Ash’s Gender Affirming Care Fund

Hello, my name is Ash, sometimes better known as Ash Tray. I’m a trans woman and drag performer based in Tennessee looking to fundraise for costs associated with my transition; those costs being my breast augmentation & electrolysis. The funds acquired through this fundraiser would be used to help me pay for any out of pocket costs associated with the breast augmentation surgery, the time I would be required to be out of work for recovery from the surgery & paying for my electrolysis sessions.

I have been transitioning for nearly 3 years now and as of April 16th, 2024, thanks to this GoFundMe, I was able to get facial feminization surgery. This surgery has completely improved my quality of life & I can say with confidence that getting it was the best decision of my life. I am now at a point in my transition where I feel I only have a few steps left in order to feel as though my transition is complete; those steps being a breast augmentation & receiving electrolysis (a form of hair removal).

I have been on estrogen for 3 years as of July, 2024. While I’m not ungrateful for the breasts that have developed through my 3 years of hormone replacement therapy, they are rather small & cause me a great amount of gender dysphoria. I tend to wear baggy shirts & take great effort on a daily basis to disguise the fact that I have rather small breasts. It’s a dream of mine to be able to confidently wear a low cut top, a dress, or blouse in general without feeling ashamed or embarrassed of my lack of breasts. I’ve found & consulted with a surgeon that does phenomenal work & specializes in doing breast augmentations on trans women. I am hoping to get this procedure done before October of this year, as that is when the insurance year ends & I would have to pay more in the following insurance year due to my deductible resetting.

As far as electrolysis goes, I have to shave my face every single day in order to be presentable as a woman to the world without feeling uncomfortable/unsafe in public. Shaving everyday causes small cuts & razor bumps on my face, and getting electrolysis would permanently remove the hairs on my face so that I wouldn’t have to shave & deal with these issues anymore. I’ve been quoted that I will be needing 20-24 hour long sessions of electrolysis in order to have the hair completely removed from my face for good. It is a dream of mine to be able to just wake up and walk out of the house without having to drag a razor across my face, possibly causing unnecessary cuts & bumps.

If yall would be so kind as to donate & help me to complete these last few steps of my transition, it would help my life immensely. I have been stuck at my job at Starbucks for over 3 years in order to have health insurance that covers hormone replacement therapy, gender affirming surgeries, & other transition related things. The job is monotonous, the hours are very inconsistent, the pay isn’t that great, & it feels kind of like a dead end as far as a career goes. If I were able to complete these next steps of my transition, I would be in a position to where I would be able to move on from this job & do something more meaningful with my life. I dream of being able to have a fulfilling career where I’m able to help people, where I can pursue my love of drag & art on the side, without feeling completely physically drained from a job that barely pays me enough to live & takes so much out of me on a day-to-day basis.