2025 Participant Biographies

Coleen O’Donnell identifies as Transgender MTF. She has lived in Chicago her whole life, except the 9 years she was active duty U.S. Air Force. Coleen is one of the founding members of the largest Transgender group in Chicago, and has been a Member of The Vanity Club for over 10 years. One of her favorite pastimes is shopping, and she also loves to share her knowledge and experiences with those that are just starting out. Coleen has been fortunate to shop in some of the best shopping areas, and stores all over the world, such as Paris, London, New York, Chicago, Manila Philippines, Singapore, Sydney Australia, and Auckland New Zealand. She has never been to a store she hasn’t liked and thinks a bad day of shopping is better than a good day at work. Coleen has been involved with The Debutant program at the Keystone conference since its inception. She says there is no better feeling when you see the smiles on the faces of girls out shopping at a bricks and mortar store for the first time. Her favorite saying is “there is no sound as sweet as your own heels on the street”. She has seen over 100 girls hit the stores for their first time, and never grows tired of doing this.