My name is Jordan Ryan Santamaria, I’ll be 38 years old as of June 25, 2019. I was born and raised in Brooklyn, NY, then lived 10 years in the dirty South only to move back up north; first to Albany and now I’m in central NJ on the Jersey Shore.

I’m Transgender; meaning I was born biologically female and realized at a very young age something was different about me. My “coming out story” is long and complex (as is the case for many), so I’ll save that for those who ask me directly.

What I will say is that I’m a huge advocate for Transgender Rights, Women’s Rights and Equality in general. I also believe in No Stigmas for those suffering from Mental Health issues or substance abuse problems. I am a survivor of 2 suicide attempts, a recovering opiate addict (pain killers) and I suffer from Depression/Anxiety, PTSD as well as the oft misunderstood Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD).

I say these things not because I want sympathy or attention, I seek neither as I have a wonderful support system (finally), but instead I disclose these personal aspects of my life in hopes that perhaps I can be of service and support to someone else like me who DOESN’T have a great support system in place, who needs someone to talk to and someone to listen to them, or who just needs a hug 🤗.

I’m not a professional mental health counselor, but I’ve been around the proverbial block long enough to fortunately have learned a few things - and one thing that’s also extremely therapeutic for me is to be able to help others (or try to).

I am a biological parent (meaning I have birth to a daughter when I was 26 years old). She is my world 🌎 and quite the talented singer 👩‍🎤 at that. I’m engaged to the most amazingly fierce woman one could ever hope to know, and although I know my worth - there’s no doubt about it, I’m the lucky 🍀 one in this relationship.

My hobbies include: working out 💪🏻, going to the beach 🏝 for a swim 🏊🏻‍♂️ in the ocean 🌊 (the most therapeutic thing for me ever), reading 📖 as well as writing ✍🏻, playing with my dogs 🐶 (I have two, and I love animals in general - hoping for a lot more in the future), and making new, authentic friends / connections (which isn’t easy btw, because most people are not that genuine in case you haven’t noticed 😂), and photography which I adore.

That’s just a little snippet of my life. Feel free to ask me anything or just drop me a note to say hi.