“Growing up in New Jersey, I knew I was different. I remember praying in the fourth grade saying, ‘God, please make me a girl tomorrow.’ So, I worked hard to suppress myself. There was always so much going on in my head that I wasn’t able to show…  It was pretty much impossible to develop deep relationships. In a way, I spent so much time hiding that I never got to grow up. That’s why I’m still such a kid at heart — which is great, because I get to have fun, but there’s still so much work I need to do on myself.”

“When I decided to transition, I knew I wanted to make my experience public… I think that often, those of us who work in entertainment or live in a place like New York are in such a bubble that we forget how hard it is for trans people in middle America, or in other countries where different forms of beauty aren’t as accepted. I wanted to use my transition as an opportunity to show people that I acknowledge their struggle. But I also wanted to show them what can be possible… that you can be your true self and experience genuine joy.”

“Here I am, living this great life… doing groundbreaking work. So, it’s easy for me to think: Acceptance is here; marriage equality is here. But there are huge swathes of the world where people are afraid to leave their homes… afraid of being beaten of killed. That, unfortunately, includes much of Latin America. Take Brazil: A trans person is murdered there every four days and beaten every 10 minutes. I like to go to those places and do publicity tours that show people what trans really means — that teach my community to stand up and take responsibility. For many people, that just means showing them what’s possible.”