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Janae Marie Kroczaleski is a transgender woman with a remarkable, unique life story. She is a world champion and world record-breaking powerlifter, champion bodybuilder, published author, a U.S. Marine who served on Presidential Security Duty, cancer survivor, licensed pharmacist, and proud parent of three teenage sons. Janae is the subject of an award-winning feature documentary film about her transition from male to female, "Transformer," which will be released worldwide in 2018.
Born Matthew Kroczaleski in 1972, Janae grew up in rural Michigan. She first started lifting weights at nine, and by the time she was in high school was competing in powerlifting as well as other sports. Even though she knew from a very early age that she identified as female, Janae continued to live publicly as "Matt" for over four decades. After graduation, she served in the United States Marine Corps for four years and was selected for Presidential security duty during the Clinton administration. After completing active duty in 1995, Janae earned her Bachelor of Science in pharmacy and began a career as a licensed pharmacist. She married, had three boys, continued to advance in her weight training, and rapidly became one of the most successful and popular athletes in powerlifting. Janae was renowned for her training intensity, mental toughness, and ability to overcome serious injuries. In 2009 she set the 220 lb. class world record with a combined squat/bench/deadlift of 2,551 pounds. In 2006 she was the 2006 Arnold Schwarzenegger Classic WPO World Middleweight Champion. After powerlifting she achieved success as a bodybuilder, winning the NPC Michigan State Championships in 2010 and competing at the NPC National Championships in 2013.
Janae's immediate family knew she was transgender throughout this time, even though she had not made it public. Janae's success as a powerlifter and bodybuilder brought her numerous endorsement deals, magazine covers and articles, and fame throughout the world of weightlifting and bodybuilding. In the Spring of 2015 she was publicly outed. Despite losing her endorsement deals, thousands of fans supported Janae's embracing her non-binary, gender fluid identity as a physically powerful transgender woman. Since coming out as transgender she has appeared on Inside Edition, TMZ, numerous radio shows and pod casts.
Janae now speaks at colleges, universities, companies, and organizations across the country about her experiences navigating through life as a gender fluid, non-binary transgender woman, and has a large, devoted following on social media. She is the subject of numerous profiles in major print and online publications, including the Huffington Post and Muscle & Fitness Magazine. The award-winning documentary feature film, "Transformer," sponsored by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, followed Janae through the first two years of her public transition from male to female. It won both the Jury Award and Audience Award for Best Documentary Feature at the Austin Film Festival in 2017, was an official entry and sold out three screenings at the 2018 HotDocs Film Festival, and will be released worldwide in 2018.
