Geena Rocero Biography

Geena Rocero (born 1983 or 1984) is a Filipino American supermodel, TED speaker, and transgender advocate based in New York City. Rocero is the founder of Gender Proud, an advocacy and aid organization that stands up for the right of transgender people worldwide to "self-identify with the fewest possible barriers". She is transgender.

Personal life

Geena Rocero was born in Manila, Philippines to a working-class family. She started competing in beauty pageants at age 15.

Rocero immigrated to San Francisco, California at age 17. In 2005, Geena Rocero moved to New York City, and she became a U.S. citizen in 2006.

Career

Rocero was discovered by a fashion photographer in a restaurant on the Lower East Side of Manhattan when she was 21 years old. She was then signed to top agency NEXT Model Management and spent 12 years modeling for international swimsuit and beauty editorials, earning herself a large fan base.

In 2014, Rocero was featured on the fifth anniversary cover of C?NDY magazine along with 13 other transgender women: Janet Mock, Carmen Carrera, Laverne Cox, Isis King, Gisele Alicea, Leyna Ramous, Dina Marie, Nina Poon, Juliana Huxtable, Niki M"?nray, Pche Di, Carmen Xtravaganza and Yasmine Petty.

Adding to her rsum in 2015, Rocero became Executive Producer of "Beautiful As I Want To Be,"? a digital series for Logo focused on transgender youth. The show spotlights young trans people, and pairs them with a coach or mentor in the trans community. In the first episode, Zeam, a young trans man and artist, is paired with Caitlyn Jenner. Jenner in the episode mentions Rocero as "the first trans person I ever met". Rocero has also been featured on Jenner's show I Am Cait.

In 2016 Rocero and Tracey Norman became the first two openly transgender models to appear on the cover of an edition of Harper"?s Bazaar.

Activism

In 2014, Rocero launched Gender Proud, "an advocacy & awareness campaign that aims to advance the rights of all transgender individuals". On March 31, 2014, in honor of International Transgender Day of Visibility, Rocero came out as transgender while giving a TED talk in New York City. On September 19, 2014, excerpts of Rocero's TED talk were featured on NPR's TED Radio Hour podcast.

See also

• LGBT culture in New York City
• List of LGBT rights activists
• Filipinos in the New York City metropolitan region