Every month a Cool Trans Girl is chosen to highlight excellence within the trans community. These are girls who inspire us to live up to our fullest potential. Girls who fight for their dreams, girls who’s strength encourages us to persevere, and who’s self love radiates from within.
Our first CTG of the Month is a *and I cannot emphasize this enough* HIGHLY accomplished theater and film producer, talent manager, and queer rights advocate.
As a documentary film producer, she is the first transgender woman accepted in the Through Her Lens: The Tribeca Chanel Filmmaker Program.
She is also currently sitting on the boards for the Ali Forney Center, the Leslie Lohman Museum of Art, and the Callen-Lorde Community Health Center.
And her largest accomplishment to date was just announced in a recent press release.
CTG Giselle is now is the Executive Director of the The Theater Offensive in Boston MA. Making her the first black trans woman to lead a regional theater company in the United States!
So without further ado, I am so honored to announce our first ever CTG of the Month…
Miss January 2024: CTG Giselle Kristina Byrd
An Interview with Miss January 2024
I had the pleasure of meeting Giselle just over a year ago at a fundraiser dinner for Callen Lorde, since then we’ve hearted each others content on social media and reminded each other how gorgeous we are after posting cute selfies (solidarity).
Really Giselle has inspired me in so many ways and I know she will inspire you too. Her tenacity in her career is admirable and her ability to always look flawless is just part of her DNA. I feel so honored to have her here representing the first Cool Trans Girl of the Month.
Just a couple weeks ago I hopped on a call with Giselle, she had just made the big move to Boston where she would be taking up her new position as Executive Director at the Theater Offensive.
Her mama had come to visit her in her new city and Giselle at home in an already decorated apartment is making a pineapple upside down cake. Jealous. She pops the cake in the oven tells her mama that she’ll be on the phone for a while and thus our interview begins…
A: What are your big 3 in astrology?
G: Oh god… I’m not sure. I know I’m a Gemini for sure… and I play well with Pisces, Aries, Leo, and Scorpio.
A: What gives you purpose when you wake up in the morning?
G: Knowing that I’m able to pour back into my community what was been poured into me. Giving trans people the tools and resources to live in abundance and prosperity in a way that our community has typically been stripped of.
If I’m sitting here and I have resources available to me and I see that my community needs them, how could I not provide them access by opening those doors and creating pathways for us?
A: Your favorite resource that has helped you navigate your transition?
Okay you know I’m gonna say there are two, Callen-Lorde Community Health Center which gave me healthcare regardless if I had the money to pay for it as a trans woman was so vital.
But you know my greatest resource I would say was my mind, and it still is my mind. And I say that because I can decide what’s right for me and what’s wrong. I know my limits, I know where to push myself further or where I need to give myself grace.
Because not only with transition are we changing physically, we’re changing emotionally. There’s a lot of inner turmoil that’s being stripped of us because we’re finding affirmation whether that be in a medical sense or just going through major life changes.
I think it’s all about the mindset that allows for growth. Having an open mind is the greatest resource just because that open mind allows you to embrace all the changes that are happening. Just on this journey towards our greatest self or a greater sense of self.
And if you are clogging your mind with, “This isn’t how it’s supposed to be”… that can affect you. So those are my two.
A: Do you have a favorite salty craving? Or are you more of a sweets girl?
G: Ooh I’m a plain lays potato chips girl until the end, my mama is one and so am I.
A: Oh god now I want nothing more than a diet coke, a sandwich, and some lays potato chips.
G: You know I would go one step further and say a turkey sandwich specifically…
A: Oh yeah I don’t want ham, gross
G: You know there was a week where I wanted nothing more than turkey sandwiches and ramen (very specific with the crispy chicken cutlet, extra scallions, and a little heat), and my mama said, “If I didn’t know any better I’d think you were pregnant.”
A: Omg no the HRT Cravings get out of control, I’ve been really into chex mix these last few days. And over the last few months I’ve been obsessed with chocolate.
G: I feel you on the chex mix, with the cheddar one specifically. And also those pretzel chips.. But the buffalo ones
A: Omfg stop, I have a weakness for anything covered in orange dust it’s so sad
A: Okay okay, what has been the most surprising self discovery during your transition?
G: I would say the most surprising self discovery is that I’m so much stronger than I thought I was. A transition is not easy by any means. And I think social media can make it look like one day we wake up and then it’s like BAM now we’re here!
To endure the verbal negativity, the fetishization, the pain from doing anything medically. I used to feel like I couldn’t handle a lot. But if anything, my transition has taught me that I have so much resilience in a way I did not possess as a gay man. I mean no shade to my past life, but… isn’t growth beautiful?
I found my resilience because I knew I had to wake up every day in my truth and make that happen for myself because I had no other choice.
A: Things are coming at you from so many different angles. Like you have the social transition, especially when you’re just starting your transition and people are treating you like shit.
And then you start getting attention from men and the fetishization happens and all the weird shit that comes with that territory.
And then you have trans misogyny where you’re being treated as a woman in society but somehow worse.
G: And with transmisogyny there’s this attitude that we’re supposed to be so grateful for male attention.
A: Omg literally, men come up to us like they’re God’s gift!
G: Meanwhile you’re like the biggest bum!
A: Like men really think we have nothing better to do.
G: And then you deny them and they say things like, “Well you’re nothing but a man anyways.”
A: I mean it’s like the equivalent of when you reject a guy and he’s like, “Oh you’re a bitch anyways.”
G: And then with dating apps like tinder, the dudes that are like, “Oh I didn’t read your profile.” Meanwhile I’m like, “Sweetie, it says it right there. There’s no way you really missed it.”
And then they’re like, “Well you know I’ve been curious about it.” And I’m like, “Well sweetie you can go be curious with someone else.”
And I mean when you’re first transitioning, the attention, it can be exciting, and then you realize it’s not genuine interest, its fetishization and those connections are nothing but an attempt to become very transactional.
A: Okay next question, what advice would you give to cool trans girls just starting their transition?
G: This transition is for YOU. Not for anyone else. People who know nothing about you will weigh in on what they think YOUR process should be. You know your heart, you know what you want. Steer the course and follow your heart. That’s really it.
A: Okay what is a product you think all trans women should know about?
G: I would say I have three. Sunscreen. Take care of your skin. TAKE CARE OF YOUR SKIN! It’s always on my skin before makeup. And then the other is urban decay all nighter setting spray. It lasts 16 hours, it’s not even a joke. And then the third is a good cleanser.
But the sunscreen is the MOST important.
Shop Giselle’s Favorites
A: Do you have a self care ritual? If so, what is it like?
G: My ritual is always making dinner for myself because I think nourishing yourself is one of the things we forget to do.
But also, this is something I do that’s even more important, drinking my 8 glasses of water. I bought the jug that has the time tracker.
And you know we need to drink more water especially being on these meds, and some are diuretics, we are flushing out a lot so we really need to be constantly drinking fluids. Drinking water. Not to be confused with other fluids cause girl, you need WATER.
A: What is a way you think cis people can be better allies to the trans community?
G: When you see an injustice, speak up for it.
A: Period
A: Christina or Britney?
G: *thinking for ten seconds* Okay I’ve gotta say Britney because of her metamorphosis specifically.
I feel like I’ve always related to her because for much of her life she did not have control of who she got to be and now she’s in this freedom and self liberation so I connect with her a lot.
And I mean I feel a lot of people would say Christina because of Beautiful and that’s like a queer anthem. And that’s cool.
But for me it’s Britney, like I think about Overprotected a lot as a little mini trans anthem for myself.
A:Your favorite bag in your collection?
G: I would say the blue and white Lady Dior
A: That’s cunt
A: Okay heels or flats?
G: *blank stare* Okay how dare you? It’s heels.
A: Like what’s a flat shoe?
G: Even my sneakers have like a wedge
A: Any projects you’re working on at the moment? Anything exciting coming up in the future?
G: I mean I’m sorry to tease but I’m working on many projects at this time in a new role but more will be coming out very soon. Like very very soon.
A: Any Cool Trans Girls you’re obsessed with at the moment?
G: I mean aside from you… Raquel Willis and Aria Sa’id
A: Clean cut or bad boys?
G: Both.
A: Who are your muses? You’re favorite icons?
G: Lady Chablis, Tracey Africa Norman, and Sandra Caldwell
A: Do you have any advice for dealing with gender dysphoria?
G: You know, I don’t know if this will help others, but for me, I just had to always provide a reminder to myself that I’ve taken the steps to liberate myself. And that can’t ever be stripped of me. And with each day that passes on this journey I’m getting one step closer to that full liberation.
A: Any advice for cool trans girls who are trying to build a life for themselves? That are challenging the narrative that society has written for us.
G: I just say all of your dreams are attainable, all of those feelings and things that you want are valid. Because you deserve EVERYTHING. We are entitled to it.
I think a lot of people look at trans folks, especially trans women and think that we should only be given a little to go a long way. And that’s not the case, we are entitled to be loved, we are entitled to make money, we are entitled to build a family, we are entitled to food access and housing.
Whatever your dream, know it’s attainable. And don’t let anyone who’s in your corner try to tell you otherwise because those aren’t people who are actually in your corner. Those are people who are afraid that once you peak, you’ll surpass them. And it’s okay if you do, it’s great if you do.
Giselle has her cake and eats it too…
And with the closing of our interview, the timer goes off and Giselle takes her golden pineapple upside down cake out of the oven. I swear I can smell it through Facetime. Her family begins to migrate to the kitchen. On that note both of us our hungry and we say talk soon.
Thank you for your time Giselle and also I haven’t been able to shake the pineapple upside down cake craving since lmao.
Xoxo
CTG Aria
