Interview with Allison Woolbert

Monika: Today it is my pleasure and honor to interview Allison Woolbert, a transgender activist from the USA, Air Force veteran, founder of The Transgender Violence Tracking Portal - a database to track crimes targeting transgender people, and the Executive Director of the Transgender Human Rights Institute. Hello Allison!

Allison: Hi Monika- First, thank you so much for selecting me for being a heroine. It is truly an honor to be able to do an interview with you.

Monika: Could you say a few words about yourself?
Allison: Well, I grew up in Silver Bell, Arizona, a remote copper mining community (now a ghost town) where I never quite fit in. I ended up in the Air Force where I absolutely didn’t fit in, and in 2008, I began the process of transition. I finally feel whole as a person, and feel that I truly fit into myself. I’m the CEO of Phoenix Consultants Group, a software development company. I’m also the Founder of the Transgender Violence Tracking Portal and the new Executive Director of the Transgender Human Rights Institute.

Interview with Gia Versace

Monika: Today it is my pleasure and honor to interview Gia Versace, an American entertainer and beauty pageant queen. Hello Gia!

Gia: Aloha Monika!

Monika: Could you say a few words about yourself?

Gia: Sure, I was born and raised on the windward side of Oahu in a city called Kaneohe, Hawaii.

Monika: When did you decide that you would like to be a stage artist?

Gia: My fascination with the stage began when I took a drama class in high school and it became really clear that I wanted to be a showgirl when I saw my first drag show in a night club called Venus.

Monika: Could you name some of the venues and shows in which you participated?

Gia: I have done shows and many fundraisers and night clubs such as Venus, which is now called Bar 7, and I am currently a showgirl at Fusions Waikiki (home of the two longest-running female impersonation shows in Hawaii).

Interview with Lora G

Monika: Today it is my pleasure and honor to interview Lora G, a Hollywood, California - based composer, guitarist, and keyboardist, co-founder of Lunden Reign. Hello Lora G!

Lora G: Hi Monika, thank you for reaching out to me.

Monika: When did you decide that music would be your way of life?

Lora G: I started performing at the age of 13 in Orange County, California. By 16 I started performing on the Sunset Strip scene in Hollywood. The amazing Matt Sorum (Velvet Revolver, Guns N’ Roses, The Cult) was my drummer in high school. By 18, I had the luck to be involved in finding guitar sounds for Stevie Wonder’s album “Secret Life of Plants.”

However, at 19 I left music to go to college. I didn’t return to music until after an amazing Emmy-winning career in television and radio including working for Disney for over 14 years. I returned to music about 7 years ago after realizing how much I missed it.

Interview with Helen Belcher

Monika: Today it is my pleasure and honour to interview Helen Belcher, a British trans rights campaigner, member of the UK Parliamentary Forum on Gender Identity, and one of the founders of Trans Media Watch, software developer, and businesswoman. Hello Helen!

Helen: Hi Monika!

Monika: Could you say a few words about yourself?
Helen: It depends on what you want to know. I’ve just turned 50, I’m happily married with two fantastic children who are in their teens, I’ve been a computer geek since my teens, and have run my own company for the past 10 years selling software that I’ve written.
I sing in a good local choir, I’m a school governor, and I campaign on trans rights. It could all sound incredibly glamorous, but there is a lot of hard work and, generally, I think I’m incredibly boring! It’s just that I’ve had the good fortune to be in some of the right places at some of the right times.

Interview with Kristine Holt

Monika: Today it is my pleasure and honor to interview Kristine Holt, a transgender activist from the USA, speaker, author, lawyer, graduate of Temple University School of Law, a former judicial clerk at the Superior Court of Pennsylvania, successful litigant in civil-rights cases. Hello Kristine!

Kristine: Hello!

Monika: Could you say a few words about yourself?

Kristine: Sure. I’m a parent, a grandparent, a spouse, an attorney, and a musician. I lean far-left on most political and social issues – a throw-back radical hippy freak, if you will. I transitioned in 1992 when there were just enough of us out and about to make people uncomfortable. I’ve had a fun and sometimes frightening life, and I hope to be around for a while longer.

Interview with Jessica Bussert

Monika: Today it is my pleasure and honor to interview Jessica Bussert, an American emergency room nurse, firefighter, professional photographer, inventor, and former IT professional. Hello Jessica!

Jessica: Hi Monika! Sorry for taking so long in getting this together. I've recently had a few major surgeries and have been laid-up with recovery.

Monika: Could you say a few words about yourself?

Jessica: "A few words about myself" *grins*.

Monika: It has been almost 10 years since you were demoted from your senior IT job at Hitachi Data Systems after you started your transition. Are you still bitter about it? 

Jessica: Well, just to set the record straight, the company claimed that I was not demoted. It was their assertion that everyone else had been promoted above me. Yeah... Right... Am I bitter? Yeah, a little bit when I'm having a bad day. That said, I try to focus on the positives instead of dwelling on the negatives. If things hadn't turned out the way they did then I would have never discovered nursing. And I -love- being an ER nurse!