For many young trans and gender non-conforming people, shopping for new clothes in a traditional department store can be awkward, overwhelming or even dangerous.
“It’s nerve-wracking,” said Transform Cincy co-founder Tristan Vaught. “You get looked at like you’re in the wrong area. Parents are nervous. Their kid just came out and they’re trying to navigate it.”
With that experience in mind, Transform Cincy stepped in to provide a much-needed safe space.
Since 2019, Vaught and co-founders Ella Dastillung and Nancy Dawson have helped craft hundreds of private, personalized shopping and styling experiences for young transgender people navigating the coming out process.
The Cincinnati-based non-profit’s mission has always been simple: Provide free wardrobes, head to toe, for trans and gender non-conforming youth. But after moving operations to a 3,000 square foot home in Cincinnati’s Silverton neighborhood earlier this year, Vaught said the need for an LGBTQ+ community center became abundantly clear.
Now, Transform is filling that role, ramping up weekday hours and community programming and looking to make things official.
“We turned into an LGBTQ+ center organically,” Vaught said. “It just kind of happened and queer kids started showing up, so we need to move into that space.”
Stepping into new threads
When Vaught first shared a meme about baby showers via Facebook in September 2019, they never imagined it would birth Transform.
In the post, Vaught suggested queer communities host their own versions of baby showers for trans and gender non-conforming people as they navigate the coming out process.
Because trans people often change the way they dress after coming out, the process of developing a new personal style that feels right can be daunting, expensive and even dangerous for young trans people and their parents and support systems.
Transform co-founder and founder of BRIDEface, a pre-wedding beauty team, responded to Vaught’s post with an idea: Why not create a place where finding your style could feel fun and exciting?
“There’s no reason we can’t do something like this,” Vaught told Dawson — and as founding director of the LGBTQ+ Center at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI), Vaught had the experience to make that happen.
Less than two months later, the new non-profit booked its first appointment in a room attached to BRIDEface’s main space. Since then, Transform’s team has crafted hundreds of safe, private fittings for transgender youth from across the country — complete with personal stylists and curated wardrobe options, at no charge to the client.
Dawson — who died of breast cancer in 2020 — is the mother of five, including a transgender daughter. As the parent of a young transgender person, she saw firsthand the need for a program that centered and prioritized trans joy.
Clients are welcomed to the space with a personalized rack of clothing bearing their name and pronouns, chosen for them by a stylist based on style profiles they created and submitted themselves.
The process of stepping into public life as a trans person is something to be celebrated, said Vaught, who also teaches courses in queer studies at the University of Cincinnati. With such carefully curated experiences, Transform helps make that celebration a reality.
“When they come in, there’s a full rack of 15-20 outfits, shoes and accessories. We turn on their music. Sometimes they even send us a Spotify playlist,” Vaught said. “Then they have about two hours to try everything on, try different styles and see what they like.”
“There won’t be anybody else around,” Vaught added. “Only their support system. You won’t run into anyone you know if you’re not out.”
Just a few miles away in Cincinnati’s Clifton Heights neighborhood, locally owned and operated Bishops Cuts/Color provides every single Transform client with a voucher for a free haircut, redeemable at any time.
Growing into the future
Since Transform’s first client booking in 2019, Vaught has been featured in national outlets, and spotlighted by everyone from Ava Duverney to Lin Manuel Miranda and cast members of Saturday Night Live.
Still, Vaught said it’s been difficult to secure local and regional grant funding from larger donors — despite an abundance of individual donors located throughout the Cincinnati area.
“We’re always kind of looked over because we’re serving some of the most marginalized people in the LGBTQ+ community,” Vaught said. “It’s just the politics of our region right now.”
Outside the spotlight, however, the community Transform sparked in 2019 has only continued to blossom.
Vaught manages Transform’s space from 9am-12pm and 2pm-6pm every weekday, in addition to special weekend hours to accommodate private bookings. On Friday evenings, the space is open to LGBTQ+ youth, their families, friends and allies.
“It always makes me feel good just to be here,” Vaught said. “We have trees all around us. The kids love it here and the elders are loving it, too.”
“We have Friday night programming, and we’ve done screen printing, Dungeons and Dragons campaigns, board games,” Vaught added. “It’s a lot of families, LGBTQ+ kids, and now we have elders showing up too and really enjoying it.”
Because Transform is now located just a few hundred feet from a major bus stop linked directly to downtown Cincinnati, Vaught said the programming and resources Transform offers are only becoming more accessible.
“We turned into an LGBTQ+ center organically,” they said. “It just kind of happened. They started showing up, and now we have queer kids showing up and just hanging out. When they’re not here, we have queer adults, so it’s time we move into that space as a community center.”
In the coming months, Vaught said Transform plans to unveil an official LGBTQ+ community space — a separate entity housed in the same space on Montgomery Road.
“There is so much queer and trans joy here,” Vaught said. “A lot of times, parents are so worried about their kids when they come out, but I would choose this over and over. I would choose to be queer. I love my life and I am thriving.”
“The politics are always going back and forth,” they added. “But as long as we’re here together and we can build this community, I know we’re going to be okay.” 🔥
ignite action
- To make a direct donation to Transform Cincy, click here.
- To learn more about Transform’s services or to book an appointment online, click here.
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