Wellll, she just did her very first cover story (!!!), where she talked about the support she’s received from her parents since coming out as transgender and the personal advice she got from her stepmom, Gabrielle Union.
Zaya told Dazed: “The lesson has changed over time, but more recently it’s that beauty is in yourself.”
“It’s about being you and expressing yourself the way you want to,” Zaya, 15, continued. “She tries to teach me that beauty standards are arbitrary and that they don’t mean anything. They don’t matter any more; what people thought was the standard is not. And just that being myself is the best technique out there.”
Zaya said her family has been a “giant support system” for her in general — as she’s dealt with “highs and lows” since she first came out as transgender in 2020.
“I mean, a lot of attention equals a lot more hate, a lot of transphobia, and [there is] a lot of pressure on me,” Zaya shared, “but I’m also able to reach more people.”
“The positives of having such an inclusive platform completely outweigh all of the negativity online,” Zaya continued, “which my support system has enabled me to filter out. It has allowed me to let in the positivity and distribute it to all of the trans people in the world who need a voice and give them a platform to get inspired to live with themselves without being afraid.”
Zaya said she also tries to use her “personal experience” to show the “positives and also the negatives” in life. “I am here to share those experiences: to voice them, but also to enhance them,” she said. “So the world can know, ‘We are here, we are queer, we are here to stay, and we aren’t going anywhere.’”
You can read all that Zaya had to say here.
