The way I see things is that, I think that transgender people are super brave. If you're a female to male, male to female, if you're that brave to take control of your own body and make it however you want it to be, more power to you.
— Carmen Carrera
When you transition, it's a long process. Some people are so, like, ignorant about it. They're like, 'Oh she's a girl tomorrow.' It's not like that. You have to literally, you take all this medication. It's really hard on your body.
But if you look at Victoria's Secret models, honestly, young girls don't necessarily look up to them for the healthiest reasons. It's more about the envy, the desire to look aesthetically best: it's an unattainable, elitist mindset.
I would hope that one day there will be a time when it's not so much about transgender, it's just people will just see us as women.
When it comes to beauty, I try to teach my step daughters to embrace themselves the way they are,and to have fun.
If I ever feel like I don't know what to do next, I always think about WWJD, like 'what would J-Lo do,' 'cause J-Lo for me is like the epitome of feminine sensuality, mixed with show stopping beauty.
I'm not Laverne Cox. I'm not Janet Mock... I'm just a girl from New Jersey who has experience and lived.
My family is very supportive, lucky for me.
I want to be respected as a woman, as a mother, as a wife. That's why I transition.
All you have to do is respect me. Use the right words. If you don't consider me a woman, then use trans woman. Whatever works for you. But don't try to use something that's a slur or something that's meant to degrade who we are.
I want to just be able to act and be like the girl next door or the cute babysitter or the busy mom who's fun or who knows, maybe something super dramatic, somebody who's really insecure and angry.
I always try to think about what I can do to let people know that I'm just like everyone else. I have two girls here at home I'm trying to raise. I'm trying to be a good stepmom. I'm trying to stay fit and be a good model and break ground in the acting world. I'm working that same struggle every other woman is trying to work.
I'm a show girl at heart.
I'll have men, or I'll have women say that I'll never be a woman because I don't menstruate, or because I'm not made up like Kim Kardashian. So in that sense, I use makeup for a little bit of confidence. But for the most part, day-to-day, I wear makeup if it feels good.
I would love to do more modeling. I would love to do anything really, mainstream, and help to create, I guess, a feeling of acceptance for people who are different and not look at them like they're freaks or whatever.
I don't know any lingerie brands that really embrace transgender women at all, to be honest.
It's important to have transgender representation because we represent the forthcoming generation, and their new perception on the standard of beauty - which I believe is being true to yourself, loving yourself and others.
If people can understand me and accept me as a woman, I'm going to get booked for more jobs.
I think that for a lot of people, I inspire them to be themselves.
Respectable transwomen were not as visible and very unclear in how they defined themselves. I had no one to look up to, pre-transition.
I don't dedicate my whole life to being a trans advocate. But I do believe that me, and how I represent myself and how I am honest and open to everybody, I do feel like I'm doing something for the trans community.
I want to inspire strength. I also want to inspire people to create their own happy reality.
I don't want to reclaim the word 'tranny.' I don't want anyone to refer to me as 'tranny.'
For me, I've tried to always live in the moment and I don't think that much about what is law, what is written down.
Couples Therapy' is pretty big for me because it's opening the door to a new audience - a hip-hop following, which I feel is a bit more judgmental toward the LGBT community.
In my early 20s, I set out to kind of find myself. At that time, if you were different or if you ever questioned your gender identity or sexual orientation, society kind of put you in the gay club.
Regardless of whether you're in a gay or heterosexual relationship, you're going to go through your ups and downs.
I wasn't a masculine kid; I was pretty effeminate.
Honestly, when I was a boy and I was out as a gay boy, I never really dealt with anyone bullying me or anything like that.
Growing up, I didn't really watch the Victoria's Secret fashion show too much. I really just saw folks who weren't real to me, so it didn't really interest me.
For me, I know I am a trans activist and I try my best to stand up when the time is right, but at the same time, I don't always want to be considered transgender around my friends and people at my daughter's school. I just want to be considered a woman.
I don't view myself as a 'trans actor' or a 'trans model.' I mean, I am - it's part of who I am - but it's not something that solely defines me.
I would say what's really interesting about me personally is that I've taken my transgender experience, and I've looked at it on the bright side, on the positive side.
My experience started in the gay nightlife/drag life. I was just as consumed in ignorance about what is offensive to transpeople because at that time I hadn't found myself. I was living as a drag performer only.
I know during my transition it was difficult for me to stop believing I would be stuck unhappy forever, but that's not true. Physical changes take a while but internal feelings of changing and finding your peace can take way longer.
I've always had a 'stand up for the people' type of personality.
And I come from a very proud Hispanic family. We're proud to be Latino. We're proud to be Peruvian. And my dad's side is proud to be Puerto Rican.
I like to jump around, and it takes a long time for people to catch up to me sometimes.
When I was a kid, I was really quiet.
As someone who's visible, I feel it's part of my responsibility to have a voice for trans people because the fight is not necessarily on television. The fight is every day.
I don't need to rely on my concealer to have a sense of myself. I should be able to go out without my concealer, without my makeup, and still be able to be joyful.
Being a voice for my community is something that I don't take lightly.
