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He Born to Dominican parents, New York local, Laith Ashley propelled his career with a monumental campaign for Barneys New York, shot by Bruce Weber. Making his introduction as one of the primary trans male models to ever show up in a national campaign, was just the start.

A graduate of Fairfield University, he studied psychology with a focus in research, religion, and law. Laith started his transition at the end of January 2014 and found that modeling constrained him to confront himself in ways he never envisioned. Laith was the main male model on Oxygen's TV show, 'STRUT' and has been highlighted on a few covers, including Attitude magazine. 

He has strolled in fashion shows for major designers and has been highlighted in Vogue Hommes.  A defender for social equity, Laith has done incalculable interviews, empowering social change and advocating for equitable rights for LGBT people, and additionally speaking on the significance of decent variety at universities in the US and abroad. 

There is a side to Laith Ashley that presently can't seem to be seen by the majority. A born entertainer, Laith is a vocalist, a songwriter, and dancer. His greatest dream was to impart these endowments to the world, and now he at long last will.

1. With their professional history

2. With other people in their work environment

3. With organizational policies and practices.

Face-to-face semi-structured interviews were made with six transgender persons that work in organizations. From these narratives, it was found that the person's level of passing usually influences their relations and that the ignorance regarding transgender permeates all three domains of relations.

The Conclusions are:

1. The relations with work are marked by opportunity restrictions

2. The relations in the job hold the person responsible for their own intelligibility and safety

3. The relations with the organization vary according to the way it faces transgenderism and its own voice systems.

Transgenders are “people whose gender identity is different from their assigned gender at birth”. Individuals who identify themselves as transgender usually seek gender reassignment treatments, which may or may not include gender reassignment surgery. Transgender women (or trans women) are people whose body is read as male and whose gender identity is a woman. They usually go through treatments to acquire characteristics typical of the female gender and adopt names, clothes, and mannerisms seen as female. A transgender man (or trans man), in turn, is one whose body is read as female and whose gender identity is a man. They seek to acquire characteristics that are typical of the male gender and use names, clothes, and mannerisms seen as male. When considering their choice of work and hiring and admission processes, the word employed most often by respondents is if they are passable, the degree to which others take a transgender person as cisgender.

In practice, the higher a transgender person is passable, the less likely they are to suffer transphobia: if one's gender expression allows them to be seen by others as cisgender, they will not be subject to the prejudice and discrimination aimed at transgender people, increasing their chances of entering and remaining in the formal labor market. Two aspects affect them being passable: one's name and one's appearance. The ignorance regarding transgender people not only permeates the relations transgender people keep with others in their work environment, but also with the organization itself. The result is that trans phobia creates and maintains difficulties for transgender people in entering and remaining in the formal labor market.

Let’s begin by clarifying that there is nothing like ‘not trans enough. If you feel like a woman, then that’s it really. You don’t need to strictly match the physical characteristics of a particular gender in order to belong to it. If you choose to undergo a medical procedure to develop the external attributes of a cis man or a woman, that’s totally your choice. But these external physical characteristics don’t define your identity.

If you are a trans woman, it’s the essence of femininity you carry in your heart. How you express it externally is your choice and prerogative. Similarly, if you feel like a man, you are a trans man. And you don’t need to go to ridiculous extents in order to conform to stereotypical standards of masculinity.

Transgender individuals often suffer from what is commonly known as ‘imposter syndrome. To put it simply, they feel that they do not quite fulfill the expectations of the identity that they are claiming and feel that they don’t deserve to belong there. They feel as if they are wrongfully claiming someone else’s identity. Imposter syndrome can lead to a lot of negativity and depression in a transgender person. They spend too much time thinking about their imagined inadequacies and deficiencies rather than just living life and being happy.

It becomes like a vicious circle in which all their focus is on how to match the societal expectations of a typical man or woman. In the process, they forget their unique identity and are always under undue stress to conform.

This article tells you about a few ways in which you can overcome the ‘imposter syndrome’ as a trans person.

Fall in Love with Yourself

Self-love is the most important step towards combating imposter syndrome. If you love yourself, you are too busy to think about other peoples’ opinions of your personality or way of life.

When you are seeking love through a trans dating site, you are seeking validation from someone. You want someone to like you and adore you. In the process, their opinion becomes so valuable to you that it can make or break your day. This is not to say that you should give up on dating! Of course, you should seek out a partner for romantic love. That’s a basic necessity of life. But at the same time, this should not become the be-all and end all of your life.

Fall in love with yourself. Make your personal well-being the most important project of your life. Constantly set short-term goals for self-improvement. For example, challenge yourself to lose 3-4 kgs of weight in a month. Set a goal to take greater care of your skin and improve your skin health in a certain stipulated time frame. If you hate a particular type of exercise routine, motivate yourself to go for it.

Once you start treating your personal well-being like a project, you won’t have time left for anything else. And all the negativity will just vanish.

Work On Your Self-Confidence

Confidence is the biggest asset anyone can have. There are people who are not so good-looking or competent but they have such high levels of confidence that you are spellbound by them. When they walk into a room, they can make everyone look at them just by the virtue of their self-confidence.

As a transgender person, have faith and confidence in your abilities. Even if your dressing isn’t that perfect, your voice isn’t that deep and baritone like as a trans man, people will ignore all these things if you are confident. When you walk into a room, have a subtle but convincing smile on your face. Always look into the eyes of people directly while talking. When you are listening to someone, your body language should signify interest. When you are in a social setting, take the initiative to strike a conversation. All these things speak of an impressive level of self-confidence.

Confidence helps you score high even when it comes to dating and relationships. When you are chatting with someone through a transsexual dating site, you got to know how o build their interest and take things further. A person with self-doubt and hesitation will just say some awkward things and then they won’t know what to say next. But a confident person would take the initiative to start and conversation and then follow it up with even more interesting anecdotes and stories.

Cultivate the Trait of Positive Thinking

Positive thinking sounds easy. It means to think positively so it’s easy, right.  But in reality, it’s a challenge to think in a positive manner. As human beings, our thinking and feeling patterns are predisposed towards reacting more strongly to negativity rather than positivity. Think about it. How many times do you really react to some positive news stories like some great discovery or invention, some great advancement in the field of medical science, etc? It’s also hard to find any positive news. Generally, we are surrounded by negative news all the time – bomb blasts, accidents, corruption scandals, and all that.

So as a transgender person, you have to cultivate the habit of positive thinking. When you get up in the morning, tell yourself every day that how it’s going to be a beautiful day and you look forward to it. Remind yourself of all your achievements and the good things you’ve accomplished for yourself and others.

Develop empathy. It’s amazing how empathy for others can result in an improved self-image and positive thinking in general. If you see an elderly person on the road struggling with their bags, make an offer to carry those for them. Make it a general habit to be more aware of your surroundings and help people whenever you can. This will surely open up your eyes to all that is good and positive inside you and outside of you.

Get to Know More About Various Trans Icons

One way to overcome ‘imposter syndrome is by getting to know more about various trans icons. Transgender people are making their presence felt in every field, be it cinema, art, entertainment, fashion, sports, politics, law, media, or any other area. Read up about various trans icons. Their positive life stories will certainly inspire you. You will learn about the importance of being original and unique rather than blindly following standards set by society.

Be Connected with the Transgender Community

It’s great to be connected with the wider transgender community. You could join a ‘transgender forum’ online and communicate with other trans individuals. You could also join a local group that takes up transgender issues and participate in their meetings.

This is a great way to expand your social circle, make some great friends and be more aware of your own identity in the process. When you are constantly in touch with other trans people and are regularly sharing experiences with them, you are less likely to doubt your identity.

Concentrate On Your Professional Goals

This is a great way to keep negativity and depression at bay. As a transgender person, it’s very important that you focus on your professional goals. When you are struggling with so many issues and trying to live out an identity that society is constantly trying to negate, it’s understandable that your professional life will suffer. But if you stay determined and concentrate on your professional goals, this can be therapeutic for your personal life.

Just as you set various goals for your personal life, do the same for your professional one. If you are in a field of work where one constantly needs to update their knowledge, take regular refresher courses. If there is a particular aspect of your work you need to improve, concentrate on that. Also, focus on your communication skills since these are very important for work.

As you focus more and more on your professional goals, your mind will become more rational and organized. And you won’t have any time or inclination for negativity or irrational thoughts.

Educate Others About Trans Issues

Give yourself the task of making your friends, family, and colleagues more aware of transgender issues. Talk to them, get to know their thinking, and then give them your perspective. Society has a lot of misconceptions about trans people. And a lot of these stereotypes exist because there is no awareness enough. This kind of brainstorming will help in creating that awareness.

Many transgender individuals are in a state of constant self-doubt about their identity because of societal stereotyping and expectations. Society knows little or nothing about trans people. So they try to fit into the binaries of male or female as defined by society and get anxious in the process. So it is important for every trans person to educate those known to him about trans issues. This will slowly lead to a change at the level of society and also strengthen his/her sense of identity as a trans man or woman.

Eventually, your next step for legal transition will be to change your gender marker. Now, this part is significantly more difficult and varies wildly from state to state. Some states are relatively simple, while others are a right pain in the butt. For example, I am very privileged to have done all this in Minnesota, which has one of the more trans-friendly laws regarding gender change. For me, I had to consult with a physician about my gender identity and present a document from her verifying that she believes my gender identity to be valid (though ironically, the Judge presiding over my case didn't even ask for it! Don't gamble on that though ), alongside dotting my I's and crossing my t's of course. I got it changed on my social security card, my birth certificate, and my photo ID.

Unfortunately, not every gender change is going to be that simple. A lot of states require that you undergo gender reassignment surgery before you are allowed to change your name, which is both cost-prohibitive for many, but also not something that every trans person wishes to undergo. Some states will also require that your gender change is noted on your birth certificate (mine did not, thankfully). Of course, knowing how the United States can often treat trans people, it should not be surprising at all to find out that a few states are not interested in trans rights beyond seeing the advance of these rights as a threat.

In Kansas, Ohio, and Tennessee, a person cannot change the gender on their birth certificate to match their gender. In all three, however, a person may still change the gender on their driver's license just by having a notice from their physician verifying their gender identity. Kansas has laws that prevent changes to a birth certificate other than minor changes, and Tennessee is the only state to specifically bar trans people from changing their gender marker.

It's not all bad though, because at least driver's license gender change laws are significantly less stringent. Unfortunately, you will still have to deal with some rigmarole depending on your state. Luckily, states generally do not require SRS in order to get the gender marker changed on your driver's license, meaning that you will still be able to present as your gender in public if you can't change it on your birth certificate. The conflict with states not allowing birth certificate changes can present complications, however; for instance, if you were born in Ohio and moved to Kentucky, Kentucky law requires that your driver's license's marker match your birth certificate's.

While we are admittedly in a bit of a sour spot in history for trans people with the election of Donald Trump to the presidency and setbacks on trans rights, trans people have seen many legal victories in recent years. For example, before April of this year, Idaho was alongside Kansas, Ohio, and Tennessee in denying trans people the right to change their gender marker on their birth certificate. However, a subsequent lawsuit and decision by an Idaho District Court Judge resulted in Idaho law being changed to the effect that trans people's request to change their gender marker is not automatically denied anymore. Not only that, but SRS is not required, and neither is a notation of the gender having been changed. There are lawsuits against other such laws, including Ohio, so we may well see laws relaxed.

Because of the complexity of laws regarding changing your gender, such an article cannot and should not be used as your sole source of information. In order to get a proper understanding of your state's laws, check out here... Changing Birth Certificate Gender Designations: State-By-State Guidelines.

A lot of people wonder what makes people transgender, the same way we ask what makes people gay, or what causes autism.

The consensus scientific answer on all three is unsatisfyingly vague; there is no single reason, and what we can see appears to be a combination of multiple factors involving genetics, epigenetics, oligogenetics, and potentially some environmental factors.

There is broad consensus that it’s not caused by bad parenting, or what your mom ate when she was pregnant, or not going to church enough.

However, this isn’t enough for random (and not so random) cranks to propose absolutely bonkers reasons for why people are transgender. Because the public and the media knows so little about transgender people in general, some of these are getting more play than they deserve.

Related: Feminists are blaming trans women for ‘forcibly transing’ crocodiles

So, in no particular order, here are 15 of the nuttiest suggested reasons for why people are transgender, and why they deserve to be laughed at rather than taken seriously for a nanosecond.

Stupid Idea #1: The internet makes you transgender

Remember how in the 80’s and 90’s homophobes thought that being around gay people would turn you gay? Same thing… except now it’s virtual! Because the internet is full of transgender predators recruiting and grooming children to become one of us. This got popular after one “study” showed that trans youth interacted with other trans youth online.  Shocking!

Stupid Idea #2:  Seeing Chaz Bono on TV makes people transgender

Remember Chaz being on “Dancing with the Stars” a few years back? It seemed like all the crazies crawled out of the woodwork to bemoan how Chaz would normalize being transgender and make people think being transgender was “cool” and give it a try because Chaz. And dancing.

Stupid Idea #3:  Anime makes people decide to be transgender

Dr. Ray Blanchard has a spent a lifetime peddling weird ideas about the transgender community that never really caught on, except with other people who really hate transgender people as well.  Now that he’s no longer a practicing clinician or researcher the primary outlet for his theories is… Twitter. Just like our President, he’s another very stable genius.

Blanchard’s latest hypothesis is that watching anime somehow makes people transgender. Because some transgender people like anime, and people who are treated like outsiders are never drawn to cultural touchstones for outsiders. By this logic, Star Trek: The Next Generation probably made all the Gen-Xers trans people.

Stupid Idea #4: Goth culture disappeared because they all turned transgender

Another one of Blanchard’s Twitter ramblings claims that Goth culture disappeared because they all turned trans…and certainly not because they got jobs, got married, had kids, and basically did all the things that people do when they get older.

Stupid Idea #5: A world that accepts transgender people is worse than one run by Mike Pence

It takes a rather special sort of feminist to align yourself with the religious right, because you’re more afraid of the consequences of transgender people being accepted than you are of people like Mike Pence being in a position to do what they want with women’s bodies and to enforce gender norms via religious opprobrium.

But, TERFs (Trans-Exclusionary Radical Feminists) are so very special: they are absolutely convinced transgender people will end humanity, and that after finishing transgender people off, the religious right definitely won’t have enough power or desire to do anything that bad to women or LGB people. Basically, in their minds, it’s worth the risk of turning the US into the Republic of Gilead just to have the peace of mind that there are no transgender people sharing a bathroom with you.

What the !@#$ kind of feminism is that?

Stupid Idea #6: People transition to access female privilege

The icky little world of Men’s Rights Advocates, Incels, and Jordan Peterson fans produces some bizarre, irrational, and dangerous ideas. Among the more bizarre is that transgender women are just “beta males” who transition in order to gain access to “female privilege.”

After the Brett Kavanaugh hearings, it should be obvious to everyone how much “privilege” that entails.

Stupid Idea #7: Demons make people transgender

Back in the day in 2017, blaming “transgenderism” on Satan and demons was the province of snake handling churches in Arkansas, preachers who say God commanded them to get another private jet, and Trump administration judicial nominees. We can thank Dr. Ray Blanchard for expanding the audience a bit by tweeting that exorcisms and detransition sound like pretty much the same thing to him.

Stupid Idea #8: Peer pressure makes you transgender

Worst sales pitch ever: “Hey, since I came out as trans I’ve been forced to hold my pee until I get life threatening bladder infections, beaten, sexually assaulted, insulted by teachers and the administration, and banned from participating in school athletics. The Secretary of Education is working hard to ensure that everyone has a religious right to discriminate against me as well. You should definitely try experimenting with gender too!”

This is why 75% of transgender students feel unsafe at school.

Next dumb idea please.

Stupid Idea #9: Jewish billionaires turn you transgender

The next idiotic supposition combines anti-Semitism with globalist conspiracy theories. Namely, that there is a secret plot to destroy the world with gender ideology using Jewish lucre from billionaires George Soros, Jennifer Pritzker, and Martine Rothblatt. Their evidence? Um… some of them give to Planned Parenthood, liberal universities, and the ACLU.

Yeah. It’s just that stupid and offensive.

Stupid Idea #10: “Big pharma” is making everyone transgender

Normally, people who engage in “Big Pharma” conspiracy theories (e.g. they’re hiding the cure for cancer!) aren’t allowed in the building, much less given the microphone in a debate over public health policy. Yet… here we are.

This is dumb on so many levels. First, in the US, how do you make money off a tiny sliver of the population that doesn’t have any money to begin with? Second, estrogen is generic and ridiculously cheap already. Finally, in everywhere else in the world but the US, national health services already provide care and profits are relatively low.

These are corporations. Why would they put so much money into something with so little profit in it?

Stupid idea #11: Tofu will turn you transgender

Another one brought to you by the Jordan Peterson crowd that spends their days navel gazing about where “beta males” come from and how women ruin everything.  The logic (if you could call it that): soybeans have minute amounts of phyto-estrogens, and therefore eating food with soy in it feminizes you through the magic of super science.

Stupid Idea #12: Vaccines make people transgender

Here’s one from the anti-vaxxer crowd (because you just knew it was coming).  Their hypothesis is that because vaccines contain DNA and RNA, they mutate human sex chromosomes, replacing X’s with Y’s and vice versa. In terms of plausible origin stories, this is on a par with being bitten by a radioactive spider (or transgender person).

Stupid Idea #13: Chemtrails are a government plot to make people transgender

Because everything eventually devolves into chemtrails. It’s like the Godwin’s Law of conspiracy theories.

Stupid Idea #14: Liberal activist therapists railroad people into being transgender

I’m not sure what sort of therapist tells their clients to do things that will make their lives exponentially more difficult and complicated.

Stupid Idea #15: People are transitioning because it’s a fad or a social contagion

If you hadn’t noticed, the Trump administration is running the show. This theory makes as much sense as converting to Judaism in 1930’s Germany because you saw a lot about it in the news. (Plus, the one study purporting to show this is a hot anti-transgender mess of deliberately biased samples, deceptive questions, and unsupported conclusions.)

Here are a few tips to being happy as a transgender amidst our daily interface with people. These tips can be applied to build confidence and enhance self esteem.

1. Whenever someone says something mean about you being trans, try to remind yourself that this is who you are, and it's your time to be kind and try to help someone understand that being transgender is beautiful." Show compassion because happy and confident people don't bully others, and you never know what someone else is going through at the moment.

2. Surround yourself with genuine friends (people who love and care about you) who know how to cheer you up when you're feeling down. Spend time with people that make you happy. There are always going to be people in your life who don't necessarily care for you. You must focus on the people who love and value you. One instance of love and support can outweigh all instances of hate. Find people who support you. They are the people who are worth your time.

3. Engage yourself in things you enjoy doing; music , sports, Physical fitness, movies, make-up, fashion, etc.

Discover yourself by identifying things that you derive pleasure doing. Do it as often as you can and always keep a positive spirit.

Thanks for taking your time to read this article. Please feel free to contribute additional tips to make our community a better place.

I discovered that I was transgender a few years back and fought against it for quite sometime.  I remember being ashamed, a freak and just not a real person.  However, once I accepted it something began to change within me.  The fragmented pieces of my heart and mentality started to align with each other.  The battle turned to a place of peace and a sense of meaning flooded my life.  If you were to tell me five years ago that I would be here writing this post, I would have laughed so hard at the idea.  The idea of being transgender was so incredulous to me, it was simply laughable.  The moments would happen when I would feel a roll of warmth sweep over my body, mind and spirit.  I always knew that there was something missing from my life since early childhood.  No matter what I achieved, succeeded in, the countless hours in therapy still left an emptiness within me that I could not fill.

It all began when I turned 30 and chose that I needed to learn to love myself, it was necessary for my happiness and peace.  I started off with prayers of gratitude, expressing gratitude for everything and everyone I had in my life.  It could have been a wall I was grateful for, the cold floors in the winter that keep my feet cold showing me that I am still alive.  My walls that keep me safe so I can flourish as Anaika in peaceful environment.  The list goes on and on and on, I practice gratitude prayers every single day.  I also decided to be kinder to myself.  We are so hard on our selves that we do not realize the damage we cause to our moods and mental well-being.  I started to talk softly, genuinely and kindly to myself.  Wish myself good morning, compliment myself on getting up early and being productive.  I began to show my self unconditional positive regard and unconditional love.  When I made mistakes, I would respond to them the same way I would with someone who I truly cared for and loved.  When I upset, I gave myself encouragement as I would a true friend.  When I forgot things or was irresponsible I would swaddle myself that we will work on it together and that mistakes happen.  Within roughly a year I woke up one morning and something was different.  I had a realization that I had learned to love myself, all of myself, imperfections and all.  I became my own best-friend, warrior, and my own small army.  I was in unison with myself.  I understood myself, my fears, hopes and dreams and that it was the biggest thing that had ever happened in my life, ever!  It was like a bond was formed with myself that I could self-validate, self-regulate, stand up for myself and most importantly I found my voice and now was confident enough to use it.  It was a realization that shook my foundation at it's very core because now that I truly loved myself things began to unfold within me.  Although I loved my self I still had much work to do because I was repressing something for over thirty years and it was time now in the safety of myself to come to the surface and be heard.  That was Anaika.  My love for myself unleashed my inner truth, my inner genius, my inner strength and power.  Now, a coupe of years later and being on hormones every day is a wonderful day.  I can feel my body changing and with each change comes a strong sense of peace.>>

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I don't share this with many people because it's my own plight to deal with, however today it has got the better of me. I often doubt my transition and becoming a woman. This bothers me because I have complete resolve in who I am and who I am meant to be. Through self-analysis I narrowed down where these doubts come from and they come from my relationship with my parents. When I came out as gay in 1999 I was disowned and left to my own devices. It didn't last long because my parents truly loved me. We have spent the last 17 years re-building a completely broken relationship into one where we were strongly connected, shared loved and respect for one another and had strong ties of communication. However, they are not coping well with the fact that I am transgender. I can't blame them, I know their faith and beliefs and how it interferes with their ability to accept me. Currently we speak but I have been told and I know that once I transition that will be the end of in person relations with my parents. We may talk from time to time on the phone but my mother cannot see me as a woman, nor does she want to. I could be angry with her, lash out, make them out to be cruel and hurtful people, but I would be lying and I'm bigger than that. How can I ask them to accept me, if I cannot accept their limitations. The knowledge of knowing I will lose the opportunity to spend holidays and vacations with them causes a deep sense of guilt and loss within my heart. It creates doubts in my otherwise resolved future path. I work hard to work through it, applying my skills and knowledge of therapy to myself and sometimes it helps and sometimes it doesn't. What's worse is today I found out mom has a tumor on the back of her head and has to have surgery. It scares me! We are not getting any younger and today I feel heavy with guilt and sadness, self-doubt and have next to zero resolve. It's one thing to realize that if you follow your heart you will lose their physical presence in your life, but to be faced with the potential fact that she may not even be around to answer the occasional call brings tears to my eyes. I'm not writing this to receive support, I have that within myself. However, if anyone on my friends list ever deals with self-doubt about their life choices because of outside forces, just know you are not alone. To doubt is to human! To struggle is human! I'm sure my mom will be fine, it is what I have decided to tell myself and believe with all my heart. Parents are people who can be cruel, mean and hurtful and they can be loving, caring and great friends whom deal with strong conflicts between their hearts and their beliefs. If you have parents who love and accept you, celebrate them! It isn't the norm in many cases but hearts can be changed with time. Ignorance is the number one cause of being disowned by your parents. If at some point they choose to let their ignorance dissolve and open their minds, they may come around just as my parents once did. The truth is, in another 17 years if they are still both around we may be completely fine again. I'll never give up believing in a love stronger than all else. Love you all today, God bless.>>

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