A Cinderella story by Emily Cataneo;
Bay Windows Contributor
Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Coming from the street to the catwalk, Boston’s own Jasmina Andino is competing in this year’s Miss Trans New England Pageant.

For Jasmina Andino, becoming a beauty queen would be a Cinderella story: a rags-to-riches tale complete with jewelry, make-up, and lots and lots of shoes.

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Andino’s platform is TransCEND, or Transgender Care and Education Needs Diversity, a part of Cambridge Cares About AIDS that focuses on HIV prevention and education in the transgender community. The center offers daily drop-in hours where members of the transgender community can get their hair and make-up done, watch TV, eat, and get assistance with legal name changes and hormone injections.

Bliss Tyler, the coordinator of TransCEND, said that she and her colleagues are proud of Andino for running, and that they hope she can be a good representation of the transgender community as well as an inspiration to others who have bad self-esteem.

"We can use [Andino] as proof that we can meet someone who was once doubting themselves, and then have them become a positive representative of the community," said Tyler. "A lot of people have bad images of transladies. They think we’re all hookers."

"Positive role models for younger transwomen are important," agreed Lina Morales, a health educator at TransCEND.

To Learn more about our fabulous Bronx Diva Ms. Jasmina and her Cinderella Story, visit here