Interview with Kimberly Davis

Monika: Today I have the sheer pleasure of meeting Rebekah Kimberly Davis, the author of "Becoming Kimberly: A Transgender's Journey" (2021), a biographical book that covers different aspects of her transition. Hello Kimberly!

Kimberly: Hi Monika! Thank you for speaking with me today. It is a pleasure.

Monika: Could you say a few words about yourself?

Kimberly: I have always known something was different in me but being raised in the rural southern USA, I had to pretend to be someone else for most of my life. I was married twice and fathered three sons. My second marriage ended in 2016 with the death of my wife of 24 years. Her death freed me from a promise I made to her early in the marriage.

The first year Vikki and I were married, she discovered my girl clothes. The first thing on her mind was that I was having an affair. So, I made a full admission of my cross-dressing activities. Vikki, being an old hippie and survivor of the sexual revolution, did her level best to accept this and bring it out into our bedroom. She could not quite accept it.

Interview with Jessie McGrath

Monika: You do not like lawyers? Please do not go away because today I have invited a nice lawyer and an amazing woman. Jessie McGrath has been a prosecutor with the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office since 1988. Her areas of expertise include consumer protection, cyber-crime, narcotics, and juvenile law. She has been lead counsel or co-counsel in consumer protection cases against Apple, Uber, Sony BMG, Choice Point, Honda of Santa Monica, McKenna BMW, and Gunderson Chevrolet. In April 2002 she was named Deputy District Attorney of the Month. Ms. McGrath has served on the Board of Directors and was Executive Vice President of the Association of Deputy District Attorneys, the union representing the more than 900 rank and file prosecutors of the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office. She is the happy parent of five children, three of whom will be lawyers too. Hello Jessie!

Jessie: Hi Monika. Thank you so much for reaching out to me and asking me to participate in your amazing work.

Interview with Antonella Lerca Duda

Monika: Today we are going to Bucharest, the lovely capital city of Romania, where I am meeting Antonella Lerca Duda, a Romanian LGBTQI activist, author, and transgender woman that documents her transition on social media. Antonella is the first transwoman in Romania to have run for public office, dedicated to improving the social standing of women, sex workers, and the Roma community. Hello Antonella!

Antonella: Hello Monika!

Monika: Could you say a few words about yourself?

Antonella: I would like to greet all the readers of this fantastic blog. I am a Roma transwoman, the author of the book “Sex Work Is Work, O Poveste Transgen” (2020), and a human rights activist. I have been an activist for five years.

Having spent 11 years in Italy, I could see that trans women are not represented in Romania, so I decided to come back to my home country and fight for the rights of my trans sisters and brothers. Since then I have been trying to be visible and vocal everywhere in Romania, supporting the transgender Roma community and sex workers.

Interview with Lily Gist

Monika: Frida Kill is a Brooklyn-based intersectional feminist punk band. It consists of Lily Gist, Jeanette D. Moses, Maria Lina, and Gaby Canales. And today I am meeting Lily Gist to talk about her inspirations, being a trans artist, and her artistic perception of the world.

Hello Lily! You are a perfect example that punk rock is not dead!

Lily: Hi Monika! So are you, I just play loud music.

Monika: I always associate punk music with authenticity and equality. Is it difficult to achieve this with four strong-minded, charismatic ladies with different backgrounds and experiences?

Lily: We’re very different people from very different backgrounds. The other three don’t know what it’s like to be trans and I don’t know what it’s like to be Black, Hispanic, Jewish, from an immigrant family, or to have a pastor for a father. We all lead and support, fill multiple roles, different songs have different singers and we swap instruments often. Navigating each other’s differences can be complex work sometimes but we all have each other’s backs 100% and even when we argue or push each other’s buttons we listen and learn.

Interview with Emily Green

Monika: The city of Glasgow is our next destination today where my guest lives. Emily Green is a Scottish transgender woman and blogger that documents her transition on social media. Hello Emily!

Emily: Hiya Monika thank you for having me!

Monika: Could you say a few words about yourself?

Emily: I'm 37 and I am a civil servant by job. I'm a massive wrestling fan and enjoy being a foodie and a small-batch coffee geek. I dabble with the odd ice hockey game and enjoy six nations rugby. I also blog about craft beers as Glasgow Beer Girl.

Monika: When I visit the UK, I usually drink Caffrey's, my favourite one, which is not a craft beer but still palatable to me. What is your favourite one?

Emily: I have a soft spot for the German lager Augustiner Helles. I love IPAs, stouts, and porters.

Interview with Mary Ann Horton

Monika: Today I have the pleasure of talking to Mary Ann Horton, PhD, an American transgender activist, computer systems architect, Internet pioneer, entrepreneur, author, and speaker. In 1997, she persuaded Lucent Technologies to become the first Fortune 500 company to add transgender-inclusive language to its nondiscrimination policy, and to add coverage for transition care and surgery. Her work, which was soon replicated at Apple and Avaya, led Out & Equal Workplace Associates to present her with the 2001 Trailblazer Outie Award (since renamed the LGBT Corporate Advocate of the Year).

Mary Ann founded several transgender social and activist groups. She conducted a research study that proved the addition of transgender medical coverage would cost companies virtually nothing. She has been featured in the Daily Beast, Out Magazine, Google Arts and Culture, Salon, Diversity Factor, SHRM, L-Mag, Nokia, Faces of Open Source, and Out TV. Hello Mary Ann!

Mary Ann: Hi, Monika. Thanks for inviting me.

Monika: You give a lot of interviews. What is the most frequent question related to your professional career or transition that you are usually asked and you are already fed up with?

Mary Ann: You know, I get a lot of great questions, but none of them really annoy me. One of the most challenging questions is “Are you treated worse professionally as a woman than you were as a man?” After all, many professional women are talked down to, looked over for promotion, or asked to make coffee.