“Being someone who’s transgender, I grew up very quiet, and very scared, and very lonely. Sometimes even suicidal," she told NPR. “Because I didn’t know anyone like me. I didn’t have Laverne Cox to look up to, or Isis King or Janet Mock. And I’m so different as an adult because I gained that confidence through performing and having people love me enough to make me love myself. It’s sort of like the audience loved me even when I didn’t love myself.”