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How I Faced My Fears & Created A Latino-Owned Beauty Brand With My Own Money

Linda J. Picard

Growing up, Angel Merino, also known as Mac_Daddyy to his 1.4 million Instagram followers, never expected to see his own beauty products at cosmetic counters. But after facing his fears, defying Latinx cultural norms, and finding his calling, he discovered a brighter future than he imagined for himself and paved the way for more “beauty boys” in the process. The following interview was told to Thatiana Diaz and edited for length and clarity.

I grew up in an all-women household with my mom, aunt, and cousin in Riverside, California. Being Latinas, they were all about beauty with the hair and makeup. I remember going with my mom to the hair salon and being there for eight hours as she did her hair. I would also go shopping with my mom at department stores at a young age. She’d always go to the Lancôme counter and pick up her

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Fears About Transgender People Are a Distraction From the Real Struggles All Women Face

Linda J. Picard

In recent weeks, my DMs have been flooded with messages from well-meaning acquaintances, many asking precisely what was transphobic about J.K. Rowling’s self-published essay, “TERF Wars.” (In summary: a lot.) “TERF Wars” was, coincidentally, the title of a chapter in my memoir, The Gender Games. I wonder if she’s read it?

Her piece contained nothing you wouldn’t find in ‘gender critical’ forums and op-eds: that the freedoms of transgender women impinge on those of cisgender (not trans) women. In subsequent tweets, Rowling also compared trans-affirming healthcare to conversion therapy, and suggested that young trans men are merely confused lesbians. In all this, we are to understand that Rowling is not transphobic, but scared.

Rowling’s words were well-timed to coincide with a governmental review of U.K. legislation which allows transgender people to legally change their gender on their birth certificate. The Gender Recognition Act 2004 was — at the time

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