00:00 My daughter was two years old when she knew she was trans.
00:03 I'm raising awareness and support for other transgender kids.
00:07 I wore this on my first protest when I was six.
00:11 It's important to me to go to protests so I can support people like me.
00:14 And I'm the youngest transgender model to ever walk at New York Fashion Week.
00:18 My daughter inspired my own transition.
00:24 Noella, unfortunately, she had to learn at a young age that not everyone is accepting of who you are.
00:30 We got people who were claiming that we were doing some crazy body-altering procedure or claiming it's child abuse.
00:42 Can you talk about the reaction you received specifically to hormone blockers?
00:47 Hormone blockers.
00:50 Hi guys, what's for breakfast?
00:53 We got pancakes, hash browns and fruit.
00:56 Levi, how's that fruit?
00:59 Very, very good.
01:01 Yeah.
01:03 My name's Noella.
01:04 My name is Asher.
01:06 And this is Rory.
01:07 You say hi.
01:09 I have three unique kids.
01:12 And Noella is so special.
01:16 Every day I am in awe of who she's grown into.
01:21 I'm a transgender model and activist.
01:23 Transgender is when someone is assigned a male or female at birth but then change their gender to what they feel is comfortable.
01:31 So if they were male they would change it to female or female to male or either one of those into non-binary like my ava.
01:41 We have this giant thing.
01:43 It spins.
01:46 And yeah, that's where all my hats and purses are.
01:50 Do you know how many of them you have?
01:52 A lot.
01:53 This is one of my favorites.
01:55 It's a Pikachu hat.
01:56 That does this.
01:58 Starting at the age of two she was already telling us, "I'm not a boy, I'm a girl."
02:04 You'd be like, "Oh, you're such a cute little boy."
02:06 Nope.
02:07 I'm not a boy, I'm a girl.
02:08 She was struggling a lot with tantrums.
02:11 They thought it was sensory processing disorder.
02:13 And then when she was four and a half she went to the gender clinic at Lurie Children's Hospital in Chicago.
02:19 And the doctor sat down and said, "Are you a girl?"
02:21 And she said, "Yep."
02:22 And he's like, "Okay, from now on you're a girl."
02:24 And it was like a light switch.
02:27 It went from this really hard toddler trying to get her to navigate the world and put on clothes and tantruming to the easiest kid ever.
02:39 Do you remember when you realized you were a girl?
02:41 No.
02:43 It's far back because I remember I felt like a girl.
02:47 I do remember my gender reveal party and it was amazing.
02:51 For Noella, after she did her legal transition when she was seven, she had her name changed.
02:57 And we threw her a surprise party complete with drag queens because at that point she was affirmed socially, legally, living her life authentically as who she is.
03:08 This is a VIP pass I got when I made history walking in New York Fashion Week as the youngest trans model.
03:16 So one of my favorite stories about Noella is how she started in the fashion world.
03:22 In Chicago Fashion Week has always had one night that's the trans media fashion show.
03:28 Noella took that as a, "I need to do this. We have to go."
03:33 And she walked for a panel and booked two designers, one for the trans media show and one for a mainstream show.
03:40 From then on it was just history.
03:45 There it is.
03:47 This is what I wore to the 150 year anniversary to Bloomingdale's and Harvard Bazaar.
03:54 I don't know if it fits me anymore.
03:56 This is the dress I wore to Dapper Q. Dapper Q is the biggest LGBTQ fashion show in the entire country.
04:04 How does it feel to bring more awareness to transgender kids?
04:09 It feels good. I'm going to put this right here.
04:12 It feels good.
04:14 I'm so glad that didn't hit me.
04:17 It feels good that I can bring awareness to transgender kids because I get to show other trans kids that they can do anything.
04:31 They put their mind to it and they can be whoever they want to be in the future.
04:35 I was six when I went to my first protest.
04:39 Show us the sign that you had at the protest.
04:41 It's right up here. It says "I'm not scary, I'm transgender."
04:45 I wore this on my first protest when I was six and it just stuck with me ever since. It's been on my wall.
04:52 It's important to me to go to protests so I can support people like me.
04:56 I came out as gay in the early 2000s.
05:00 I could say from a very young age it's always been like this kind of cringe feeling but you kind of just power through, right?
05:08 And watching my daughter deal with media, deal with critics, go on the runway in New York Fashion Week and be like,
05:17 "I'm out, I'm proud, I'm trans, I'm 10 years old."
05:20 Like, I can tell a lie. I'm transgender. I can do these things.
05:25 And so I'm non-binary and transmasculine and I use they/them pronouns.
05:30 And I started my medical transition, so testosterone, in 2020.
05:35 I definitely say that Noella pushed and inspired me to continue to move forward in my own transition and living my own authentic life.
05:44 But it's also been hard because as soon as I came out, you know, right-wing media was like,
05:49 "You're trans too? You must have made her trans."
05:52 Noella, unfortunately, she had to learn at a young age that not everyone is accepting of who you are.
05:59 And instead of going back inside of herself or, you know, hiding, she became louder and stronger.
06:08 What does being an activist mean to you?
06:11 It means I can show people, like other trans people and kids, they don't have to go through this alone and other people have the same issues.
06:19 Hi everyone, I just got into my room. I'm waiting for the doctors so I can get my blockers. I'm super excited.
06:25 Can you talk about the reaction you received specifically to hormone blockers?
06:29 Hormone blockers. Noella made the choice on her own.
06:35 She asked if she could livestream the day from getting to the hospital to, "Okay, I just did this. Okay, we're heading to the OR."
06:44 It's blocker time and see you on the other side, guys. Peace.
06:48 The procedure was like 15 seconds long.
06:50 Hi everyone, I'm in post-op and I just finished my blockers. Everything went well.
06:55 We got everything from incredible support, parents reaching out to us, asking us how they can get more information for their kids,
07:04 to people who were claiming that we were giving her bottom surgery or that we were doing some crazy body-altering procedure or claiming it's child abuse.
07:18 This process is under the purview of medical professionals, mental health professionals.
07:23 It's providing her the ability to continue living her life as who she is.
07:30 So even though we got pushback, the benefits to it are life-altering.
07:37 Next for Noella is New York Fashion Week. It's always New York Fashion Week.
07:43 And then she's been doing a lot of speaking engagements and then of course it's going to sixth grade.
07:49 She's going to middle school.
07:51 I make sure there's a really good balance that her career isn't taking over her life and she's still enjoying life as a kid.
07:57 I believe that people should be able to transition at any age because I feel like no matter the age, people should be able to express who they are.
08:06 It feels amazing because I know that I'm inspiring other people.
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