Mimi Marks
Encyclopedia
Mimi Marks is a transsexual entertainer. She performs at The Baton Show Lounge in Chicago, Ill..

Mimi was born Mark in Waterloo, Iowa
Waterloo, Iowa
Waterloo is a city in and the county seat of Black Hawk County, Iowa, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census the population decreased by 0.5% to 68,406. Waterloo is part of the Waterloo – Cedar Falls Metropolitan Statistical Area, and is the more populous of the two...

, but grew up in Oelwein, Iowa
Oelwein, Iowa
As of the census of 2000, there were 6,692 people, 2,808 households, and 1,819 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,395.8 people per square mile . There were 3,040 housing units at an average density of 634.1 per square mile...

. As a boy, she recalls feeling "uncomfortable in her body," and had the "most difficult time" in her physical education class because, she says, "I didn't fit in at all."

After undergoing some sex-reassignment surgeries (to date Mimi still hasn't had complete sexual reassignment), Mark became Mimi. According to Trantasia
Trantasia
Trantasia is a mainstream feature-film documentary chronicling 6 contestants in the first ever 'World's Most Beautiful Transsexual Pageant'...

http://trantasiathemovie.com/, a transsexual beauty pageant documentary, she has lived as a woman since she was 21 years old. Mimi started performing in Milwaukee at a club called "Dance, Dance, Dance" with some help from a performer from Australia by the name of Holly Brown. Mimi says that, for transwomen in Chicago, the test of whether they can pass as women is to appear in public at Wrigley Field
Wrigley Field
Wrigley Field is a baseball stadium in Chicago, Illinois, United States that has served as the home ballpark of the Chicago Cubs since 1916. It was built in 1914 as Weeghman Park for the Chicago Federal League baseball team, the Chicago Whales...

, home of the Chicago Cubs
Chicago Cubs
The Chicago Cubs are a professional baseball team located in Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the Central Division of Major League Baseball's National League. They are one of two Major League clubs based in Chicago . The Cubs are also one of the two remaining charter members of the National...

: “"If you could walk through Wrigley-ville, like, during a Cubs game and not get 'spooked,' and not have anybody call you out, you were like the 'girl-iest' girl, you made it. I called [a friend] and said, 'I am at a Cubs game on first base, eleventh row. I made it. I'm a girl!'" http://insider.tv.yahoo.com/celeb/3871/

In 1986, Mimi won her first pageant title: Ms. Waterloo 1986. She has also won Miss International Queen, Pattaya
Pattaya
Pattaya is a city in Thailand, located on the east coast of the Gulf of Thailand, about 165 km southeast of Bangkok located within but not part of Amphoe Bang Lamung in the province of Chonburi....

, Thailand
Thailand
Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...

; The World's Most Beautiful Transsexual Contest
The World's Most Beautiful Transsexual Contest
The World's Most Beautiful Transsexual Contest is a beauty pageant that was held in Las Vegas in 2004 that selected the "most beautiful" transsexual in the world.Jahna Steele was the mistress of ceremonies for the pageant, in which 35 transwomen competed...

, Las Vegas
Las Vegas metropolitan area
The Las Vegas Valley is the heart of the Las Vegas-Paradise, NV MSA also known as the Las Vegas–Paradise–Henderson MSA which includes all of Clark County, Nevada, and is a metropolitan area in the southern part of the U.S. state of Nevada. The Valley is defined by the Las Vegas Valley landform, a ...

, Nevada
Nevada
Nevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its...

, USA; and Miss Continental
Miss Continental
Miss Continental is an annual transgender beauty pageant founded in 1980. It is organized by the founder of the Baton Show Lounge in Chicago and is usually held over Labor Day weekend.-Winners:*1980: Chilli Pepper*1981: Heather Fontaine...

, Chicago, Illinois, USA.

In 2008 Mimi appeared in Janet Jackson
Janet Jackson
Janet Damita Jo Jackson is an American recording artist and actress. Known for a series of sonically innovative, socially conscious and sexually provocative records, as well as elaborate stage shows, television and film roles, she has been a prominent figure in popular culture for over 25 years...

's musicvideo Rock With U
Rock with U
"Rock with U" is a song by American singer Janet Jackson from her tenth studio album, Discipline. It was written by Ne-Yo, Jermaine Dupri, and Eric Stamile, and produced by Dupri. The song, released in U.S...

.

Mimi is reported to have been the first ever openly transsexual runway model, working for the Ford Modeling agency
Ford Models
The Ford Modeling Agency, or as it is known today Ford Models, is a modeling agency in New York City. It was established in 1946 by Eileen and the late Gerard W. Ford.-Company:...

.

Mimi has kept Iowa close at heart, returning often to visit family and friends. For many years she was the star attraction at Waterloo, Iowa's Community AIDS
AIDS
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...

 Assistance Program (CAAP) Annual Benefit, a relatively large affair to raise funds for northeast Iowa's AIDS and HIV
HIV
Human immunodeficiency virus is a lentivirus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome , a condition in humans in which progressive failure of the immune system allows life-threatening opportunistic infections and cancers to thrive...

 community. Most recently she appeared as the master of ceremonies for a talent show held by PFLAG in the town where her oldest brother resides in north central Iowa.

External links

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