Ask Hannah!

I would like to start a group similar to the MN T-girls but I am having trouble finding other CD’s that might join the group. Could you share some of the steps you took when starting the MN T-girls? Particularly how did you contact a community of people that is typically in the “closet”.

Congratulations on starting your group!  It will be one of the most rewarding and occasionally frustrating things that you’ll ever do.  I knew it would be difficult to meet others like me, especially those who were brave and confident and ready enough to go out.  Luckily I had a blog and had a lot of people who visited it each day.  I blogged about the group and invited t-girls in the area to email me.  Being a little web savvy, I knew the most searched term people used to find my blog was “crossdressing in Minnesota”.  I knew people were looking for others like me in Minnesota so I started to tag Minnesota on my blog so Google would start directing people to my site.  So, setting up a blog that is updated frequently is a good start.  Of course, starting a blog is a challenge in it of itself, but WordPress is very user friendly option.  You might want to start blogging about LGBTQIA issues in your home state, share your thoughts and experiences and write about resources for our community in your area like I have here.  A blog is a great way for people to get to know you so others feel comfortable reaching out to you.

The next thing I did was posting a thread on crossdressers.com.  There is a section there titled ‘Places to Go, Places to Meet’.  Crossdressers.com is probably the biggest social group for girls like us.  T-girls constantly discover my group through this forum.   You may also want to visit a local PFLAG meeting and invite members to your group.

Creating, organizing and, maintaining a group like this is a challenge and can be frustrating at times.  But it is also very rewarding and fun.  It takes a lot of patience and professionalism and dedication.  It takes commitment.  It is a lot of hard work.  It takes a lot of my time.  However, through the group I’ve been able to do many amazing things and I am constantly looking for new adventures for us.

I will say if you are going to create a group then it really is something you need to commit to. You’ll need to stay in contact with the members, keep them updated about outings and listen to requests. You’ll need to be reliable and consistent. You need to be social and outgoing and friendly and confident. The group really brings me out of my comfort zone in terms of being social, and I really need to be organized and plan ahead. You’ll also need to be able to not take things personally. There have been many events where ten T-Girls say they’ll be there…but two show up. There are times when I get frustrated when not as many girls show up as I expected because the events can take a lot of time to plan. Most outings take a few weeks, or sometimes even months to plan. The last outing was in the works for three months, for example.

I wish you the best of luck! I hope it goes well and thank you for creating a group!  Let me know when you group is up and running and I’ll writ a post about it.

Love, Hannah