Interview with Kimberly Luciana Dias

Monika: Today it is my pleasure and honour to interview Kimberly Luciana Dias, a Brazilian transgender activist, artist, beauty pageant queen, blogger, and creator of “Mundo T-Girl – Travestis e Transexuais”. Hello Kimberly!

Kimberly: Monika, please bear in mind that I am trying to use the social network of my country to spread the visibility of our trans community, especially Brazilian transvestites and transsexuals. I love doing this, so it is a great pleasure when I'm in front of my computer, building a virtual policy and manifesto, trying to use everything I have learned in my life through activism, stage, model catwalk, and my experience as a transgender woman. I am doing this just to show our vision, glamour, and beauty because our community deserves it!

Monika: Could you say a few words about yourself?
Kimberly: I am a very accomplished person; I have all my dreams come true, but not all of them. It has taken me a lot of years but although I have a very serious look, I'm a very humorous person. I like my independence and I have a few friends, I love my family and my life story, and I really like my solitude that makes me feel good to be alone!

Interview with Petra De Sutter

Monika: Today it is my pleasure and honour to interview Petra De Sutter, a Belgian gynecologist, academic, senator, Professor and Head of the Reproductive Medicine Department at Ghent University, Executive of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE), a member of the Royal Belgian Academy of Medicine, a former member of the Belgian High Health Council and of the French Biomedical Agency, author of over 300 journal articles. Hello Petra!

Petra: Hi Monika!

Monika: What did you feel when in July 2014 it was announced that you were appointed to the Belgian Senate as a Green Party nomination?

Petra: I was very happy and proud. I hope I can contribute to a more equal and just society, and although the Green Party is a small party (just under 10%), we can influence things and make our world greener, more sustainable and also more equitable.

Interview with Ahya “Yah-Yah“ Nicole

Monika: Today it is my pleasure and honour to interview Ahya “Yah-Yah“ Simone, a young woman of many talents from Detroit, model, aspiring make-up artist and harpist. Hello Yah-Yah!

Ahya: Hi! Let me first say that I am so happy that you found me interesting enough to interview. Thank you!

Monika: You were featured in the Barney’s “Brothers, Sisters, Sons & Daughters Campaign” which was targeted towards bringing trans positive awareness within fashion. There are more and more transgender models that are successful in the fashion business…

Yah-Yah: Yes!! And I am so excited for that. Visibility and diversity is very important. It’s time for a breakthrough for trans people in the US. It is time to stand up and be recognized.

Interview with Jennifer Lydon

Monika: Today it is my pleasure and honor to interview Jennifer (Bryant) Lydon, a senior account executive at Metro US — a free daily newspaper popular in New York, Philadelphia and Boston; She is also the organizer of the Mid-Atlantic Transgender Community (M.A.T.C.) as well as the hostess of The Raven TG pride events in New Hope, PA. Hello Jennifer!

Jennifer: Hi Monika. Thank you so much for allowing me part of your site. It is an honor to be amongst so many inspirational people.

Monika: Could you say a few words about yourself?
Jennifer: Questions like this are always tough for me… I either say too much or have nothing to say… lol … Anyway, here goes… I am a 48 year old trans-woman that has successfully navigated one life into another. I was married for almost 20 years and have 4 adult children that are still very much a part of my life.
I work as an account executive for Metro News Media. I’ve been there for over 14 years… the first 13 of which I worked as a mild mannered male… lol. Times have changed for sure!

Interview with Naomi Ceder

Monika: Today it is my pleasure and honour to interview Naomi Ceder, an American Python language programmer, blogger, transgender activist, lead software architect and developer at Razor Occam, former IT Director and Python developer at Zoro Tools, Fellow of the Python Software Foundation, and the author of The Quick Python Book. Hello Naomi!

Naomi: Hi Monika! Thanks for interviewing me!

Monika: Could you say a few words about yourself?

Naomi: As my intro says, I’m a Python developer and systems architect. I’m currently working in London and Düsseldorf, which has been a lot of fun. 

Monika: Being a Python guru, how would you explain the importance of this programming language to persons that are not IT experts?

Naomi: I doubt I’m a guru, although most people who know me would probably say I’ve always been a teacher. Python is a very powerful and readable language that is also fairly easy to learn. It’s also a high level language, meaning you can get more done with less code. All of that makes it enormously useful in all sorts of areas – web applications, big data, scientific computing, day-to-day administration, etc. It continues to grow in popularity; for example, it’s one of the top languages at Google.

Interview with Jessica Vorster

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

Jessica: Hi Monika! Thanks for inviting me to do this interview!

Monika: Could you say a few words about yourself?

Jessica: I’m a transgender woman, 22 years of age. I’m just trying to find my place on this world. I’ve been living full time since December 2013 and have been on HRT for a year and 10 moths now. I’m a happy go lucky kind of person that likes to talk and help people. 

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

Jessica: At first I wanted to raise money in order to go for surgeries, but people wanted to hear the story behind the story so I have been working on a few new videos that will be up on YouTube soon.