Ted Audio Collective.

Audio Collective.

Hi, I'm Elise Hugh.

You're listening to TED Talks Daily, and today we are introducing a new series our summer book club where we check out new books that will spark your curiosity all summer long.

These reads are coming from our very own Ted Speaker community and at the end of each

month we're having conversations with the authors to dig deeper into their big ideas.

In 2014, Gina Rosero stood on the TED stage and gave a talk with wildly high stakes for her own life.

At the time, Gina was a New York model at the height of her career, but she was also holding a secret.

Gina was transgender, living extremely visibly and invisibly at the same time.

So she decided to come out big time on the TED stage.

Here is that moment.

For the last nine years, some of my neighbors, some of my friends, colleagues, even my agent,

did not know about my history.

I think in mystery, this is called the reveal.

Here is mine. I was a sign boy at birth based on the appearance of my

genitalia. I remember when I was five years old in the Philippines walking

around our house house I would always

wear this t-shirt in my head and my mom asked me how come you always wear that

t-shirt in your head said mom this is my hair. I'm a girl. I knew then how to self-identify.

Gina's memoir Horse Barbie traces her life journey from the back alleys of the Philippines where she spent her childhood days to the trans-padients of her teenage years, to the modeling scene of New York, and then coming out on the Ted stage.

Across diverse cultures and subcultures,

the book interrogates what it means to be true to yourself

...