Model and transgender activist Geena Rocero: featured in Covergirl's #GirlsCan movement

During her TED talk last year, she showed a picture, left, of herself growing up as a young boy in the Philippines.

GEENA ROCERO, the best-known transgender person from the Philippines and who grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, was featured in Covergirl's #GirlsCan campaign and interviewed last week by journalist Soledad O'Brien.

“At COVERGIRL, we’ve always celebrated strong, inspiring women who don’t let anyone or anything stand in their way,” said Esi Eggleston Bracey, VP and General Manager, COVERGIRL Cosmetics. 

“Our family of feisty, fabulous COVERGIRLs embody this spirit, as each of them have broken boundaries in their own lives and careers. We feel so strongly about empowering women that with #GirlsCan, we’re putting $5 million dollars worth of funding into people and programs with the same passion that we have to motivate women to kick ‘can’t’ to the curb – for good.”

O’Brien’s story focuses on how Rocero has used her celebrity as an international model, to bring change for transgender Filipinos in the Philippines.Rocero came out in 2014 during a TED talk. Until then, even some of the people closest to her, including the photographers who used her as a model, didn't know her complete story.

The model-turned-activist founded an organization Gender Proud to help people to discover and proclaim their true selves.

With courage, determination, and passion, Rocero isn’t “afraid anymore to think small” and plans to change civil rights for her transgender community across the globe—proving that #GirlsCan change the world! 

COVERGIRL#GirlsCan is a movement with a mission: to help young women overcome barriers to break boundaries, empowering them to be the next generation to rock the world. The movement was kick-started earlier this year with an inspiring video starring COVERGIRLs Queen Latifah, Ellen DeGeneres, P!nk, Sofia Vergara, Becky G, Katy Perry and Janelle Monáe. With more than 10 million views already and counting, this movement of positivity and #GirlsCan power struck a chord and inspired a provocative conversation.

RELATED: Geena Rocero, trans community embrace Caitlyn Jenner

COVERGIRL announced it will donate a minimum of $5 million over the next five years to support the work of individuals and nonprofit organizations that are helping women break barriers and blaze trails. Additionally, COVERGIRL announced through #GirlsCan the first two beneficiaries of its financial commitment: Girls Who Code and the Soledad O’Brien + Brad Raymond Starfish Foundation.

The COVERGIRL #GirlsCan movement will be further ignited by a calendar of content creation, social conversations, funding partnerships, events and activations with a variety of organizations and media partners over the next five years. 

Girls — and women — are encouraged to share their own stories on social media using the movement's built-in hashtag #GirlsCan.

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news and views from an AANHPI perspective, follow @DioknoEd on Twitter or at his blog Views From the Edge.

 

Geena Rocero, trans community embrace Caitlyn Jenner

Caitlyn Jenner, model Geena Rocero and actress Candis Cayne had dinner with other transgender notables.

CAITLYN JENNER'S long journey to become who she is, from Olympian Bruce Jenner to transgender role model and activist Caitlyn Jenner, was not a lonely one. With a supportive family, she entered a new world with her every step scrutinized and analyzed. 

She was not the first, nor will she be the last, and when finally she made her intention  public and after a two-hour one-on-one interview with Diane Sawyer, she found a community waiting to welcome her with open arms.

After enjoying New York City's Pride Parade last month, Caitlyn had a not-so-private dinner with some of the country's best known trans activists, including Candis Cayne, Chandi Moore, Geena Rocero, Allie Hoffman, Trace Lysette, Barbara Carrellas, Kate Bornstein, and Sam Feder. 

Among the first to come to Caitlyn's side was international fashion model Filipino/American Geena Rocero, who came out as a transgender person in a TED talk in March of 2014.

Rocero's own "coming out" was a "healing moment." Now the 30-year-old fashion model, who returned to modeling in 2010, has launched Gender Proud, an organization dedicated to empowerment and raising awareness of transgender issues. "I knew I had a bigger purpose," she says. "It was a disservice to my own community if I didn't do anything."

"I freed myself," she said. "The moment you completely show your true authentic self, your world has changed. We all have our own little version of truth, so the more we live in our truth, it's a much healthier world."

"I come from that part of the world (the Philippines) where the ... transgender fluidity exists and is actually celebrated," said Rocero in an interview with the Huffington Post.

RELATED: Killing of transgender Filipina turns into an international incident 

Jenner's journey is a watershed moment in the trans community. "So far, I think it's amazing how much visibility it's bringing, and will continue to bring," Rocero told the "Paper," a publication for the LGBTQ community. "I think the media is getting better and better, every month, every year, at having a stronger and more empowered conversation about the transgender experience.

"My great hope is that globally, every country around the world recognizes a transgender person's right to self-determine ... After that, my hope for my country is that trans people are allowed to serve openly in the military, that no trans child feels shame or fear around living their truth, and that people are no longer discriminated in the workplace for being trans."

Geena Rocero gained international fame as a high-fashion model before revealing her secret in 2014.