Tenzin Mariko (born 1997) is a Tibetan model and LGBTQ icon. She is the first openly

transgender A transgender (often abbreviated as trans) person is someone whose gender identity or gender expression does not correspond with their sex assigned at birth. Many transgender people experience dysphoria, which they seek to alleviate through tr ...

Tibetan in the public eye.

Early life

Born as Tenzin Ugen to Tsering Gonpo and Chime Yangzom, she was sent to the Samdrup Darjay Choling Monastery in Darjeeling to become a Buddhist monk. At the age of 13, Mariko was sent to Tergar Institute in Kathmandu to further her monastic studies. She left the institute and returned to Dharamshala at the age of 16. Tenzin also went to school in Delhi to become a professional makeup artist, When she came out people took her in a different direction rather than being a makeup artist, They saw her more as a dancer or entertainer. Born in

Bir, Himachal Pradesh Bir is a rural village located in the west of Joginder Nagar Valley in the state of Himachal Pradesh in northern India. It's the paragliding capital of India and the location of the Bir Tibetan Colony, founded in the early 1960s as a settlement ...

, she currently lives in the suburb of

McLeod Ganj McLeod Ganj, also spelt McLeodganj, (pronounced ''Mc-loud-gunj'') is a suburb of Dharamshala in the Kangra district of Himachal Pradesh, India. It is known as "Little Lhasa" or "Dhasa" (a short form of Dharamshala used mainly by Tibetans) because ...

in Dharamshala.

Family

In the early 1950’s, Marikos parents had fled there families homeland, this is due to it being annexed by the Peoples Republic of China. They had moved to Dharamsala, In the Himalayas. Marikos parents started a new family here and went to have 5 children. They were all boys and were expected to be monks.

Career

Mariko's first appearance as a transgender model was at the 2015

Miss Tibet Miss Tibet is an annual beauty pageant held in McLeod Ganj, India. It is produced by Lobsang Wangyal Productions. History The first-ever Miss Tibet Pageant was produced by Lobsang Wangyal in October 2002. The pageant was criticized as "aping wes ...

pageant held in Dharamshala. In 2018, she participated in

MTV India MTV India is an Indian pay television channel specialising in music, reality and youth culture programming. It was launched in 1996 as the Indian version of MTV and is owned by Viacom 18, a joint venture operation between MTV International owne ...

's ''

Ace of Space 1 ''Ace Of Space 1'' is the first season of Indian reality competition television series, ''MTV Ace of Space''. Hosted by Vikas Gupta, it aired from 20 October 2018 to 31 December 2018 on MTV India. After 71 days, Divya Agarwal Divya Agarwal is ...

''. Tenzin Marko gave a TedTalk on TEDxDharmshala on August 29, 2019. Titled “The Monk Who Traded His Robes for Skirts”, Marko narrates her story of accepting her sexuality and coming out as the first Tibetan transgender woman.

References

Transgender in Asia Tibetan people Transgender female models Transgender actresses 1997 births Living people People from Kangra district {{LGBT-bio-stub