Interview with Alysha Scarlett

Monika: Today I have invited Alysha Scarlett. Alysha has won 13 writing awards, is an American business owner, wrote a book, and was a screenwriter for a theatrical film. She is the first transgender or non-binary person to get their name and gender legally affirmed in a rural Utah county. Hello Alysha!

Alysha: Hi Monika! Thank you for having me on The Heroines of My Life!

Monika: Could you say a few words about yourself?

Alysha: I am 33 years old and from Utah. Accepting myself closes the book on a years-long journey to realize my identity. My accepting myself had a direct connection with me not letting residue from the Latter-day Saint (formerly Mormon) church influence me any longer. I am on hormone replacement therapy. I also look forward to doing all medical transition surgeries this year.

Monika: I have visited the website of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I have been shocked by their attitude toward transgender people. In short, they do not allow medical, surgical, or social transition among their believers, and they specify that “taking these actions will be cause for Church membership restrictions.”

Alysha: This is one of many, many ways that the church doesn’t deserve to have “Jesus Christ” in its name.

Interview with Mariette Pathy Allen

Monika: Today’s guest is not a transgender woman but for the last 45 years she has been one of the biggest allies of our community and is often referred to as the official photographer of the transgender community.

Mariette Pathy Allen is a well-known photographer for transgender, genderfluid, and intersex people. Through her artistic practice, she has been a pioneering force in gender consciousness, contributing to numerous cultural and academic publications about gender variance and lecturing throughout the globe.

She published five books, "Transformations: Crossdressers and Those Who Love Them" (1989), "Masked Culture: The Greenwich Village Halloween Parade" (1994) - she was one of five photographers, "The Gender Frontier" (2004), "TransCuba" (2014) and "Transcendents: Spirit Mediums in Burma and Thailand" (2017). Her photographs have been exhibited internationally and they are available in many public and private collections. She is represented by Clamp NYC.

Hello Mariette! I am so happy that you have accepted my invitation!

Mariette: Hello Monika, thanks for having me.

Monika: Did your parents always support your interest in painting and photography?

Mariette: Visual art was my strong suit from the beginning. When I went to school, I would disappear into the art studio as often as possible, sometimes missing math class! My family was in favor of my painting and I had an aunt who was an artist who was very important to me.

Interview with Nathalie Rettenbacher

Monika: Vienna, the beautiful capital of Austria, is the venue of today’s meeting with Nathalie Rettenbacher, an inspirational Austrian woman, comedian, and performer. Nathalie is a member of "Politically Correct Comedy Club" (PCCC*), Vienna's first queer comedy club, where she addresses her experiences as a trans woman in Austria. Hello Nathalie!

Nathalie: Hi Monika, what an honour to be part of your project and your blog. I think it is vitally important to gather and share positive stories about trans women. Thank you for doing that.

Monika: By the way, I love your orange hair. Is it your favourite colour?

Nathalie: Thank you so much! Orange has been my favourite colour for a long time I guess. I started dyeing my hair in that colour a few years ago and never looked back.

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.