About this episode
Clyde has lived in Cebu all 22 years of her life. She works as a content moderator on a TikTok account, reviewing videos against client guidelines, and her paycheck helps keep her family afloat: her parents are getting older, and she has three younger sisters who are still in school and a younger brother. Her goals are concrete. She wants to buy a lot and build a house so the family can stop renting, own a small car so she can skip the one-to-two-hour commute by public transport, and one day see Boracay.
In her first podcast appearance, Clyde talks with host Todd Michael Gori about putting her own plans on hold. She wanted to study civil engineering after senior high school, and still does, but chose to work so her siblings could keep studying. The same priorities explain why she is not taking hormones yet. She would like to, she says, but bills, school fees and food come first. She admits that seeing other, more visibly transitioned ladyboys on the jeepney sometimes makes her insecure, and she says she still feels beautiful as she is.
On dating, Clyde describes a nearly four-year relationship that ended when she found out he was cheating, and a later, mostly positive connection with a foreign man she met online. Her rule is to be upfront from the first conversation about who she is and what she does and doesn't take, so that a man can decide honestly whether he accepts her. She treats setbacks as lessons rather than trauma. She also explains why she would rather save and pay cash for a car than take on installments.
The second half widens out. Todd shares his own experiences dating in the Philippines and his views on why so many foreigners leave with the wrong impression. He makes the case for Cebu's IT Park as a place to find work and to start out in the country, and he closes by explaining why the podcast gives ladyboys their own series.
Highlights
“I still have plans to pursue my dreams and finish college, but for now I need to focus on what my mom needs.”
“If I date a guy, I tell him: this is me. I didn't take hormones. So it's for you to decide whether you date me or not.”
“Whenever something bad happens in my life, I don't treat it as trauma. It's a lesson to be learned.”
“I will not own that thing if it's not yet fully paid. I want to own it on the spot, in cash.”
“I feel like it's very important to have ladyboys on the podcast, and to get their life out there: what took them down this path in their life.”
From the host’s chair
Todd runs the conversation as a series of plain, curious questions: what her job actually involves, how long the commute takes, why she isn't on hormones, how she knows when a man really accepts her. He often stops to sum up what he has heard so that listeners can follow along. He also talks about his own life openly, including his rough start dating in the Philippines, and his strong opinions on jobs, English and foreigners who leave heartbroken women behind. At the end, Clyde asks why he features ladyboys. Todd says the show is meant to record what ordinary people in the Philippines go through day to day, the parts that upbeat travel vlogs tend to leave out, and that a ladyboy's decision to transition and the public scrutiny that comes with it deserve to be heard in her own words.
Questions about this episode
- Who is the guest on Season 1, Episode 3 of The Todd Michael Podcast?
- The guest is Clyde, a 22-year-old from Cebu who works as a content moderator and supports her family. The episode is part of the podcast's series The Ladyboy Diaries.
- Why isn't Clyde taking hormones?
- She says she would like to, but her money goes first to rent, bills, food and her younger siblings' school costs. She plans to transition later, when her priorities allow.
- Why does The Todd Michael Podcast have a series about ladyboys?
- Todd Michael Gori explains that he organizes the podcast into series for different groups of people, including Filipino women, ladyboys, men and business people, because each group has walked a different path. He believes ladyboys' day-to-day lives and the decision to transition are rarely shown honestly.
Notes written from the episode recording. Quotes are lightly edited for clarity; timestamps link to the moment on YouTube.