Transitions Makeup & Photo

WE NEED YOUR SUPPORT!

If you've been in my makeup chair within the last couple of years, you know how much I've talked about getting another warehouse. I'm doing everything I can to make that happen so that I can continue providing services.

Now we'll be training new people in the art of MTF transformation, so that they can go back home and open their own shops, and that more people will have access to gender-affirming services!

Please donate, and if you cannot donate, then please pass this along. Every dollar counts!

Donate to Empower LGBTQ Entrepreneurs Nationwide, organized by Gina Ortiz FOR MORE DETAILS ABOUT THIS PROJECT, PLEASE VISIT: https://www.tgtransitions.com/tmp… Gina Ortiz needs your support for Empower LGBTQ Entrepreneurs Nationwide

Transitions Makeup & Photo is changing!
https://www.tgtransitions.com/

We're getting donations!

Donate to Empower LGBTQ Entrepreneurs Nationwide, organized by Gina Ortiz FOR MORE DETAILS ABOUT THIS PROJECT, PLEASE VISIT: https://www.tgtransitions.com/tmp… Gina Ortiz needs your support for Empower LGBTQ Entrepreneurs Nationwide

AN OPEN LETTER TO RUPAUL:

Hi, Ru!
My name is Gina Jet, and I'm a 59-year-old "transformation" makeup artist in Los Angeles, and I owe my entire career to you.

I "discovered" you in Denver's early-80s Drag scene. I was a young 15-year-old photographer, shooting Drag shows in tiny bars downtown, and I spent a lot of time hanging around the Queens backstage and in dressing rooms. Your photo was always taped to someone's mirror, no matter which club I was in that night. I knew Chanelle Austin, Brown Sugar, and Hot Chocolate, and most of the other names are lurking somewhere within my locked memory bank.

I was already "big shot" by the time your first book came out, and Chanelle and I went together to the bookstore to buy our copies. I stole all of your makeup tricks, since I was a budding makeup artist by then, thanks to Chanelle. How I watched with wonder when she got ready (for HOURS), and I knew it was what I was going to do someday.

Working in the music industry years later led to a nasty drug addiction, and the day I knew I had to "escape or die" was the day I re-read your book. I threw out my remaining drugs, rented a truck, and headed to Hollywood with your book in my purse. If it wasn't for that book, I would still be in Denver, either in jail or buried next to my father.

I moved to L.A., and never looked back. I started my business in 2000, one year after arriving, and a year of being drug-free. The rest is history. To this day, I keep a photo of you on my mirror, like the long-gone Queens that reside in my heart.

Thank you, Ru. You pulled me out of the fire and gave me something to live for, and I'll always love you for it.

Gratefully,
Gina "Jet" Ortiz
Transitions Makeup & Photo
Los Angeles

LOS ANGELES — A longtime LGBTQ+ service business is turning 26 years of experience into a new opportunity for the next generation of LGBTQ+ entrepreneurs.

Transitions Makeup & Photo has launched a GoFundMe campaign to help open the Transitions Training Facility, a first-of-its-kind Los Angeles training program designed to give LGBTQ+ creatives practical, income-producing skills in specialized makeup, studio photography, digital retouching/AI, and small-business development.

The goal is simple: bring aspiring LGBTQ+ entrepreneurs from around the country to Los Angeles for intensive, hands-on training, then send them home with skills they can use to build businesses of their own and provide affirming services within their communities.

The campaign is seeking $15,000 to help secure and prepare the training space.

One facility. New LGBTQ+ entrepreneurs. More affirming services in communities nationwide.