Jessica Janiuk was born Matthew Janiuk on February 18th, 1981. She grew up in Delafield, Wisconsin, a suburb of Milwaukee. She attended school in the Kettle Moraine School district including Cushing Elementary, Kettle Moraine Middle School, and Kettle Moraine High School, home of the Lasers. She was always a bit of a geek and spent a lot of time with science and had a particular interest in aviation throughout her youth. She also had a strong affinity for music and learned to play the Trombone.

Jessica started going to the University of Wisconsin – Madison in the Fall of 1999, where she initially intended on becoming a computer engineer. During this first year, depression took over. At the time, she was lost as to its cause but was becoming painfully aware of its impact. Prior to the 1999 / 2000 school year, she had stellar grades. Due to the depression, she ended the year on academic probation with a grade point average lower than 2.0. This prompted her decision to leave school in order to figure a few things out.

The following year, her freetime was spent in introspection and self-discovery while she worked a full time job at a grocery store near her hometown. It was during this period that she learned the term “Transgender” and started finding information on the internet. At the time, there weren’t many informational sites, but what was there was very helpful to her search for herself. She began the slow process of accepting who she really was. Simultaneously, she also started to discover her spiritual connection and faith.

In the fall of 2001, she returned to the University of Wisconsin – Madison. It was during this first semester that Jessica established a strong connection to Christianity while attending a church on the west side of Madison. Engineering was no longer her focus. Instead, her passion for music took over. She decided to transfer to the University of Wisconsin – Eau Claire to study music.

It was in Eau Claire that Jessica found her footing and her identity. She started coming out almost as soon as she arrived and began her transition in the Fall of 2002. That same fall, she also started www.translife.net, a website intended to educate and help those who are trans-identified learn about their own identities and find others that do. She began blogging about her transition and daily experiences on October 1st of 2002. In November, she had enough of being gender dysphoric and decided to live full time as female.

Prior to her switch to full time female, she made the choice to avoid going to church as she didn’t want to draw attention. However, she still wanted to feel connected spiritually. So she made appointments to speak to the pastor of her church. The pastor effectively kicked her out of the church, which pulled the rug out from Jessica’s spiritual center. Her spiritual connection all but disappeared, and it took many years to heal the rift that formed in its wake.

She was frequenting the University of Minnesota’s center for sexual health where she was seeking therapy from a specialist on gender issues. Due to the DSM-IV’s classification of transgender as a mental disorder, she was diagnosed with gender identity disorder. In the spring of 2003, she was approved by the center for hormone replacement therapy and started taking estrogen under doctor supervision.

Throughout the following year, she found herself growing more comfortable in her own skin. She started to find the voice she has since become known for. She spoke in many classes and at several conferences including MBLGTACC, the UW System’s Women’s leadership conference, and others.

In the spring of 2004, Jessica was approved for sex reassignment surgery. Due to other medical issues, it was necessary for her to seek SRS as soon as possible in order to reduce her levels of estrogen. So, on August 3rd, 2004, she had surgery performed by Dr. Schrang at Theda Clark Medical Center in Neenah, Wisconsin.

Since her surgery, Jessica has continued to speak on transgender issues as well as educate and mentor many trans-identified individuals that seek out her guidance. She is perhaps most known for speaking to the University of Wisconsin System’s governing body, the Board of Regents. On December 9th, 2004, Jessica, along with several other LGBT identified students, spoke to the Board regarding their experiences as LGBT students. Jessica spoke about her past experiences involving employment discrimination and made the board aware of the legal status of discrimination against the transgender community. As a direct result, in the following months, the board voted to ban discrimination based on gender identity and expression throughout the UW System.

Jessica has also continued to blog about her life and experiences, though the location has since changed to jessicajaniuk.com. Many things are in the future for Jessica. She currently is writing a book and has her sights on eventually starting a non-profit that focuses on gender, trans issues, and depictions of gender in the media. She hopes to continue to make a difference in the transgender community as well as help the world open their eyes to what gender really is.