Janet Mock Quotes
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I came out, as not enough of our stories are told from our perspective. 'Marie Claire' was offering the chance to be a part of a women's magazine, which often celebrates ordinary women doing extraordinary things.
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I was a mixed black girl existing in a westernized Hawaiian culture where petite Asian women were the ideal, in a white culture where black women were furthest from the standard of beauty, in an American culture where trans women of color were invisible.
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I get invited to a lot of college campuses, and administrators think it's going to be a lecture on 'trans-ness' or whatever. But when young people get there, their questions are about just life.
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Women are so policed and devalued and dehumanized when it comes to the work they do.
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One musical that deeply influenced me - and continues to do so - is the 1997 ABC TV movie of Rodgers and Hammerstein's 'Cinderella,' starring Brandy, with Whitney Houston as the Fairy Godmother and Whoopi Goldberg as the prince's mom.
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I would advise any 17-year-old to surround yourself with people who listen to you, nod when you speak, and smile when you enter spaces.
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I spent my life navigating systems built upon me - a black child in America - not making it out.
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Our differences are what make us great. Let us think about how we can extend this appreciation to people of color, undocumented immigrants, and other members of the community.
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I know intimately the struggle of trying to live your life and be yourself while feeling the pressure of an entire community on your shoulders.
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My parents split before my fifth birthday, and I moved with Mom and my three siblings to her native Oahu.
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We need space to discuss unspoken, uncomfortable dark truths.
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I grew up at a time in Hawaii where there were trans women around, so there were visible role models for me. At the same time, as a low-income trans girl of color, there were so many things that I didn't have access to. I didn't have access to a great education. I didn't have access to affordable healthcare.
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My personal style really started in my teens when I gained purchasing power to actually buy my own damn clothes. For so long, my parents dictated what I wore, which largely was their way of containing me within the gender binary.
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On my road to self-discovery, only certain terms were available - I didn't use 'trans' or 'transgender' until junior high school, but I was living as trans much earlier.
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I'm an island girl, so I love super bronzy skin!
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My body, my clothes, and my makeup are on purpose, just as I am on purpose.
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We must resist the pressures of others to soundbite our complicated, nuanced experiences.
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When you hear anyone policing the bodies of trans women, misgendering and othering us, and violently exiling us from spaces, you should not dismiss it as a trans issue that trans women should speak out against. You should be engaged in the dialogue, discourse, and activism that challenges the very fibers of your movement.
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I think about Ellen DeGeneres, seeing her every single day on a show. Her identity is there every day, but what leads the way is her talent and how much you like her.
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I knew very early on that I was not pretty. No one ever called me pretty. It was not the go-to adjective people used to describe me.
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The transgender community has always been a part of Hawaiian society, where people who don't conform to the binary system of man/woman, masculine/feminine are accepted or, at minimum, tolerated.
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If I'm watching 'The Real Housewives of Atlanta,' there's a part of that that's just escapism. I'm not watching it with a political lens, but there is a part of me that certain things trigger and pull up, where I'm like, 'Oh, that was really problematic.'
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When marginalized people gain voice and center their own experiences, things begin changing. And we see this in all kinds of grassroots movements.
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I hope being honest about my experiences and contextualizing them empowers young women to step into their truths, tell their own stories, and live visibly.