College Bully Made This Transgender Give Up Education, Become A Social Reformer To Fight For whole Community

How do you feel when you see a transgender person asking for money on the street? Pity or frustration? Now, imagine a different scenario where a transgender individual works with you in an office for their own income. We might see that as normal, but the reality is, that most of us don’t actually have transgender colleagues. Because of how we’ve been raised, we tend to avoid including them in our everyday lives.

Even though we might consider ourselves open-minded and inclusive, the truth is, most of us don’t make an extra effort to open doors for the third gender and truly welcome them.

Nevertheless, India is undergoing reforms, and the status of transgenders is also progressing. Recently, the government has officially recognized the pronoun “They” for transgender individuals to address the issue of unspecified gender inequality. This reform represents a significant step forward, and it wouldn’t have been possible without the ongoing battle fought by this community for years. And one notable social reformer stands out as a champion for the transgender community, choosing to take a stand and advocate for their rights.

The name that is seldom recognized as a champion for justice but is gradually etching itself in the golden pages of transgender history is Swetha Sudhakar. Today, let’s delve into the life of this transgender social reformer who has played a pivotal role in placing 120 transgender individuals in various sectors such as development, IT, and finance, contributing significantly to their empowerment and inclusion.

Meet Transgender Social Reformer- Swetha Sudhakar

Swetha Sudhakar is a transgender social reformer who has been doing social welfare for her transgender community by empowering them with education and employment. Swetha is a social and human rights activist. This Social reformer is very well educated as they hold an MA in Sociology, a BA in Public Administration, and a Diploma in Counselling.

Swetha is also a writer and has published three volumes of poetry in Tamil. They are constantly working on removing the taboo that surrounds the transgenders. Swetha has been doing social welfare work for decades. Swetha Sudhakar worked for various organisations that were largely serving in areas of HIV and Aids.

While working for these organisations, Swetha was paid Rs. 1400 to Rs. 7000 which was less. During that time, they used to help illiterate trans-people who would be in need by giving away half of their salary. As days passed, Swetha realised their knowledge, work and talent were not respected in those organisations.

They also understood that AIDS/ HIV service work was more needed in the transgender community, thus Swetha Sudhakar made the decision to start their own organisation in 2013.

Born2Win Social Welfare Trust

Born2Win Social Welfare Trust is a trans-led organisation started by the social reformer, Swetha Sudhakar. All the employees working in this organisation are trans-people. To reform and empower the transgender community, Swetha founded this trust. The main aim of Born2Win Social Welfare Trust is to provide education empowerment and employment to every trans person.

As a social reformer, Swetha Sudhakar is completely dedicated to the cause. In the past 12 years, they have facilitated employment opportunities for more than 120 individuals in the transgender community. Now, they are working in the banking, IT and development sectors.

For education to empowerment, they have also extended scholarship support to 70-80 individuals. Besides this, Swetha has also provided educational assistance to 25 underprivileged girls raised by single mothers. Swetha did not limit themselves to theoretical education; they also encouraged other extracurricular activities like arts and crafts.

Thus, in their Born2Win Social Welfare Trust, this transgender social activist, Swetha, also opened the tailoring unit and DTP centers under which they started the STEP programme in 2017 with the objective of providing training in tailoring to the transgender individuals who express their interest in art and crafts.

As a social reformer, Swetha along with her trust, also handles the free shelters for transgender individuals, where they prepare free nutritious meals for more than 20 transgender women.

However, this journey of becoming the social reformer for her transgender community wasn’t easy. Although Swetha has been doing social work for 12 years, her own struggles have a different story!

Swetha Sudhakar’s Story of Struggles

The pain and suffering of the transgender community is never-ending. Especially when trans people try to make their place in society, they are often mistreated and not accepted. The same happened with Swetha Sudhakar.

Sufferings in Personal life

Swetha had a different life than other transgenders. She received the opportunity to get educated and completed their secondary and higher education at Nungambakkam’s Corporation Boys School in Chennai. Unfortunately, Swetha endured daily verbal abuse from their classmates and were subjected to derogatory comments related to their gender identity.

Swetha could freely express her love of makeup, dancing, and dressing up on the school stage. But once they started college, people started making fun of their femininity. As a result, Swetha dropped out of college to work as an outreach worker for an organisation that raised awareness of AIDS prevention among persons living with HIV in the MSM community.

Overcoming Challenges in Establishing Born2Win Social Welfare Trust

We transgenders cannot have children, thus I consider Born2Win as my baby and through this, I am able to help and empower other transgender children.

Swetha Sudhakar

Establishing trans-led, Born2win social welfare trust in this society where they are not accepted was a lonely journey. This social reformer has mentioned in her interviews that initially, Swetha Sudhakar had to manage all the work with their own funding as they don’t receive any funding from foundations or the government.

But every good cause does receive support, as Born2Win got some funding from individual donors and now this trust has been running successfully for nine years and giving competitions to the well-established NGOs. By overcoming challenges, Swetha Sudhakar stands strong as a social reformer who is reforming society by giving equal rights to the transgender community.

As a Social reformer, Swetha Sudhakar from Born2Win is winning at life

Despite all the challenges, Swetha is now the successful founder and director of Born2Win as the name suggests, Swetha is definitely winning in their life and is also making the lives of other trans people worth it.

Since 2013, Born2Win has raised Rs. 91,15,000 through the annual Trans Achiever Calendars to support the education of poor children and trans women, as well as honored 204 trans role models through the Trans Achievers Awards. They are still going strong, having sponsored 36 trans women in 2016 and 72 in 2017.

Well, this social reformer, Swetha Sudhakar, is a strong individual who shows that acceptance in society is secondary but accepting yourself first is important. No matter who you are or what gender you have, everyone has the equal right to live a well and good life.

We at Mad4India are grateful to this social reformer for making the world a better place for the transgender community. To know more about Swetha Sudhakar and Born2win, check out their Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn.

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If you feel inspired after reading this story, then read a similar story of India’s First Billionaire Dalit Entrepreneur Rajesh Saraiya: Father’s Foresight Carved A Name The World Won’t Forget

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