SINGAPORE - She often tells people that she has two birthdays.

The first is in July when she was born. And the second is in November.

"That's when I was reborn into the woman I am now," said Miss Amy Tashiana Ali , 47, with a chuckle as she tossed back her long locks.

She was born a man but she always felt she was trapped in the wrong body.

That did not stop her from pursuing her childhood dream of becoming a model.

In the 1980s and 1990s, she appeared in fashion spreads in the glossies.

She also walked down runways in many fashion shows alongside the top local models of the era, such as Freda Amir and Anita Akbar.

And except for her friends and those in the modelling industry, no one suspected that she was a man.

But life was not all smooth sailing for the former model.

Her mother died when she was seven years old and her father soon married a woman whom she could not get along with.

So she ran away from home when she was 13 and dropped out of school in Secondary 2.

A group of older transsexuals then took her in and prepared her for her ultimate transformation.

"They taught me how to put on make-up, how to dress and how to develop my breasts..." she said.

She started taking hormones to become more feminine when she turned 14.

Then, one day, her elder sister came looking for her.

"She asked me what I was doing and I told her what I wanted to be. My sister said that if I were to be a woman, then, it's better to be a good one. I was also advised to make peace with my dad. So, after that, I began visiting my family on and off."

To earn a living, she worked mainly in the food and beverage industry.

She went for breast implants at the age of 17. and then decided to sign up for a modelling course with Carrie Models.

"This was a move that changed my entire life. The agency knew I still had my male parts. (So) I just did runway shows... I did not do swimwear shows or wear skimpy clothes for obvious reasons," she said.

She only went to Bangkok for gender reassignment surgery four years later.

After her return to Singapore, she went on to become one of the top transgender models here.

She could wear whatever she wanted. "I'd arrived, darling!" she purred, batting her lashes.

She said that one of the first things she did after her surgery was to change her identity card (IC) so that she would be legally recognised as a woman.

"Women like me are always thankful to be Singaporeans. After the surgery and after all the proper paperwork, we can all be legally recognised as women. My IC now shows an 'F' (for female) instead of an 'M' (for male).

"But 'sisters' (fellow transsexuals) in Malaysia and even Thailand aren't as lucky. They can be biologically beautiful women after undergoing a sex change. But their ICs still say that they are men. Can you imagine? It's quite sad," she said.

The former model has been single since 2005, but had been in two serious relationships after becoming a woman. The men - a Singaporean and a Briton - knew she is a transsexual.

Heaving a sigh, she added that she almost married the latter but the relationship did not work out in the end.

She is now working as a fashion coordinator for events management company Showtology.

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