Let Me Introduce Myself
I was born on December 1st, 1975 in the city of Beaver Dam, Wisconsin to my loving parents, Don and Georgianna. They were young when I was born, and struggling to get by, but they always made sure my younger brother and I were well taken care of and had all we needed. My earliest memories are from about the age of 4, when my Dad worked for Allis Chalmers at the R&D plant in West Allis. He’d have to go in on Saturdays and Sundays to record readings from the equipment being tested 24/7. They had a vending machine that was dedicated to ice cream - a magical thing for a four year old. I remember sitting in the cabs of these orange giants with my brother, drumstick cone in hand, thinking how it couldn’t get finer than being in the seat of an Allis Chalmers tractor. America’s Dairyland and agriculture have always been strong here; I was 4 and Wisconsin already he me hooked.
My family moved to Salem, Wisconsin and built their first house. Life was humble, but good; generic powdered macaroni and cheese, a hand-me-down banana seat bike, and Friday nights with The Dukes of Hazzard; honest to goodness kid stuff. That Fall, my folks took us shopping for school clothes. I remember being in the yellow carpeted shoe department of Kenosha’s Shopko when my mom said, “You both need winter boots, so go pick some out.” Off we ran, and I grabbed my favorite pair, proudly running back to her with them.
Pink and white moon boots.
”You can’t have those”, she said.
”Why not?”, I asked.
”Because those are for girls.”
I looked at her, puzzled.
”And?”, I asked.
”And we’ll go pick you out some nice blue ones.”
Being 5 years old, I really didn’t understand what had just happened. I followed her to the boys section to pick out some blue boots, disappointed to not be getting my pink and white pair and confused by the way she’d looked at me and the way she’d said no. I’d never heard a tone like this and couldn’t figure out why one pair of boots was okay while another wasn’t. Something felt off, and I didn’t know it then, but it was the beginning of a lifelong internal battle I was going to fight with myself.
Times were different when I was growing up, at least it seemed they were from the perspective I’d been born into. The communities I grew up in were relatively small and rural in my early years; we moved around a little bit when my Dad finished his engineering degree, living in Elkhorn for a few years and eventually settling in Fond du Lac. I don’t think I knew one gay person until high school, and the first openly trans person I met was sometime in my 30’s. It wasn’t something that was ever talked about; at school, at home, with friends, on tv, anywhere. Yet, I kept having this feeling inside; of my soul being 180 degrees off from my physical attributes. I’d been born a girl, but this male body kept showing up when I’d open my eyes. It made me frustrated and depressed a lot of the time. This was especially true when puberty hit. Seeing male features starting to show up made me feel angry, horrified, sad, hopeless, and trapped. I’d thought about suicide a few times, but that wasn’t the way for me. I’d been taught to be a fighter, so I started to figure out what I could do about it. (If you or anyone you know feels trapped or suffers from depression, call National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988, or The Trevor Project LGBTQ+ Counselor line at 1-866-488-7386)
It was around my 14th year on this earth I went on the brand new internet and started figuring out what people took to transition. No one told me to do this; it was completely of my own motivation. I found information about hormone therapies and doses, reading along and learning. Thankfully, there was information to be found, from multiple reputable sources where I was able to compare for accuracy. It’s worth noting here how the Trump administration has swept the internet of many resources like this for transgender people. Things have become increasingly difficult for trans and non binary citizens during this period of unprecedented government hate and oppression of an already threatened and marginalized community.
At that age, it was necessary to see a psychiatrist or psychologist to be prescribed hormones. It still is. No one is prescribing gender affirming medicine to children without thorough and repetitive observation and study, and gender surgeries are unheard of for children. The notion they are being performed on minors is meant to mislead and is absolutely untrue.
I’ve lived an active and social life. In high school, I started a job at McDonald’s, which I held for 4 years until I started college. For years, I was actively involved with 4-H and served a couple of those as club president of the largest 4-H club in the state. I rebuilt my first automobile engine with my Dad and put my first car together enough to drive…a tired and rusty, but well loved 1955 Chevy. The saxophone became a passion of mine, and I practiced it relentlessly and started to play gigs with professional bands when I was 16. I travelled to Mexico with my high school band and played in Mexico City and Acapulco as a featured performer. Right around my 17th birthday, I bought a 1959 Cadillac (which I still own and drive). I graduated high school from Fond du Lac’s Goodrich High in 1994. Entering college, I played lead alto saxophone with the UWGB Jazz 1 jazz band, travelling to Europe to play with them at the Montreux Jazz Fest in Montreux, Switzerland, The North Sea Jazz Fest in The Hague, all of this before beginning my freshman year. Once at school, I made friends easily and dove head first into practicing my saxophone as much as I could, really trying to be the very best player possible. Music kept me on the go around the state, as I became one of the first call players for side hustle gigs.
I began to sing at shows. It was one song a night at the start. This pretty quickly evolved into 5 or 6 songs a night, then into a lead singer role with a busy local R&B group. Playing became so busy, I walked away from college with one semester remaining - I’d been there to become the best musician I could be - once I got there, I put all my energy into my profession.
All this time, I’d still been really into cars, I’d hung around shops, taken some jobs to learn from the shop owners, and helped build a few classic cars and hot rods with experienced old school builders. I moved around between gurus and tradesmen to learn all the tricks of the trade: mechanics, welding, body work, painting, wiring, plumbing, design, sheet metal fabrication, and so on. I opened my own custom car shop in 2007, and it still lives to this day, a testament to the business practices I’ve been taught and uphold.
In 2012, I moved to Austin, Texas for a little while with my fiancé Ruby. She helped me get acclimated to the upper echelon of the music scene there, and we had a regular gig with Rosie Flores for the time we were there, playing clubs like The Continental Club once a week. We moved back to Wisconsin in June of 2013 and started our group, WiFEE and the HUZz BAND, a 10 piece Motown-esque group with horns, writing all of our own original songs and playing shows across the country, from Sturgeon Bay to New Orleans and all points in between. We went our separate ways in 2017, and I started my current group, The Nobody Famous. As the leader of this current horn band, I’ve been the lead singer, manager, booking agent, accountant, media director, marketing designer, songwriter, and arranger of it since day one.
After all this time, all these offshoots and avenues, there’d still been this lingering internal misalignment in me. Funnily enough, I’d never even had the notion I was transgender. A series of unrelated events in the summer of 2024 made me finally realize it, and the sudden passing of a close musician friend made me understand this life does expire at some point. All of this does come to an end.
It made me understand that no one was going to come do the things I’d been afraid of if I didn’t do them. So I had a decision to make. Keep continuing a life of a lie and fear, always in a place of regret, or grab onto who I truly am with both hands, accepting me for whatever the consequences may be, but knowing at the end of my days I chose my own alignment and my own happiness over fear and anxiety. However many hardships have been placed in my path since deciding to transition, I don’t regret it for one second.
There has been one other life direction I’ve considered for a few decades. Politics and being able to serve the citizens of this country, giving back to them and the communities which have helped me to live a happy and healthy life. I’d like to help ensure our current and future generations have access to the same opportunities and pathways to happiness and prosperity I have had. At a time when our government actively creates and encourages hateful discriminatory policies, there has never been a more clear time for me to get involved and make a difference.
It’s a profound place in life I’ve discovered here. Only when we completely accept who we are, unapologetically embracing our true heart and soul, are we truly able to aspire to something better, something greater than ourselves or who we ever imagined we could be. This is where I am, this is where my heart lives, and this is the energy I bring to the roles I maintain, the responsibilities I’m given, and the promises I make.
I promise you I will always bring everything I’ve got, all my energy and all my heart, to fight for a better life for all of us.
- Katrina deVille