"In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes" - Andy Warhol, 1968
When I came out to my town, I posted an open letter to the citizens on the town web site (NewHopeTx.gov). The letter was intended for the people of New Nope as a way to explain myself to all the people I could not reach in person. I expected little outside attention other than a mild interest from the nearest city, McKinney.
The letter came to the attention of a reporter from the Texas Observer, who posted and article (below) on the web the night of my first meting presenting as Jess. By the time I went to bed that night, it was on web sites across the U.S. and started appearing on sites in the U.K.
The next morning (February 1, 2017) my email inbox and Facebook messenger were exploding with mail. Most from people offering support and congratulations, but there were an increasing number of requests from newspapers and the local TV news. By 10 am I have 4 television trucks parked in my driveway. The next day My wife and I went from TV station to TV station appearing on morning news shows.
Over the next 2 weeks ( it's week 3 as I write this and it's calming down finally) I gave numerous interviews for Radio, TV and articles.
Here is a collection of my favorite.
Magazine Articles
News Articles
There were literally thousands of web sites that carried the story, most were just reposts of the Texas Observer. These are the ones that called and interviewed me personally.
The Dallas Morning News did the most investigation - I talked with Eline de Bruijn several times and she sent a photographer to my house. They ran this in print as well as the web.
IN 2018 Dallas Morning News Capital Reporter Lauren McGaughy interviewed me about my bid for re-election. The article was posted to DallasNews.com and printed in the Sunday paper, front page of the Metro Section
Who would not be flattered to be in the Rolling Stone - Even if I didn't get my picture on the cover!
The New York Times also ran this in print in the weekend edition.
Fortune magazine was a really well written article
Probably my favorite amoung the many excellent articles was The Daily Beast , the only transgender journalists to interview me.
Radio Interviews
There were several Radio stations that I interviewed for. Most were via the phone, but KERA and The Ticket were both in studio. I was, and am, amazed that they would be interested in talking to me.
TV interviews
Videos are a bit large to post here , But if you visit YouTube or Facebook & search 'Jess Herbst' you can find several more there.
Here are my 2 favorite.
I have been a fan of the BBC my whole life, so getting a request for a live on camera interview was amazing.
The Young Turks is a popular YouTube Channel. Although they did not contact me directly, I love the piece they did.
