Everyone creates a voice. Few people are perfectly happy with the sound that comes out when they speak. If a voice doesn’t work well for any reason – doesn’t deliver the message well, isn’t unique enough, isn’t appealing enough – the speaker alters it. The new, improved voice is still an authentic voice. It’s just improved. And rightly so.

Opera singers, orators, lecturers – anyone who uses their voice professionally, intentionally creates their voice. Creation requires experimentation. Trial and error. In Seth Godin’s blog, he comments on the process classic rock musicians endured in order to create “a hit”.

Not one of them sounded the way they thought they would when they started… the act of making a hit involved abandoning some of what they said they believed in. These hits weren’t ‘authentic’ or the work of native talent. They were evolved, tweaked and changed in response to feedback from the world.

These words could easily apply to people who are developing a voice that is congruent with gender, supports their sense of self , keeps them safe and functions in a way that makes them happy. Everyone works on and develops their voice. It’s nothing new. It’s nothing strange.

Bravely join the crowd!