Angelica Ross

What I've learned about being trans in transition is just that sometimes good things don't happen when you try to rush things. Just as a young girl grows into a young woman, you know, we transition; we grow into our bodies the same way. ”

They were totally uplifting my work and gave me a platform, and now I have an ongoing relationship with the White House. We're working on some very, very, very big things for the trans community. ”

Often, if someone wants to date me because they know I'm trans, it's for specifically sexual reasons, and it doesn't ever lead to a relationship. ”

I have the drive to spend five hours a day to teach myself a skill. ”

Having a skill makes you undeniable. ”

I don't know that I had context for being trans until I moved to Rochester, New York, to pursue my dream of acting, and started going to drag shows. I had never seen a transsexual before, and I didn't yet fully understand my own identity. ”

What's hurtful is when you have portrayals like, you know, when you have someone like Jared Leto who accepts an award for 'Dallas Buyers Club,' after playing a trans woman, standing in a full beard and looking fully cis male: it is communicating to our audiences that underneath all of that, it's still a man under that. ”

I've always had big dreams and very little means. ”

I get by mostly on speaking engagements, but as soon as I try to pay myself, I end up having to give it back to the business to cover operating expenses or other unplanned costs. ”

You always have some trans girl saying, 'Oh, they were just being funny! They aren't really transphobic,' Just like you will always have some black folks defending some white person for using the 'N' word because they are 'cool.' ”