Hello, dear listener, before we start just letting you know that this story mentions suicide.

All right, take care.

And here we go.

So the thing that was missing was I am a woman.

And I've known this since I was a kid, but I've never allowed myself to accept this because

I had been told that I wasn't enough as a gay boy.

So to add another lens of a transition into that, into a strict Mexican family, into a hood upbringing,

I just had never given myself the opportunity to say it.

From Futuro Media and PRX, it's Latino USA.

I'm Maria Innojosa.

Today, becoming Paloma, a trans woman's journey of self-discovery

and the joy of embodying your true self.

Hi!

Do you have reservation with us? Yeah, my colleague is already here to

Senator. It's for Maria or doing my... Yeah, she's in the back. Okay, thank you. It's a late

afternoon in New York, and well, I don't really need any excuse to go out to a cute

restaurant in the city, especially when it's for work.

But tonight, I am out and about on the Upper West Side of Manhattan for a very special reason.

Thank you so much for coming tonight.

I have a very special guest with me, Miss Paloma Lamona. I'm going to be.

I came out to see a drag show because one of the performers is actually my former student at Arnard College, which is part of Columbia University.

Oh, I want to cry.

...