Cheryl was adopted and grew up in Washington, DC. Her parents both had good government jobs and they were a musical family. Around the age of 12, Cheryl realized that her father was abusing her mother regularly in their basement. One day she tried to get help from a neighbor, but they said it was just what couples did.
“I was born and raised in Washington, DC. I had a great life, a wonderful husband, two children, and a 23 year career with the Washington Police Department.” As a drastic before and after picture flashed upon the big screen, Lee shared, “At 36, I was at an emotionally distressed place. I turned to alcohol and then cocaine to fill the void, and I lost everything. I escaped to NY, and I experienced every bad thing that could happen to a woman on drugs in NY: I am the survivor of emotional, physical and sexual abuse.” Her turning point, she says, is when some police offers stopped to say hello to her, and she remembered a glimmer of her past life. She got on the Greyhound bus back to DC.
My name is Nataki, which means “princess” in Swahili.
There were no transgender role models in the city where I grew up. As I got older, the only way I knew how to be myself was by going to clubs, prostitution, and using drugs.
