2026 Participant Biographies

Ms. Kaltenbach has been an out and active member of the NYC Transgender community since 1991, as well the larger national community since attending her first transgender conference - Texas T-Party in 1992. Many conferences followed; California Dreaming, IFGE, Denver, and of course every Southern Comfort from its third year thru the last.

Over this time there have been so many opportunities to witness the ideas, the work, and the accomplishments of the amazing people who built this community as it exists today. It had always been hoped that a time would come where I could make a meaningful contribution to community as a presenter based on my areas of expertise. "Successfully Flying while Transgender" detailed the finer points of navigating the air travel experience as a transgender person, and how to actually make it an empowering and even more so, a fun experience. It has been gratifying to hear the stories of those who attended those presentations and then went on to write their own narratives and how successful their experiences were.

In this presentation we will take a look at the amazing confluence of factors that have suddenly made NYC in general, and Hell's Kitchen in specific the uniquely ideal place to advance the transgender experience today.