Stephenie Magister is the second-only 40 Under 40 transgender nominee in history for University of Georgia. She has spent the last decade helping authors win awards and hit best-seller lists while pushing the boundaries of gender, orientation, and identity. After being raised in an offshoot of a cult in Mississippi in the 80s, she spent the 90s being forced through trans conversion therapy as her parents followed “God’s” infallible orders to convert her into a copy of her identical twin brother. And yet it was only in recent years that Stephenie finally acknowledged her identical twin brother’s long history of violence toward women, how much of his sexual violence had been toward his own sister, and all she had done to empower him and his countless fake identities.

Stephenie now volunteers with Writers for Hope in support of sexual assault survivors like herself. As a pop culture critic, she champions gender diversity by bringing attention to the “invisible” trans and gender non-conforming representation in media throughout history (ever heard of the 2016 Transgender Oscar Nominee who boycotted the Academy Awards?). She most recently returned to activism by writing memoir and activist pieces for outlets like Xtra Magazine, Prism & Pen, Translating Everything, and An Injustice. Her memoir anthology From 5 to 40: My Life in Photos is available now through Translating Everything. She is desperately hoping she finds an agent before her career gets any bigger. This is too much for one person.

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She makes her living at StephenieEdits.com and posts puppy pics at @StephMagister.