Interview with Lea Amanda Svensson

Monika: Lea Amanda Svensson is my lovely guest today. She is a Swedish physician, biker girl, high heels lover, hobby photographer, and proud transgender woman who chronicles her transition on social media. Hello Lea! Thank you for accepting my invitation.

Lea: Thank you for your invitation, Monika! I apologize for the lack of my availability but I was extremely busy during the last month. Being a doctor and a single parent is not really easy. Time and energy meet each other rather seldom in my case.

Monika: No problem! Could you say a few words about yourself?

Lea: I am a 46-year-old trans woman coming from Russia, Saint-Petersburg. I moved to Sweden 6 years ago to work as a doctor in a little village in the southwest part of this beautiful country. I moved here to go through my transition also because Russia has never been a friendly place for trans people. It took extremely much time and energy to take me here, but I never had a single regret about it. I am finishing my education and soon I will be a specialist in general practice.

Interview with Gabriella Karlton

Monika: Today I have invited Gabriella Karlton. She is a Belgian model and proud transgender woman who shares her life moments on social media. Hello Gabriella! Thank you for accepting my invitation.

Gabriella: Hello, nice to be with you!

Monika: Could you say a few words about yourself?

Gabriella: Of course. As said previously, I am Belgian, I was born and have lived all my life in this small, somewhat complex country. I love cooking, exercising, and shopping. I'm also keen on art history and architecture... In the end, I think I'm a pretty ordinary woman.

Monika: What inspired you to share your intimate life moments on social media?

Gabriella: Initially my Instagram didn't look at all like the one you discovered. I signed up because a few friends told me it was funnier than Facebook and Snapchat where I posted very little. In fact, my family is on Facebook and was quite uncomfortable with the idea of showing so much of me.

After a few weeks, I took it for a game and it helped me externalize certain facets of myself. It is sometimes easier to have a screen between yourself and others.

Interview with Bernadette Wagenblast

Monika: Bernadette Wagenblast, also known as The Voice of the Subway, is an American transportation journalist, radio personality, and voice-over artist. She is the founder and editor of the Transportation Communications Newsletter and the voice of various transportation facilities in New York City, such as the AirTrain and the Subway. She was active in her college’s radio station, WSOU, where she served as the news director and station manager. She also appeared on several New York City radio stations over five years, including WINS and WABC. She later joined the New York City Department of Transportation, where she helped to establish the city’s first transportation communications center. Hello Bernadette! Thank you for accepting my invitation.

Bernadette: Thank you for the invitation, Monika!

Monika: Your voice is known to all the New Yorkers using the Subway. Is it easy to live with the voice that is so ubiquitous in New York?

Bernadette: I’m thankful for that voice. I’ve done more with it than I ever imagined and because of it I now have a platform to share my story. I hope by sharing my narrative more people will have a greater understanding of those of us who are trans. I’m putting a face to being trans for something that is part of many New Yorker’s daily lives.

Interview with Addie Danielle

Monika: Today I have invited Addie Danielle, a Canadian woman from Nova Scotia, who chronicles her transition on social media. Hello Addie! Thank you for accepting my invitation.

Addie: Thank you so much for the invitation! I’m honored to be able to share a bit of my journey with you.

Monika: Could you say a few words about yourself?

Addie: I’m a 33-year-old Trans woman from Atlantic Canada. I’m the General Manager of a boutique corporate audio-visual company that specializes in press conferences, live streams, internal meetings, etc. I’ve been working in the event production industry in some capacity for 12 years. I live alone in a quiet neighborhood outside the city with two crazy dogs and I spend my free time hiking, paddling, and restaurant/cafe hopping.

Interview with Alessandra Alferes

Monika: My lovely guest today is Alessandra Alferes, a transactivist, content creator, pianist, and mother of two children from São Paulo, Brazil. She is a screenwriter, producer, director, and editor of the TransSaber channel and presenter of the VídeoCast “Café Trans”. Hello Ale! Thank you for accepting my invitation.

Ale: Hello, Monika! Thank you for the opportunity!

Monika: You are a woman of many talents. Could you say a few words about yourself?

Ale: I am a musician, conductor at UNESP, and professor of Music, Languages, Public Speaking and Performance. I have a specialization in Teaching and another in Diversity and Inclusion in Organizations. I give lectures on the LGBTQIAPN+ agenda at universities and schools and participate in podcasts as a guest, in addition to producing my own podcast through the TransSaber Channel. I am also the "mama" of a 6-year-old boy and a 4-year-old girl.

Interview with Lucy Sante

Monika: Lucy Sante is a well-known Belgian-born American writer, critic, and artist. She is a frequent contributor to The New York Review of Books and the author of several books, including “Low Life: Lures and Snares of Old New York” (1991) and “The Other Paris” (2015). Until her retirement in 2023, she was also a professor of writing and the history of photography at Bard College. In 2024, she published her transition memoir “I Heard Her Call My Name: A Memoir of Transition”. Hello Lucy! Thank you for accepting my invitation.

Lucy: Thanks for inviting me! I’ve dipped into your blog many times over the past five or ten years, and it has helped me see the great variety of transgender experiences.

Monika: Thank you so much! I am always happy to help my sisters. You are a very prolific writer. What makes someone a good writer?

Lucy: Close attention to language and its nuances; a sense of adventure and exploration about writing itself, quite apart from the subject matter.