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One of the cornerstones to being a better ally to any given community is being more informed about that community. In recent years, the transgender population has become more and more visible, more and more accepted.

The change started with a trickle, with well-known personalities coming out as being transgender, and more and more transgender people in visible stations of life stepping up being more visible: Caitlyn Jenner, Laverne Cox, Chaz Bono, the writer/director/producer duo of “The Matrix” franchise, the Wachowski sisters, etc. Then the trickle turned into a stream and now one can hardly watch the news or browse the Web without encountering something transgender related.

Yet as things transgender become more and more commonplace, few Americans say they personally know someone who is transgender. Specifically, despite an estimated population of 1.5 million transgender people in the U.S., and while nearly 90% of Americans say they personally know someone who is lesbian, gay, or bisexual, only 16% say they personally know someone who is transgender.

This Pride month, you can start to change that. Come to a panel discussion of “Transgender 101" and hear from real, live, transgender IBM’ers!

Software Engineer, NextGen IaaS Systems @ IBM

Anna Nguyen (she/her) is a software engineer in the cloud infrastructure group of the Cloud/Cognitive Software organization. She came back to IBM in 2018 via the IBM Tech Re-Entry program, a program to recruit talented technical professionals who took a break from the workforce and are looking to restart their careers. Earlier in her career, she was at Tivoli Systems which became part of IBM in 1996.

Anna is active in LGBTQ+ activism in Central Texas. She has served on the board of PFLAG Austin since 2016 and is its current VP of Operations. She also volunteers with several other LGBTQ+ organizations as well as with Meals On Wheels Central Texas.

Assigned male at birth, Anna started her gender journey in 2013 and transitioned fully in 2014.

Anna is “almost native” to Texas, having lived in Austin, TX for almost 30 years.

Fun tidbit: Anna took a break from her software engineering career to work in the fashion industry, working for an internationally know fashion designer as an operations manager, pattern maker, seamstress. She also did a stint of runway modeling.

[PRIDE EDITION] Transgender 101 Panel Discussion