Transgender activist Ashby is Miss Trans Michigan 2023
A local human resources professional and advocate by day, and a Miss Trans Michigan 2023 representative by night, Jamie Ashby gives her all to help transgender people experience success.
Ashby’s journey to pageant winner has included heartache, drag shows, Pride events, medical procedures and, with the insight that came with those experiences, volunteer work with transgender youth.
“I would like to tell my story to inspire and I would like to advocate for trans rights and be a light for the next generation,” the 38-year-old Delta Township resident said.
The Mr. and Miss Trans USA nonprofit pageant organization chose Ashby as Michigan’s representative in September, based on her responses to interview questions.
Ashby will compete for Miss Trans USA in September 2023 in Milwaukee. If she wins, she will receive compensation, plaques, sashes and booking arrangements for Milwaukee Pride.
The nonprofit started in 2018 in Milwaukee to promote transgender, nonbinary and gender-nonconforming people as “visible advocates and role models for the community at large.” It bids itself as the country’s first major all-trans pageant.
Miss Trans USA pageant officials did not respond to requests for comment.
Longtime friend Rodger Giessman isn’t surprised by Ashby’s achievements. The two have raised their voices and been activists for the LGBTQ community since they were 18.
“She has taken the time to educate herself and grow up and a lot of people don’t do that,” he said. “I think that she was the natural pick from Michigan.”
Giessman said Ashby shows other trans women they can be themselves at work and not hide who they are.
Ashby already has ideas for what she’ll wear in the “state costume” section.
“I have completely curated my idea for my state costume that represents Michigan and I think it will be one that would make all Michiganders proud,” she said, but she declined to reveal details.
Born in Grand Rapids, Ashby lived in Lansing for several years before leaving in 2010 to live in Florida and Texas. She returned to the Lansing area this past summer.
A friend shared the Miss Trans USA competition with Ashby on Facebook in 2019 after she became interested in entering merit-based competitions.
She had been performing in drag shows and Pride events, which inspired her to consider how to best help the LGBTQ community as she connected with other performers and discovered a desire to inspire others.
She left drag after four years to begin transitioning in 2011.
The period was difficult and expensive for her as she paid out of pocket for procedures and bought hormones from friends.
“Later, I realized how dangerous that was, and I didn’t really have a lot of resources here in Lansing because, at the time that I knew of, there was nobody else here that was really medically transitioning,” she said.
She later connected with a doctor and paid for her medical expenses out of pocket until securing employment and health insurance in 2015. Ashby still works for the same company.
“When I got a job, it was like, ‘Oh, my God, I’m gonna finally be able to afford my transition and I’m gonna be able to do this healthy,’” Ashby recalled. “So it was almost like a freeing moment for myself, professionally and personally.”
She’s an advocate for colleagues in the LGBTQ community at her job via an employee resource group. She also supports Grand Rapids youth at As You Are Youth Collective, a social services nonprofit that provides housing, food, employment and other services for LGBTQ youth experiencing homelessness.
She has connected teens with warm meals and helped them write resumes.
Next year, Ashby will be attending various Pride celebrations across the state and combining her platform of helping trans youth to raise money for the collective.