasn’t. I suppose not being naturally pretty was an asset in some respects – I never quit trying to improve.

Interview with Madi Madsen

Monika: Today it is my pleasure and honor to interview Madi Madeleine Kruse Madsen, a Danish transgender activist, and owner of a beauty parlor. Hello Madi!

Madi: Hi Monika – thank you for inviting me to do this interview.

Monika: Could you say a few words about yourself?

Madi: I am 55 years old now, and I spend the first 50 years of my life living as a man – even though I have always known that I would prefer to be a woman. So I have spent the last 5 years transitioning from man to woman.

Monika: You are the owner of a beauty parlor. Which special treatments do you offer to your customers?

Madi: We actually have two beauty parlors – and we do a total of 40 - 50 treatments for customers each day. I have been working with this for about a year now, and I have expanded the business from one small shop doing about 5 treatments every day to where we are now – 10 times as large.

We mainly offer 3 types of treatments – normal facial treatment, massages, and slimming treatment with Lipo Laser and Cavitation equipment.

Interview with Kristin Beck

Monika: Today it is my pleasure and honor to interview Kristin Beck, aka Lady Valor, a retired United States Navy SEAL, recipient of multiple military awards, and author and recent actress as well as other endeavors that we shall hear about shortly. Hello Kristin!

Kristin: Hi Monika and Monika's fans. I am very happy to have some time with you and share some of my recent happenings here in Washington DC.

Monika: Your coming out generated a lot of interest from the media. Were you satisfied with the way the media covered your story?

Kristin: Overall the media has been very gracious concerning my story. The comments in social media however are quite another story. My lesson learned is “never read the commentary of a story.” Anderson Cooper was amazing and I am very happy with the entire media treatment from him and the entire production team at CNN.
A quick take on my story and the media is the following.

Interview with Jeri Hughes

Jeri Hughes is a transgender activist from the USA. Since her arrest for the “crime” of being transgender in 1983, Ms. Hughes has been an outspoken advocate for all Human Rights. Although the focus of her fight has centered around the struggles faced by the transgender community, she has extended her efforts to embrace the entire LGBT community.

Ms. Hughes was among the first to promote direct action within the DC community to expand the existing Domestic Partnership laws into full-blown Marriage Equality.

She actively participated in the fight to repeal DADT.

Ms. Hughes initiated and filed the complaint against the DC Department of Corrections with the Office of Human Rights, while simultaneously engaging the collective LGBT community to participate, resulting in a shift of DOC policy respecting the rights and dignity of transgender prisoners.