2024 Presenters
Chris Aino Pihlak
Chris is a trans woman, PhD student at the University of Toronto, and social historian of past articulations of trans feminine existence. In addition to her interest in studies of historical trans feminine desirability, she is a scholar of twentieth century, Anglophone trans feminine subcultures. She hopes her analyses of the complexities and messiness of past trans lives honours those who built the path she now walks on.
Christen Barford
Christen is the parent of four wonderful daughters and Granny to four grandchildren. She was born in England and raised in North America. After discovering Provincetown in October 2021, she fell in love with the town and its residents. After retiring from an engineering service company, she moved to Provincetown and bought the restaurant Jimmy’s Hideaway.
Christen is a TransWeek 2024 ambassador on the Welcome Team.
Elysia Cerreta-Dial
Elysia is an advanced practice registered nurse at Health Care Advocates International, a non-profit health care organization that works to serve the LGBTQ+ community. Elysia has been practicing as an APRN for the past 7 years. She specializes in providing comprehensive, competent, and compassionate primary care for the LGBTQ+ community. She has also received additional certification in behavioral health from John’s Hopkins University to help meet the needs of her patients. She believes in treating patients wholistically and ensuring that all their physical and mental health needs are cared for. Elysia is from Connecticut and a member of the LGBTQ+ community. When she is not working, she is enjoying spending time with her wife and teenage boys.
Erin Daily
Erin is a veteran of the stage, having performed with many community theaters across her fair city in Ohio. She has directed the Follies multiple times and is looking forward to her co-hosting duties with Nick! Erin has attended the Fair since 2002, missing only a couple. She is excited to bring her energy once again to the town of Provincetown and to share the experience of all that TransWeek has to offer. Erin is happy to be joined by her wife of 10 years, and for the first time their daughter Knox!
Dallas Denny
Dallas Denny’s contributions to transgender activism, know-ledge, and history are legendary and span four decades. She was the first voice thousands of desperate transpeople heard when they reached out for help, and she provided the information and referrals they so desperately needed. She is a prolific writer. Her books, booklets, magazines she has edited, and articles fill an entire bookcase and are in danger of spilling over into a second bookcase. She has created and led several national nonprofit organizations, been present at the creation of at least five transgender conferences, and led two long-lived support groups. She created the first trans-exclusive archive of printed and recorded literature, which today is available to the public at Labadie Collection at the University of Michigan. She has been a fierce advocate for transgender autonomy and access to medical care. Through it all, she has stayed on task, and made it all about the task at hand rather than about herself. Now, in her mid seventies, she maintains the same frenetic pace she has kept up since the 1980s.
Dallas has been a principal at Transgender Week since 1992. Her work is viewable in its entirety on her website, www.dallasdenny.com.
Dallas is a member of the TransWeek 2024 Planning Committee and Chair of the ITEO Board of Directors.
Vanessa Edwards Foster
Vanessa co-founded the National Transgender Advocacy Coalition (NTAC) and served as its president. Through her advocacy work, she involved herself in numerous political campaigns and as a national political delegate.
Tony Ferraiolo
Tony is internationally known as a compassionate and empowering life coach who has earned his reputation as a thought-provoking and motivational speaker and trainer. Since 2005, Tony has worked with individuals, groups, and educational institutions to reach thousands of people worldwide. Since 2008, he was the founder of multiple support groups for transgender and nonbinary youth and their families. The work he does has allowed him to see firsthand how children’s lives are transformed from hopelessness to hopefulness through the process of simply affirming their gender. He has witnessed the positive impact that this has on them and their families. Tony is the subject of the award-winning documentary A Self-Made Man and the author of the book series Artistic Expressions of Transgender Youth. He is the co-founder of the Jim Collins Foundation, where he held the position of president of the board for ten years
Brit Fryer
Brit is a queer and trans director and producer living in Brooklyn, making work under Forest Ave Films. Some of his films include The Script; Caro Comes Out; Across, Beyond, and Over; Botanical Black; and Transience. He produces nonfiction and fiction films including Crystal Kayiza’s Sundance Short Film Jury Award Winner Rest Stop and Lydia Cornett’s Bug Farm, which was distributed through POV and Nowness. He is fortunate to have the support of The Sundance Institute (2023 Sundance Institute Producers Intensive and 2016 Sundance Ignite Fellowship), Creative Culture, POV Shorts, GLAAD, The Gotham, HBO Documentary Films, Film Fatales, PBS, Yaddo, and Chicken & Egg Pictures. He is currently a 2023-2024 BRIClab Artist-in-Residence and a 2023 Dear Producer Mentee.
Miqqi Alicia Gilbert, Ph.D.
Miqqi Alicia Gilbert (aka Michael A. Gilbert) is Full Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at York University, Toronto, Canada. Miqqi Alicia has published scholarly articles in gender theory, including an essay in Hypatia in 2009, “Defeating Bigenderism.” S/he is a life-long cross-dresser and an activist in the transgender community. Miqqi Alicia has made a point of being out in public and has appeared in numerous newspapers and magazines in Canada and the U.S. She has also done numerous interviews on radio and television. S/he has been the book review editor and regular columnist for Transgender Tapestry, a recipient in 2007 of an IFGE Trinity Award, and was Director of Fantasia Fair for 8 years. S/he has presented workshops at numerous trans events including Fantasia Fair, Southern Comfort, Esprit, IFGE and First Event. Hir latest book, Arguing with People, was published by Broadview Press in the spring of 2014. Hir website can be found at http://gilbert.info.yorku.ca/.
Kate Gilligan
Kate has been coming to TransWeek since 2016. She loves every minute of it. After her first TransWeek was over and she had to on the drive home, her pink cloud burst and she cried she had to leave.
She participates in as many workshops and events as possible, wanting to get the full TransWeek experience. Kate has a soft spot for newcomers and appreciates the amount of courage it takes to come here the first time. She seeks newcomers out and tries to make them feel more comfortable.
Kate is originally from Massachusetts but now lives in Virginia. She is active in two non-profits and seeks out newcomers there as well.
Kate is a TransWeek 2024 ambassador on the Welcome Team.
Jamison Green
Jamison is a writer, educator, policy consultant, and former president of the World Professional Association for Transgender Health, FTM International, and Gender Education & Advocacy, Inc. Among many honors, he received the Fantasia Fair Pioneer Award in 2014.
Nick Greiner
This will be Nick’s seventh TransWeek; he attended the first time with his trans parent, Sibil. Nick was inspired by the organizers and fellow attendees and honored to receive the Congeniality Award. He lives in Philadelphia, where he is an out transman involved in his local LGBT community, including co-facilitating an open trans*group. He and his mom, Sibil, share their story in workshops and talks to promote visibility. He served proudly in the U.S. Coast Guard under Don’t Ask Don’t Tell and vowed to never hide again after he was honorably discharged.
Sibil Greiner
Sibil Mae attended her first FF in 2016. Like a phoenix, she has risen from the ashes of alcoholism and personal tragedy to transition and live authentically. Sibil, along with her son Nick, have done parent/child transition workshops and more recently college talks before a class of future Occupational Therapists. You will find her to be an outgoing social butterfly who will welcome you with open arms and an open heart. As a recovering alcoholic, she is in service to help people with their addictions and to help others recognize their own potential in living an authentic life.
She is director for musicals at local community theaters, is active in professional organizations, and a soloist and chorus member for decades. Recently, retired.
Sibil serves as Treasurer on the ITEO Board of Directors.
Taryn Gundling
Born and raised in the suburbs of northern New Jersey, Taryn is an erstwhile recovering engineer and is currently a Professor of Anthropology at a public university in the Garden State. Research interests include the history of human origins and, more recently, transgender studies.
Taryn’s gender identity and expression is best described as hovering about on the feminine side of androgynous (for now). Other activities/hobbies include studying Buddhism, playing the guitar, watching films involving ghosts, visiting as many major cities as possible, and, occasionally, preparing global cuisine.
Karen Jandreau
Karen first came to the Fair as a scholarship attendee in 2012. That was an educational and informative trip for her. It gave her the chance to see full-time Karen, an opportunity she has taken advantage of! This year will be her 11th TransWeek. She has helped in many positions at the Fair, from helping register people to the newcomer’s morning meet and greet to taking tickets at the Follies. She also has served on the Planning Committee. She has been awarded the Most Helpful Award, the Congeniality Award, and the Fantasia Fair Award. She is deeply honored to have been recognized with these awards! On a more personal note, Karen is a great aunt to four adorable children out in WMASS. She has mentored teenagers within an International Drug Demand Reduction program, for 25 years. She is self-employed as a medical specimens courier, contracted with the VA. Karen is an honorably discharged veteran of the United States Marine Corps.
Karen is a member of the ITEO Board of Directors and a TransWeek 2024 ambassador on the Welcome Team.
Ariadne Kane
Ariadne Kane, PhD (pronouns he/him and she/me) is a pioneer and an activist in every sense. In the early 1970s he founded Boston’s Cherrystones support group. He was the primary founder of Fantasia Fair in 1975 and was director for many years. He started the nonprofit Outreach Institute for Gender Studies, where he published a newsletter, a journal, and pamphlets, held symposia, spoke publicly on radio and television, educated sexologists about trans issues, and started a conference for transsexual women. At a time when early trans communities were largely restricted to specific identities and sexual orientations, Ari, who identifies as an androgyne and bisexual, welcomed all comers. Ari, with sexologist Vern Bullough, is author of the book Crossing Sexual Boundaries (Prometheus, 2005).
Lauren Kong
Lauren is originally from the Midwest but has spent most of her life in Georgia. She is married to a great guy and has been blessed with two kids. Her older child is part of the LGBTQ+ community, as are her parents.
Lauren attended her first TransWeek in 2021 to support her parent, as she is a proud advocate and supporter of the LGBTQ+ community. She fell in love with the attendees, the atmosphere, and the acceptance so much that she knew she wanted to return, join in, and help as much as possible.
Lauren has served on the welcome committee and is grateful to have served on the planning committee since 2023.
Dee LaValle
Dee LaValle is from Massachusetts and has been a TransWeek attendee since 2015. Dee was named the TransWeek Executive Director back in 2018 and this event will be the seventh she has led. She was honored to receive the Fantasia Fair Award in 2021. Dee works for an international multimedia corporation. Dee has served on her company’s DEI task force and as a board of director for its PRIDE employee resource group. She has been honored to promote LGBTQIA+ awareness throughout her company. She and her spouse are proud parents to two young adult children. She is also a proud grandparent to two black kittens who with her adult black cat joined forces to continue to plot Dee’s demise. Dee enjoys skiing with her children in the winter. Since her spouse despises snow, they enjoy traveling in months that are snow-free.
Dee is the TransWeek Executive Director.
Jolie LaValle
Jolie was born and raised in Brockton, Massachusetts, home of the first department store Santa. She is a graduate of Wellesley College. She and her spouse Dee have been married for 30 years (the blink of an eye). Her spouse came out to her as a transwoman in 2015. At press time, Dee, their daughter (now 23!) and son (19) and niece (24) are planning a Grand Tour of Lake Erie with stops in Twinsburg, OH, Detroit, Toronto and Niagara Falls. The goal is to swim (or at least dip their toes) in each of the Great Lakes. We won’t get to all of them this trip, but it’ll be an adventure!
Jolie is a member of the TransWeek 2024 Planning Committee.
Davina Liffey
Davina has been a regular attendee at TransWeek since 2014 and has come to regard this week in Provincetown as an essential part of her life. When she first came to Ptown, she was only just emerging from the closet, but as the years went by she felt empowered to let her femmeside increasingly come out. Davina now lives full-time as her authentic self. She travels a long way to get to Ptown: either from the UK (she’s British, as is immediately apparent when she says anything…) or from Brazil, where she also has a home. In the build-up to TransWeek 2024 she authored a series of posts on the TransWeek Facebook page recording her personal impressions of what it’s like to visit Ptown for our week. During this week, she’ll be happy to chat to anyone who needs help, either in person or via Facebook Messenger.
Davina is a TransWeek 2024 ambassador on the Welcome Team.
Sgt. Carrie Lopes (Retired)
Carrie Lopes retired in May 2018 after 34 years of service with the Provincetown Police Department. She served as a patrol sergeant for 16 years and was the Civil Rights Officer and LGBT Liaison Officer with TransWeek for 22 years. She also handled Domestic Violence, Elder Affairs, and Sex Offender Management for the department and served as a training officer for both full-time and seasonal personnel. Carrie is enjoying retirement with her family, getting projects completed (finally), traveling, and looking forward to continuing her relationship with the TransWeek.
Carrie is a member of the ITEO Board of Directors.
Jennifer
Jennifer’s first Fair was in 2019. She has been a planning committee member since 2021. Not being an out or transitioning transwoman, Jennifer has made the most of, and enjoyed immensely, attending trans gatherings for the past decade and being herself. In addition to the Fair, she’s made many appearances at First Event and more recently Keystone. Jennifer is looking to contribute any way she can to make this year’s TransWeek a rousing success.
Jennifer is a member of the Fantasia Fair 2024 Planning Committee
Carole MacKenzie, LCSW, AASECT
Carole MacKenzie is a licensed clinical social worker in private practice in Hartford, CT. She focuses on service to the LGBTQI community and has for many years, working with trans and queer clients, gender-creative children, their families, and allies. She is an AASECT-certified sex therapist and supervisor. Carole, together with her little dog Virginia Woof, teaches Human Sexual Behavior in the psychology department at the University of Hartford, CT and is a member of Hartford PFLAG and WPATH.
DJ Maryalice
Maryalice, a Billboard Magazine Dance Music Reporter and nightclub DJ, has been spinning her signature upbeat sound for three decades. She has been resident DJ and Vibe Manager at the Boatslip Resort in Provincetown since 1994, where she blends progressive, disco house, tribal, and top 40 dance music. Inspired by female DJ legends, Maryalice began her career at the Governor Bradford in Provincetown and later worked at the Pied Piper, a legendary lesbian bar. She has held spots on national events in DC, Columbus, Detroit, Miami, and Palm Springs.
Dan McKeon
Dan comes from upstate New York, where he shot his first photos with a black-and-white Polaroid Swinger camera back in 1967. Influenced by his Uncle Frank and his Aunt Mary, the family photographers, Dan spent much of his childhood making sure family events were memorialized on film. He moved to Provincetown following retirement from his 35-year career with the New York State Office of Mental Health. He became the event photographer for the Provincetown Business Guild and has worked with Provincetown Magazine since 2012. He was the production photographer for the independent film “Bear City 2,” the majority of which was filmed in Provincetown. His work has appeared on MSNBC and on NBC’s Today Show and has won first prizes in several local photography contests. Dan previously had a wedding and real estate photography business. He donates his services to local charitable organizations, including the AIDS Support Group of Cape Cod and Helping Our Women. He has also been the event photographer for the Pilgrim Monument, Crown & Anchor, and is now the Boatslip Resort event photographer. He is a featured photographer for Cape Air’s magazine, Bird’s Eye View. For his long-standing service of supporting TransWeek, he was honored in 2022 with the Friend of TransWeek Award, which left him speechless.
Niela Miller
Niela Miller M.S. Ed & Communications, has been an educator and organization development consultant and trainer and has designed and led workshops since 1967. She has developed and implemented dozens of training programs for helping professionals, educators and business persons and courses in all kinds of settings in both professional and personal development. For the past 17 years, she has been teaching mainly online in a virtual world called Second Life, which is a safe and great place for many transpersons.
Throughout her career, she maintained a Gestalt therapy practice and trained many therapists, here and abroad in Gestalt and other humanistic therapies
One of Neila’s areas of specialty has been working with transgender people. She wrote a book called Counseling in Genderland in 1996, the first book for helping counselors and therapists prepare for working effectively with this population. For more than twenty years, she was a workshop facilitator at Fantasia Fair. She received a Lifetime Achievement award in 2018. She is also an artist, musician, composer and writer and loves helping people develop their creative potential. Take a look at her website: www.peoplesystemspotential.com. You can find a link to her YouTube playlist if interested.
Shannon Minter
Shannon Minter has made significant contributions to the advancement of LGBTQ rights in his role as Vice President of Legal for the National Center for Lesbian Rights. He has been pivotal in key legal battles, including the California marriage equality case and the Christian Legal Society v. Martinez Supreme Court decision. His work has earned him numerous accolades, including California Lawyer of the Year and recognition from the National Gay and Lesbian Bar Association. Minter’s dedication to legal advocacy continues to impact the LGBTQ community and the broader fight for equal rights.
Shannon is the Transgender Pioneer Award recipient for 2024. A more in-depth biography can be found on page 45 earlier in the guide.
Zsuzsana Nagy
Zsuzsana (she/her) knew she was non-binary around age 4 when she wondered why she couldn’t have long hair and pretty dresses like the other girls in her Catholic preschool. She started to emerge from the closet in 2021 with the support of her coworkers and family and enjoys being able to express her gender identity in a myriad of ways. She is an endocrinologist who loves helping others affirm their gender identity throughout the entire spectrum, and her first clinical experience in that occurred before many of you were born. In her microscopic spare time, she enjoys being with her family, the outdoors, and buying too much makeup.
Hera Navassardian
Hera Navassardian was born for fashion. As an only child, she was the sole beneficiary of her single mom’s impeccable sense of drama and beauty. She grew up watching her mother with much admiration—she was always creating something beautiful with her hands, especially when it came to applying makeup. She was fascinated by how she could change her looks on a daily basis. Destined for the style scene, Hera began her beauty career in New York City as a model for Bob Mackie, Geoffrey Beene, Zandra Rhodes, and many others. But she wasn’t just a pretty face; she created pretty faces as a makeup artist and stylist for leading brands like Chanel and Creed of London.
Hera’s greatest pleasure and fulfillment has always been to make people look and feel beautiful. She says, “I put my heart, soul, and experience into helping them achieve their dream look. It’s what I was made to do.”
Maureen Osborne, Ph.D
Dr. Maureen Osborne is a licensed psychologist with over 30 years of experience as a gender therapist in private practice working with transgender people and their families as they navigate the legal, emotional, and ethical challenges of gender dysphoria. Prior to retiring from her Pennsylvania practice and moving to Cape Cod, she also led a long-running therapy/ support group for transgender people called “Transquility,” and she has been leading an online support group for cisgender partners of transgender persons, “Cister Wives,” for almost a decade. Dr. Osborne was honored with Fellowship status in the Philadelphia Society of Clinical Psychologists for her work in community education about transgender issues, and received the Friends of the TransWeek award at Fantasia Fair 2015. She has given talks and workshops at many national and international gender conferences and continues to educate her local community since retiring from full-time practice. She appeared in the award-winning film, “Trans,” as well as the documentary “Just Gender.”
Dr. Sirena Rivera
Sirena first came to TransWeek as a scholarship guest back in 2012 and is now attending her fifth. Sirena is a board-certified physician who lives and works near our nation’s capital with her lovely wife, Else Adler, another attendee. Sirena earned her Bachelor of Arts from the University of California and an Ivy League medical degree. Provincetown is her beloved “New England Brigadoon” and she is happy to be back again. Sirena is an unabashed nerd, an active participant in regional science fiction fandom, and is now hooked on themed cruises. Sirena is transfemme/dual-gender/gender-fluid, presenting stererotypically feminine on a part-time basis.
Sirena is a TransWeek 2024 ambassador on the Welcome Team.
Mariette Pathy Allen
Mariette has been photographing the transgender community since 1978. Through her artistic practice, she has been a pioneering force in gender consciousness. She has five published books: Transformations: Crossdressers and Those Who Love Them (1989), The Gender Frontier (2004), TransCuba (2014), Transcendents: Spirit Mediums in Burma and Thailand (2017), and I Was The Girl: Art by Vicky West (2024). Allen’s recent solo exhibitions included Culture Lab LIC, Queens, NY (2023); FMoPA, Tampa, FL (2022); Antidote Curates, Paris, France (2022); CLAMP, New York, NY (2022 and 2021); and the Museum of Sex, New York, NY (2019). Her work is included in numerous collections with recent acquisitions by The Museum of Modern Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Victoria and Albert Museum, The National Gallery of Art, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Allen is represented by CLAMP, New York, and her work is being archived by Duke University.
Janice Small
Janice is a retired software release engineer for the Smithsonian Chandra X-ray telescope project. She plays multiple instruments with varying proficiency, more recently concentrating on keyboards/organ.
Her other hobbies include playing Poker and duplicate bridge. She is a certified club director by the ACBL and substitute on call for the MIT/DL bridge clubs and the Winchester. She also enjoys bicycle riding, having done tours of the US and Scotland.
Janice is still in the process of coming out as trans as she slowly puts the puzzle pieces of her life together. She is grateful for all the support she has received thus far in her journey.
Janice is a member of the TransWeek 2024 planning committee.
Sr. Alice
Sr. Alice is a cradle-to-grave Catholic who struggles with things like the recent episcopal embarrassment regarding transgender people and people in general. However, she refuses to give up her ground and path, a path trod by many prophets—such as Dan Berrigan, Dorothy Day, Chardin, Matthew Fox, Joan Osborne, Patti Smith, Gandhi, and Martin Luther King, Jr. Some of them, like Jeremiah, Isaiah, Mary, and Joseph were not technically Catholic, but she has leaned upon them for support in her journey. She believes at this point that she is on the path of the Divine Androgyne.
Cody Suzuki
Hailing from Massachusetts, Cody Suzuki is a local MA/RI trans queer non-conforming spoken word artist. With original works in poetry, play, lyric, and story writing, his passion is queer spoken word. “What I love about spoken word is it speaks for itself.” Supporting the trans* and non-conforming community, his words are educational, most in verse, and often humorous, delivering gender accepting messages to audiences of all ages. His wish is to educate, enlighten, and entertain with the same breath!
A long-time TransWeek attendee and performer, Cody’s current projects include Atlanta Comfort, Transqat Podcast, Southcoast Pride, First Event, spoken & workshop engagements, or anywhere there’s an open mic! “If I gave you my ear–what would you want me to hear?” Cody welcomes all to
join him and Nick Greiner on the stage Wednesday night at the Common Threads Fashion Show, hear his words Thursday night at the Open Mic & Poetry Night, then see him perform Friday night at the Follies!
Austin Tyler
Austin Tyler is an eleven-year full-time resident of Provincetown who can often be found involved writing, producing, and appearing in a variety of bingo, comedy, and drag shows. Having worked with all types of Provincetown visitors and locals in both the hospitality and cannabis industries, he is all about a happy, healthy, and memorable time for everyone he meets. 2024 is his fourth year participating in TransWeek.
David Weekley
David was born in Cleveland, Ohio and graduated from Cleveland State University (psychology). David completed graduate studies in the phenomenology of religion at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. In response to a call to ordained ministry, he enrolled in seminary at Boston University School of Theology, graduated in 1982, and began serving the local church.
After two decades of pastoral ministry David told his Portland, Oregon congregation his transgender story in a worship service on August 30, 2009. The congregation responded with resounding support. David published his personal story, In From the Wilderness: Sherman, (She-r-man) in 2011.
Rev. Weekley returned to Boston University School of Theology in 2012 to complete a doctoral degree based upon the development of a retreat with and for transgender and gender non-binary people. David graduated in May 2016. David’s second book, Retreating Forward: A Spiritual Practice with Transgender Persons was published March 31, 2017 (Wipf & Stock Publishers, Eugene, Oregon) and is based on this work.
Liz Winter
Liz Winter is a long-time TransWeek attendee who has been happy to be able to facilitate the Provincetown Fog workshop for the last decade. Perhaps best known for sleeping in after late nights and her odd sense of humor, Liz holds a Master’s degree in Social Work and is an LICSW. She has done extensive work with child protective services, domestic violence, sexual abuse victims, and group work in her professional career.
Carolyn Wolf-Gould, MD
Carolyn founded Bassett Health Care’s Gender Wellness Center in Oneonta, NY. She has been providing gender-affirming health care for adults and youth since 2007. Her interdisciplinary center offers legal assistance, medical, surgical, and mental healthcare for youth and adults, provides training on TGD health for medical professionals, and conducts community-based research. She is co-editor of a book on the history of transgender medicine, to be published in February, 2025. She identifies as a flaming ally to the trans community.
