I'm JoAnn Roberts

...the owner of Creative Design Services and a partner in 3-D Communications, Inc.

Let me tell you a little bit about myself. I'm a crossdresser, married with two kids. My spouse and I have been together 36 years. We were high-school sweethearts and we will be married 28 years in 1998. My children know all about JoAnn and accept this part of me.

I got very serious about my transgendered nature in 1980 and by 1987 had co-founded the Renaissance Transgender Association with Angela Gardner, Alison Laing, Trudy Henry and Melanie Bryan. Today, Renaissance is one of the leading transgender organizations in the U.S. and a major source of educational information for the transgender community.

JoAnn RobertsTwo years before creating Renaissance, I had started a small business called CDS to help buy some clothes and maybe go to an event or two now and then. I wrote my first book, Art & Illusion: A Guide to Crossdressing in 1985 and put it up for sale in October of that year. Janet Green in San Jose bought the very first copy (and it was sold over a TG BBS service). Little did I know then what CDS would eventually become. CDS is now how I earn a living. I publish nearly a dozen books, a dozen videos and LadyLike magazine.

CDS went online on the WWW in September of 1994, thanks to the kindness of Tina in Norway. I started designing this site in December of 1994, and it went online in mid-April 1995. The purpose was to provide a complete Online Resource Guide for the transgender community. In January of 1996, I entered into a partnership with Cindy Martin and Jamie Faye Fenton. Together we're called 3-D Communications, Inc., and our goal was to develop the largest transgender resource on the World Wide Web. We created the Transgender Forum E-zine, along with the TGForum Resource Center and the TGForum Community Center.

I'm very active in community politics. I've served as the head of Renaissance twice, initially as its first Managing Director and then as Chair of the Board for its 10th Anniversary in 1997. I was Chair of the board of the American Educational Gender Information Service (AEGIS) from 1992 to 1996. I was elected to the International Foundation for Gender Education board twice and last served in 1994. I was a co-founder of the Congress of Transgender Organizations (CTO), the Transgender Alliance for Community (TAC), and GenderPAC. I also authored the original Bill of Gender Rights in 1990.

JoAnn Roberts Lest you think I'm some stuffy old fart, those are really pictures of me and I'm definitely part Drag Queen. I believe you can be pretty and have brains too. I love performing onstage at my Paradise In The Poconos weekends. It gets in your blood. Do it once and you're hooked! I hope you'll try to visit with us at one of the weekends.

If you have a suggestion for books we should be carrying, please use the Feedback form on the index page to let me know. I'm sorry but I just don't have time to "chat" by email. But, I do answer any and every legitimate question, so don't be afraid to ask a question. Send them to me at JoAnn@cdspub.com.

If you must write, send your letters to CDS, PO Box 61263, King of Prussia, PA 19406.

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