Geo Custodio: Finding my identity as a non-binary transfemme person
Because stigma festers in the dark and scatters in the light
Here’s how Geo found her identity as a non-binary transfemme person:
Click here to watch the full video version, here to listen to the audio version — or search for Spread the light with Dr Devika B wherever you listen to podcasts, and here to read the full conversation.
Absorb insights from Geo Custodio’s journey as a non-binary transfemme person (pronouns: she/her, they/them). She is someone I’ve been close to since middle school in Manila, the Philippines — and we’ve been through a lot together over the decades.
Our conversation ranged from Geo’s early conceptions and influences around her gender identity, including cultural norms (Geo was raised in a military family and is a Filipina based in the Philippines) — to doing away with the gender binary — to Geo’s hopes for our future.
Geo Custodio is a creative strategist, using both left and right brain thinking to help brands and corporations define their values and to build community. She has worked in tech, fashion, publishing and is currently a communications consultant in retail. She loves to paint, draw, and write. In her spare time, Geo is also Mom to seven dogs and two cats. Her gender identities are non-binary and transfemme — she is a proud transgendered person (pronouns: she/her, they/them).
Trigger warning: In this interview, we talk about suicidality, depression, and sexual fetishizing of transgendered people.
If you or a loved one needs help for a mental health crisis, don’t hesitate to call or text 988 — or reach them online here. Find other resources here, search for a US treatment facility here, and find a US-based therapist here. Here are mental health resources specifically for LGBTQ people.
💫Spread the light. A first-person account of living with mental illness that aims to dispel stigma and stereotypes and instead, spread hope and light — also a YouTube channel and podcast called Spread the light with Dr Devika B (wherever you listen to podcasts).
Click here to catch up on other Spread the light columns, in addition to any other posts organized by column type going back to the day our newsletter launched in January 2023.
At this midpoint in the year, we’d also love to ask you for your help with the following:
Please subscribe to the YouTube channel that hosts video versions of these conversations, where you will find highlight clips not found elsewhere, in addition to the full conversations.
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Reply to this email with any feedback that you have for us as we turn to planning the second half of the year’s content. We would especially love to hear from you if you or a friend would be interested in sharing your journey with this community!
Wishing you light,
Dr Devika Bhushan