“Come as you are” blazes across her shirt as she strikes a playful, empowered pose. It’s all about acceptance Melissa says – a subject she understands more than most. Melissa was assigned as a male at birth.
“When I was in college, I walked with my head down looking at the concrete. Seeing women walk by was painful because I knew inside, I was really a woman.”
It wasn’t until graduating with top honors and working at Aetna in 2013 that a religious experience helped her start the transformation to live as Melissa.
“Aetna was really supportive during this time,” she explains. “If the company hadn’t been, I could have been fired. It happens to a lot of people when they come out.”
According to the UCLA School of Law Williams Institute, an estimated 1.4 million adults in the U.S. identify as transgender. That number may be much higher, but fear of discrimination and transphobia often keep people from revealing the gender they relate to.
“Transitioning is really a journey. Now, I’m truly integrated. I’m really living my true life,” says Melissa.
And that includes dedicating much of her free time to church activities, volunteerism with foundations such as Make-A-Wish and charitable giving. “Although I did lose a few friends because they couldn’t accept me, I’m extremely aware of the tremendous investment so many more people made in me and I want to pay that forward.”