A near perfect memoir with lots of extras to dive into!

I hadn’t heard about Geena Rocero until I found her book on a list somewhere, and as a Filipino, I read everything I can get my hands on by Filipino authors! And wow, was I lucky I found this on a trip to the US this summer. (I doubt I would have found it in Norway.)

Geena Rocero is a trans model activist who started her journey doing pageants in the Philippines before moving to the US and officially changing her gender marker. She begins modeling and moves to New York where she goes stealth and hides her trans identity. We learn about trans models before her who were found out and outed. We’ve come a way since then, but not nearly far enough.

I googled to find all the headlines she was talking about, and I started reading the backstory of the people she was telling me about. There’s so much history there I never knew of. So not only was I learning about Geena’s life, I was learning about those who paved the way for her.

Horse Barbie is powerful because Geena doesn’t try to wow us, she just tells us her story, and that is remarkable and special in itself. Her story is remarkable, and she trusts in it.

Horse Barbie is powerful because Geena doesn’t try to wow us, she just tells us her story, and that is remarkable and special in itself. Her story is remarkable, and she trusts in it. On top of having a story that is both interesting and exciting for many different reasons, she also has little breadcrumbs like the headlines I mentioned that we can follow that takes us out of the book. I read her describe her first shoot and I went online to see it (some photos are included in the book, so you don’t have to go far to get the visual), I read about her TED talk and went to TED to watch it, I read about her two-second clip in the Sense8 intro and went straight to Netflix to see it. It was fun. It’s a nice crossover from the book and story to reality and my own world. I felt that it brought us closer somehow. It’s easy to read a book and feel that you are entering a portal to a different world, so I appreciated that this one managed to find a way to incorporate itself in mine.

Was it the best written book I’ve ever read? No, but it didn’t matter. Her voice shines through, and I only wish I could listen to the author read it herself. I always have the best listening experiences when the author reads the audio. (Upon looking it up on Audible, it seems there is an audiobook, dang it, I should have gotten that one!)
While I was reading, I also saw that Rocero was being honored as Woman of the Year by Glamour Mag, and it was great to see her in that spotlight as I was reading. She’s an inspiration, not just for the trans community, but for everyone searching for identity and belonging. (Isn’t that all of us?) She guides us in finding that identity within ourselves and how to unleash it.

I truly admire the choices she made and the strength it must have taken to make many of those choices. And I admire how purposefully she lives and loves and gives credit where it is due. We don’t exist in a vacuum, and we have to remember that.

Is it the perfect cover by the way? Yes, yes it is!