We recently connected with Charlie Alexander and have shared our conversation below.

Charlie, appreciate you joining us today. Can you tell us about an important lesson you learned while working at a prior job?

My business partner and I both used to work at a local nonprofit. After way too much mistreatment, unfair wages, and ableism, the staff decided to unionize. Both my business partner and I ended up getting fired. I was fired for what was, in my opinion, an act of retaliation since I was the main person pushing back against the management team. When I started my business, my business partner and I promise each other that we would always give each other the respect we deserve. We would never follow in the footprints of our previous employers. I learned a big lesson from that experience which is this: there is power in collaboration, equity, and respect/kindness/love for the people we work with.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I am a transgender nonbinary single parent to two wonderful kids. I am queer and polyamorous, two pillars of my identity. I became an educator because I believe that education is the foundation for liberation. I went to college at the University of New Mexico and graduated in 2022 with a Bachelor of Arts in Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology, and a Certificate in Race and Social Justice. I am set to start graduate school next year where I hope to earn a Master of Education in Human Sexuality Studies. I am passionate about sexual health and pleasure, disability justice, and anything sex- and gender-related. I became pregnant at the age of 17 and had no resources or support. As I got older, I decided I wanted to offer what I never got: education around these topics including how to find necessary resources and support. On top of all this, I am an artist and use my art not only as a tool for healing, but also in my business. My artistic skills have been utilized in TNET’s social media posts, videos, images, and zines, among other yet-to-be-released products and content. Right now, TNET provides trainings and other educational content related to transness, gender, and sex. We conduct in-person and virtual trainings, sell zines that we’ve created, and have recently opened a webstore to sell products made by trans people. Supporting our community members is a top priority for me and my business, so helping our friends and community members sell their goods/art is one way we are achieving that.

Transgender people are being targeted in the political sphere right now (and have always been a major target historically) and it is critical that people learn more about what being transgender means. When we do not hold knowledge about something, it is hard for us to have empathy and understanding. The more we learn, the more likely we are to see other perspectives as valid. My job is vital because, by providing inclusive, accessible trans-related educational content, materials, and trainings, we are normalizing transness and giving people the knowledge they need so they can find comfort and acceptance in the trans community. After all, you don’t know what you don’t know, but don’t worry, we will teach you!

What sets us apart? Our commitment to supporting our community, resting our bodies/minds when we need it, collaborating in an equitable/equally-beneficial way, and providing high-quality, updated information and educational content. We’re also two people who helped start a union! That’s pretty cool!

I am most proud of my tenacity and passion. My business partner is another tenacious and passionate person and we are unstoppable together. Something to know about me: I will always work toward accessibility and inclusion. I helped start a Disability Justice group called Crip Liberation and we are still going over two years strong. When I say accessible, I mean that in every context. TNET regularly gives free trainings and services for folks that cannot afford them and we will will make every accommodation we can if it means even one more person can access our content. My heart and soul goes into my work and I hope that it shows!

Any thoughts, advice, or strategies you can share for fostering brand loyalty?

We keep in touch with people via social media, email, and cultivating genuine relationships! The people who support us the most are often our friends and community members, so we show up for them, too!

Brand loyalty? Here’s the thing. TNET supports all educators and folks in our realm of business. If you find someone whose content cater more to what you’re looking for, please support them instead of us. We do not believe you need to come to us for everything if it isn’t really for you. I have a lot of friends and know other community members who are educators and are in similar lines of work. I support them all! I regularly recommend them to folks who may want something specific that TNET either doesn’t yet offer, or who we feel can do it better. Brand loyalty is a capitalist concept. We’re here to do our part, not to take from anyone else.

How’d you meet your business partner?

Stacy, my business partner and co-owner of TNET, is one of my most favorite people on the planet. We met at our last job which was a resource center for trans people here in Albuquerque. We worked in very separate programs, but we had this idea of creating a resource together because I had already done something similar for my program. We had decided to join forces and do this project together. Very shortly before we decided to unionize, I saw Stacy at an all-staff meeting and they just looked completely dead inside. Their light–that was there in the beginning–was gone. I looked at them and asked, “are you… okay?” They burst out with “no, I’m not okay.” And began listing all of the things that were troubling them. I knew then that they’d join the union efforts. We started talking more during the unionizing process and once they got fired, they decided to revamp transeducation.net and needed help taking photos for the website. I offered to help and from then on, we started meeting at a local coffee shop and discussing TNET and that project we had wanted to do while we were at the organization. After I was fired about a month later, I committed to helping Stacy more substantially so we could work on that project until I could figure out my job situation. At one of our coffee shop meets they said, “so, I am going to change my sole proprietorship to a partnership LLC so I can add you on as a co-owner.” I was SHOCKED because no one had ever shown so much appreciation and acknowledgement of my work. They then explained to me how I’d been instrumental at getting TNET off the ground and that I have every right to TNET as they do. From then on, we’ve grown in our professional partnership and in our friendship. We have completely aligned values when it comes to how we treat people and how we want to run a business. We both believe that as long as we always do what we know to be the right thing to do, then we just can’t go wrong. And here we are eight months later.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.transeducation.net
• Instagram: TNET: @tnet.trainings, @tnet.store Me: @charlietherainbowunicorn, @charlietalkssex
• Youtube: @transeducation
• Other: To get a training: www.tnet.training To buy stuff from us and other trans makers: www.tnet.store The Trans Love Project: www.tnet.love

Image Credits
Charlie Alexander (me)