Dubbed by many “The Oprah of Indonesia”, Dorce Gamalama rose from the ashes of a difficult childhood to become one of the most notable and beloved transgender icons in her home country. Despite the challenges of living in a nation with limited LGBTQ rights, Dorce met any resistance and curiosity to her transition with humor and wit, and persevered to live as her true self while also promoting a life of kindness and generosity. Dorce’s integral role in the Indonesian television industry helped shed light on trans visibility in an otherwise predominantly religious and conservative country and shifted many Indonesian people’s perceptions towards transgender people on the whole.

If one were to pause and look at any single inflection point in Toto Koopman’s roller coaster of a life, there would always be one adjective apt to describe her and her actions, and that would be “brazen.”