In her highly regarded talk, “Getting to Ellen: Gleaning Authenticity from a Moment of Truth,” Ellen (Ellie) Krug shares about a specific event that forced her to pivot and live authentically. As a result, at age fifty-two, Ellie transitioned from male to female.

With this talk, “Being Ellen: Gleaning Authenticity 2.0,” Ellie brings listeners along on all that happened in the fifteen-plus years from when she got the chance for a complete life do-over, a second chance, to live as her true self.

Her arduous journey of self-discovery included learning all the formal and hidden rules of womanhood and working to erase the vestiges of her former male life. She also discovered what love and allyship truly meant, and how others, including her best male friend from eighth grade, never wavered in their support.

But not everyone was willing to accept Ellie, including her oldest daughter, Emily. But with persistence and love, Ellie left her heart open for Emily and others, hoping that they too would find enlightenment and someday return.

Ellie’s second chance also allowed her to finally live as an idealist working to make the world a better place, not only for transgender and queer people, but also for everyone else. In the process, she became a national speaker on human inclusivity, a nonprofit director, radio/podcast host, award-winning columnist and activist, and author.

Hers is a story of finally finding one’s voice and resonating with the Universe. Isn’t that what we each yearn for?

Come join Ellie as she shares about her womanhood journey and what she found—the love, the loss, and the rewards—by living true to herself. It’s a story for everyone, regardless of identity, life station, or anything else that separates us.

A Brief Bio for Ellie Krug: In 2009, when she was a civil trial attorney in Cedar Rapids with 100+ trials, Ellen (Ellie) Krug transitioned from male to female; she later became one of the few attorneys nationally to try jury cases in separate genders. The author of Getting to Ellen: A Memoir about Love, Honesty and Gender Change (2013) and Being Ellen: A Second Chance at Life (2025), Ellie has trained on diversity and inclusion to court systems, law firms, Fortune 100 corporations, and colleges/universities on more than 1000 occasions. A hopeless idealist, Ellie has presented across North America with the goal of making the world better for all humans. She is the recipient of a number of awards and recognition, including the 2023 Stonewall Award from the American Bar Association, a 2019 OutFront Minnesota Legacy Award, and Advocate Magazine naming Ellie as one of “25 Legal Advocates Fighting for Trans Rights.” She is also a columnist for Minnesota Women’s Press and a weekly radio host on AM950 radio, with her show, “The Illegal Trans Woman.” Her monthly e-newsletter, The Ripple, reaches 9000+ readers and can be found at www.elliekrug.com . In November 2022, Ellie was elected to her local school board in a rural-urban county outside the Twin Cities, making her one of a handful of transgender school board members in America.