Ellie Anne Dote shares her story on finding her voice as a transgender woman. Ellie is a dreamer, storyteller, Christian woman in transition, and Founder & Owner of Ellie Girl Creations.

Darryl Dote was born and raised in Southern California, where he found an early place in music ministry within the Catholic Church.  What he didn’t know at the time was that he was using his identity as a “church musician” as a way to hide from the real battle over her identity.  When adolescence began to set in, he quickly learned that his role in music ministry wasn’t as authentic as he needed it to be - and so he left the Catholic Church in search of something deeper - and found it in Evangelical Christianity, where he went to Bible College and pursued a career in full-time ministry.  After getting married and starting a family, Darryl continued on this path - until he couldn’t hide it anymore.

In 2016, after receiving the devastating news that he was HIV positive, Darryl was left to face the questions surrounding his identity head-on - and shortly after that, it was discovered that Darryl wasn’t the 40-year-old cisgender heterosexual male that he had grown up as - he was really Ellie, a young woman that had been fighting to be seen for her entire life.

In early 2017, Ellie began taking her first steps, and 2019 found her divorced, living back in Southern California, and a single mom to her youngest child.  Her journey and experience in ministry have allowed her to have conversations with various church leaders about the LGBTQ+ community and inclusion.  She is currently working (slowly) on a memoir, and regularly shares her thoughts on the intersection of her trans identity, the LGBTQ+ community, and her faith as a Christian on her blog, elliedote.com.

Ellie's Blog: https://elliedote.com/

Ellie Girl Creations: https://bit.ly/39Qt5Wu 

--- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/whenwomenspeak/support