Jodie Patterson: Mom on a Mission, By T.C. Lockard

Jodie Patterson is the author of The Bold World, beauty line entrepreneur at Georgia , human rights advocate and most importantly mother of five. Around 2010 Jodies’ life changed in a drastic way. Her child, Penelope, told her something that would change Jodies life forever. On that day Penelope confessed the reason for his anxiety and hard time with life; he admitted to his mother he was not the girl he was assigned at birth. Jodie, having virtually no knowledge on transgender identities, sprang into action.

In her interview with NBCNews Jodie says, "That was a lot of the feedback that we received: Penelope's too young to know about sexuality… Black children aren't transgender… God doesn't allow for this,” Patterson remembered. So she took matters into her own hands.

She became her sons’ biggest advocate. Jodie launched into countless hours of studying and researching topics related to transgender identity and gender non conforming people. She also concocted what she calls “The Lab” to help her immediate family. Jodie describes it as a roundtable of sorts, where every member of her family gets to say what they want regarding the topic and everyone else listens until it’s the next turn. Engaging in this way has led Jodi to gain a perspective the world desperately needs : “We can look at big ideas, not get rattled by them, and then they become no big deal, and we can actually live together. ”Patterson said. “So we don't agree on God. We don't agree on gender. We don't agree on race. However, we can eat a meal together, we can share life together.”

Today Jodie Patterson is the Board Director with Human Rights Campaign (HRC) and gives international speeches on gender, including her most known Ted Talk ‘ Gender is Obsolete’. No matter what titles or offices Jodie holds now or in the future, it seems safe to say, mom will be her favorite title of all.