Adelaide teenager Gemma Cowling was ‘discovered’ by a modelling agency about six months ago, only a few months earlier she officially ‘came out’ as transgender.
The 19-year-old says she always knew she was a girl despite having been born a boy.
“I think I knew it as a child whether I expressed it or not, hence why I spent my entire childhood in dresses and all of my friends are female, she told The Project last night. “It’s always where I felt comfortable.”
Gemma recently signed to modelling agency Azalea Models and the scout who found her, Stacey Hendrickson, believes she could go all the way.
Gemma Cowling. Source: Instagram
Ms Hendrickson told the Advertiser, adding she believed agencies with transgender sections were "backwards".
"We’ve got her in the women’s section because she’s a woman."
The teenager began her transition almost immediately after finishing high school in November and began taking hormones on Christmas Day.
Seeing the success of transgender models like Laverne Cox inspired her to make "my physical body to match the way it is in my brain", while Australia's Gemma Ward was the inspiration for her new name.
Top Comments
So nice to hear, Transgender and Intersex people are rarely given media coverage about their lives.
Good luck, hope you do well Gemma.
Your parents are amazing.