Hello readers,
It’s been a minute and I’m so happy to be back with you all. This being my second article for Watermark, I realized I never properly introduced myself. Maybe it’s time to share a bit more about who I am and how I got here, so you can better understand the lens through which I see the world — my trans point of view.
Many of you know me as Mulan the Trans Advocate, a title I wear with pride. But before the advocacy, the community organizing and the public speaking, there was just a young person trying to find her way in a world that didn’t quite know what to do with her.
HOW IT STARTED
I transitioned at the age of 19, shortly after the death of my grandmother who raised me. Her passing was a turning point in my life, a moment of deep grief, but also a push toward living more authentically. I remember the first time I dressed in drag was on Halloween. That night something clicked. I didn’t just feel beautiful, I felt alive in a way I never had before. That joy, that sense of alignment with myself, was unforgettable.
Three weeks later, I signed up for the talent show at the world-famous Parliament House. To my surprise, I won first place. That moment of validation, of being seen and celebrated, changed everything. The once shy and quiet person transformed into Mulan — outgoing, outspoken, full of life and purpose.
But life wasn’t all sequins and stages. While my friends showed me love and support, the world outside wasn’t nearly as kind. Jobs were impossible to find. I was crashing on a friend’s couch, doing my best to survive. I knew other trans women who turned to sex work but I held out, hoping for another way.
Eventually, survival became more urgent than hope. I was broke, confused and literally hungry. So I did what so many trans women — especially Black and Brown trans women — have been forced to do. I hit the block.
THE REALITIES OF TRANS SEX WORK
Let’s talk about trans sex workers. It’s an uncomfortable topic for some, but it’s one we can’t ignore. The majority of trans women of color I know have done sex work at some point in their lives. Not because it’s glamorous or easy, but because employment discrimination, housing instability and lack of access to education and health care leave them with few alternatives.
Within six months of doing sex work, I was able to afford my first apartment. That small space became a sanctuary, not just for me but for other trans folks who had nowhere to go. It was a makeshift safe haven. But with the good always comes the bad.
Being on the streets meant facing danger every day. I was raped. I was beaten. I learned how to silence my pain because there was no time to fall apart when survival was at stake. I spent two decades in that life and during that time I was sent to jail, to prison and into the kind of despair you don’t wish on anyone.
A NEW PATH
Everything changed the day Angus Bradshaw, executive director of Miracle of Love, Inc., invited me to lunch. We’d known each other for years from clubs and community events but when he offered me a job helping to run the organization’s LGBTQ+ drop-in center, I was stunned.
I said yes without hesitation. It was the first time someone saw something more in me, something beyond my past.
A few months into the job, I was invited to attend the United States Conference on HIV/AIDS. That experience opened my eyes. I met trans women from across the country who were not only surviving but thriving; leading organizations, writing policies, mentoring others. I came back with a new vision: to turn my pain into purpose.
THE BIRTH OF DIVAS IN DIALOGUE
That vision led me to create Divas in Dialogue, a program built on the foundation of everything I wish I’d had as a young trans woman. I told my friend Daniel Downer about it and a few weeks later, he handed me a $10,000 check with the words, “Go for it. Believe in yourself.”
And I did.
Five years later, Divas in Dialogue is still here and thriving. We’ve provided mental health support, hormone therapy guidance, name change assistance, housing support, employment readiness programs and a safe, affirming space for trans women from all walks of life, including those currently or formerly engaged in sex work.
We don’t shame survival. We uplift it. We meet people where they are.
LIFTING UP OUR MOST MARGINALIZED
It’s crucial to understand that trans sex workers are part of our community, not a problem to be fixed but people to be loved, supported and celebrated. Many are navigating trauma while still showing up for others. They deserve our respect, not our judgment.
We’ve worked to create exit strategies for those who want out and safety plans for those who stay in. We provide harm reduction education, STI testing and healing spaces. And we hire folks with lived experience because representation matters and because no one knows how to serve our people better than we do.
When I started this work, I realized that everything I had been through — the pain, the loss, the survival — was preparing me to be a source of strength for others. God didn’t put me through hell just to leave me there. He brought me through it so I could turn back and help others cross.
Never let your past dictate your future.
THE CALL TO ACTION
I hope this gives you deeper insight into my life and why I go so hard for my community. I’m here because someone believed in me and I will never stop paying that forward.
And now, I’m asking you to believe in us.
The government is doing everything it can to erase us through legislation, through health care restrictions, through erasure in schools and media. But we’re still here, still fighting, still loving each other.
So here’s your call to action:
Visit the local trans-led organizations in Central Florida. Donate if you can. Share our posts on social media. Volunteer your time. Invite us to speak. Fund our work like your life depends on it because for some of us, it truly does.
Just like it takes a village to raise a child, it takes a community to nurture an organization.
We’re not going anywhere and with your help we can make sure our trans siblings — especially our sex workers, our youth, our elders — are not just surviving but thriving.
With love and resilience,
Mulan Montrese Williams
Founder, Divas in Dialogue
Thank you to everyone who has supported Divas in Dialogue thus far. Your love, your encouragement and your belief in our mission have carried us through every high and low.
The best is yet to come.
WE CAN NEVER BE ERASED.
Mulan Montrese Williams is the founder of Divas in Dialogue, a groundbreaking organization supporting the TLGB+ community but always putting the T first. Living authentically as a Black trans woman with 20 years of advocacy, Mulan has dedicated her life to uplifting her community through education, outreach and empowerment. She’s a force for change, proving every day that resilience and love can transform lives.
