Trans Advocacy, Empowering Journeys, and Resilient Stories

Karina Samala’s journey from childhood in the Philippines to becoming a prominent transgender advocate encapsulates themes of identity, resilience, and activism. 

Through candid storytelling, she reflects on her experiences as an engineer, the challenges of transitioning, and her pivotal role in fostering community support.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

We're probably going to argue over you during this whole interview.

Speaker 2: 0:04

That's okay.

Speaker 1: 0:06

Oh my gosh, I love this already. So, mother, first of all, I see you've already brought a lot of notes for the tea. So where are we going today? First of all, tell folks who the hell are you, because, for the folks that don't know, you're queen of the. You know LA, in my opinion, as your firstborn son, but who are you to the people Like? What is that?

Speaker 2: 0:30

Well, I am Karina Samala, a very proud transgender woman. Yes, and my ancestry is from the Philippines. I was born and raised in the Manila, philippines, and I moved here, like oh my God, a long time ago. I've been here for over 35 years, wow, okay. So I've worked also, you know, with a lot of organizations and, as a matter of fact, I was the seventh child born with seven sisters. Wow.

Speaker 1: 1:08

Sounds like Snow White or something.

Speaker 2: 1:10

Yeah, oh, my God, like all the sisters that I have, okay, and when I think about it is I grew up in the Philippines, but I've been so spoiled because the only boy in the family especially with Asian families I'm supposed to carry the family name, as they say it. But then because, living with my sisters, I grew up playing with all the girls, so I even play and use the dresses and perform and dance for them and so forth. And that's the reason why, even when I was younger, my nickname is Dolly Boy Dolly.

Speaker 1: 1:49

Boy oh, where'd you get that?

Speaker 2: 1:51

from mother Dolly Boy, my family, because they felt like I'm their doll. I'm the only boy in the family.

Speaker 1: 1:58

So they dressed you up like a doll, then they dressed me up like a doll, so in a way they were inclusive from the beginning. Just, you know, in a weird way, right, In a weird way okay, but still, and even the whole neighborhood calls me Dolly Boy. That's my nickname from the beginning. Well, you are gorgeous, though, so I understand where that nickname definitely originated from right.

Speaker 2: 2:19

But then, when I was already up to high school, you know I've been teased by my high schoolers, and so I said no, from now on I don't want to be called Dolly Boy anymore. Please drop that, yeah.

Speaker 1: 2:33

And look at you now. Now you're advocating for the entire community and infiltrating with the agenda everywhere, right? Yes, the gay agenda is infiltrating and you are definitely a huge catalyst of honestly so much work in community. Mother, where, where did you get started in community work like? Where was that moment for you that you decided, as a trans woman, I'm gonna give my life back?

Speaker 2: 2:56

yeah, what? What really started me is way back. Yeah, uh, as I said, we're located here. My first job was in Michigan City when I first came to America. I have a sister that lives in Michigan City, indiana, okay, or Lake Michigan, right Lake Michigan, and my sister there is a nurse and married to a doctor, so I went to visit them and then I thought, oh, I love it here. That's the first time I saw snow Because, as a matter of fact, in the Philippines, we don't have snow no definitely not.

Speaker 2: 3:34

I was running out, it's snowy and the thing about it is they live in a very nice neighborhood. As a matter of fact, I mean, oprah Winfrey had also a house nearby the neighbor. Really, she has a house there, the neighbor, because my brother-in-law, like what I said, is a doctor. My sister was a nurse and so I grew up with that. When I visited I said, oh, I love it here. I ended up staying there and my very first job was there. So I got my first job in the laboratory doing a lot of testing and everything else. But my background is entirely different thing. I am a graduate of mit, philippines.

Speaker 1: 4:17

I would say that louder, so folks can hear that mit yeah just because folks, I don't think they know that you are a graduate of MIT, yeah, and the thing about that?

Speaker 2: 4:32

the thing about that also is that um, um and that when I was working with them, I realized also that, hey, you know, this is really, since it's my first job, I was so excited about the whole thing. But then we had some problems with because my degree is chemical engineering. Okay, wow, so that's what my degree is. And so I said I don't want to work in a laboratory, because we were in a laboratory at that time. So I said okay. And then when we got, when there was a problem with the company and it shut down so I was laid off. At first I just it was okay.

Speaker 2: 5:20

So then when the time comes, I was laid off, I left and I said I'm going to go to California, since all my relatives are in California I only had one sister in Michigan City I'm going to go back to California. So I went to California. When I got to California they said they're calling me back. I said we're starting up again. You know, I said said I did not work in california at that time because I was just enjoying my because I'm getting living your best life, okay, so I said having a good time when they recalled, recalling me.

Speaker 2: 5:48

I said no, I don't want to go back anymore. So I said I'm just gonna look for a job here. Wow, the job that I got here was also at livernell okay, dealing dealing with fascinators and stuff like that in the laboratory, and then with that. Northrop Grumman also is one of the ones that they recruited me and said, we would like to have you work with us. Northrop Grumman is an aerospace company that.

Speaker 1: 6:21

I worked with, so like Lockheed Martin to a degree yeah.

Speaker 2: 6:26

Okay, they work on a stealth bomber and satellites and the missiles, wow. Damn and they send me to school to learn all those things.

Speaker 1: 6:36

Wow, and you were transitioned then, right. Not yet at the time when I was working with them.

Speaker 2: 6:43

And because of the work that I do, I have to have a top security clearance and every time because we update our clearance every time, one of the questions because we wouldn't have the rights trans rights and all LGBT rights that we have now at the time, okay, so, with that said, it was like mid 80s up to mid 90s, because I worked there for 14 years as a senior. When I left them, I was a senior engineer. Oh wow, I left them. Honey, you are a boss, father.

Speaker 1: 7:23

Kar karina, you are a whole boss in the street. Yeah, no, she was telling me about like this gunshot detector radar or something that she like?

Speaker 2: 7:29

yeah like yeah, we work with that, yeah, I work with those things, yeah, oh, honey that's a but what right?

Speaker 1: 7:37

yeah, and that's just what you've done in your professional career. In that aspect, we haven't even gotten into activism yet.

Speaker 2: 7:44

Yeah.