Hiding in Plain Sight

A refreshingly honest and authentic description of a courageous and often lonely life journey. Theresa Miles is a technical writer by trade, but now offers a completely unabashed chronicle about fighting for her own truth amidst a world of hidden disparities. From each carefully crafted chapter comes a host of windows, tools, and graceful insights into an experience for anyone who has felt lost or alone, giving a framework of self-acceptance, love, courage, & resiliency. Her rediscovery of purpose includes critical situational messages that touch on bias and bigotry when living in a self-inspired role opposite and hidden from almost everyone. Consider this book as a great gift for starting or continuing a conversation. So goes the truism, "people don't know what they don't know." Equally true is that to fully listen & hear someone else's story- you often follow a transformation of thought and replacement of preconceptions. While every story is uniquely one's own- the story of "Hiding in Plain Sight," speaks to the plight of so many marginalized communities and demonstrates how one spent nearly a lifetime working to put it all into perspective. This work is a fantastic guide for folks navigating how to be a loving ally or advocate, or simply those just wanting to understand more dynamically. Asking self-directed questions is often a great 'first step'. What began as a faith-inspired gratitude journal served as the very foundation & framework that Teri worked to keep before & after her transition. The book's key premise is that readers will learn from Teri's experience providing a prompt for LGBTQ+ youth and adults to begin their self-analysis… facing their challenge spelling out their thoughts & wrestling with them as she has so masterfully done. Her deepest hope is that readers searching for meaning learn and educate others and bear witness through advocacy. Use this book to educate yourself… to challenge yourself to practice unconditional love.

A refreshingly honest and authentic description of a courageous and often lonely life journey. Theresa Miles is a technical writer by trade, but now offers a completely unabashed chronicle about fighting for her own truth amidst a world of hidden disparities. From each carefully crafted chapter comes a host of windows, tools, and graceful insights into an experience for anyone who has felt lost or alone, giving a framework of self-acceptance, love, courage, & resiliency. Her rediscovery of purpose includes critical situational messages that touch on bias and bigotry when living in a self-inspired role opposite and hidden from almost everyone. Consider this book as a great gift for starting or continuing a conversation. So goes the truism, "people don't know what they don't know." Equally true is that to fully listen & hear someone else's story- you often follow a transformation of thought and replacement of preconceptions. While every story is uniquely one's own- the story of "Hiding in Plain Sight," speaks to the plight of so many marginalized communities and demonstrates how one spent nearly a lifetime working to put it all into perspective. This work is a fantastic guide for folks navigating how to be a loving ally or advocate, or simply those just wanting to understand more dynamically. Asking self-directed questions is often a great 'first step'. What began as a faith-inspired gratitude journal served as the very foundation & framework that Teri worked to keep before & after her transition. The book's key premise is that readers will learn from Teri's experience providing a prompt for LGBTQ+ youth and adults to begin their self-analysis… facing their challenge spelling out their thoughts & wrestling with them as she has so masterfully done. "Hiding in Plain Sight," isn't just a Testimony for Living- it is a vital and unique life-long account of perseverance. Rediscovery is one of the most valuable & genuine parts of our individual journeys on this Earth. We live in a world of break-neck speed, with many who fall behind often living only within other's agendas and expectations serving a lifetime of unanswered questions about who they really are- who they identify as and who can they turn to with unconditional support and love. The proceeds from this insightful memoir pieced together during Covid- 19 that will go to fuel the 'Miles in Front Foundation' established to continue ensuring that Trans, Non- Binary, & Genderqueer persons no longer have to wait for the world to catch up. These individuals deserve to live authentically and on the same level as everyone else. Enough of the violence and baseless motives behind those who refuse to acknowledge their loving presence- a true testimony to the diversity we all share on this planet. "This paper is one way I find gives me some 'self-therapy,' by probing my past to help resurface pain points that have been left dormant, to deal with them and dust them off… to put all things into perspective. Although, like many, there are many elements of my youth and past I would never want to repeat, but also that I would never trade- they make me who I am today." - Preface, Hiding in Plain Sight Sometimes there aren't names or labels for things you know are true. Sometimes your truth may be much more complicated than others can understand- what you do with that knowledge makes all the difference. Theresa Miles has chosen to take a stand & forge a path where there hasn't always been one during her life. She has taken what some might label as years of turmoil and concentrated on pulling out key opportunities on which we can all be inspired. This entire window into Teri's journey is just one way she is reaching out from the inside and will continue helping others find ways to write their story. This can be one way for you to learn how to touch a part of your own heart that's been hiding.

A technical writer by trade for 41 years, Theresa Madison Miles is an aspiring author only recently moving into a self-published memoir. Educated in Illinois and Wisconsin, Teri has dedicated her life to serving others in a coaching/mentoring role as a secondary education instructor (HS and collegiate levels), as a corporate trainer and consultant in a risk management function, and as an age group swim coach. Tapping her talents and skills in swimming and running track have helped her train and compete at high levels working toward pre-trial competitions. But when a professional career began drawing to a close and a family support system abandoned her, she reassessed her values and that commitment to serving others. After moving to a new city 8 years ago, building a support network and finding new, sustainable relationships had never been harder- especially given her renewed purpose- establishing a foundation that will be a focal mission to serve as a safe physical meeting place for outcast LBGTQ+ persons with an emphasis on Trans adults with nowhere to turn for help. Local agency support typically does not address adults caught in the crossfire of family, employers, religious practices, and home. The foundation will support the development of LGBTQ+ liberation through the establishment of a physical 'safe' space to emphasizing creation or re-purposing an existing site for a- • Transition House for short-term emergency residence for homeless LGBTQ+ adults and… • Recreation Center to provide a means of social gathering in a place free of hatred or judgment. • Resource Center from numerous supporting LGBTQ+Q+ agencies and sponsors for meeting rooms and assembly/social gatherings • Transition Rooms useful for those in need of exploring options available for clothing to support identity transition. This next chapter will be a means to fulfill her true mission in life- one that is a culmination of decades living to other's agendas and expectations without living fully authentic until this move. Teri has used her writings as a means of both self-therapy and to create a guide of life to others struggling with similar issues. There are no universal 'one size fits all answers, but her messages offer critical learnings that require authentic courage and vulnerability to bear one's soul to others, in print and in conversation. Readers and close friends describe her as 'ferociously honest with a patient and loving way that is easy to listen and follow'. Teri's early childhood plays a major role in her decades of life history unfolding in ways few would have ever predicted or imagined. Her writings explore those historic events and dissect situations that provided the growth and direction needed to begin this final phase of her life. That strength and resiliency is captured throughout her memoirs, providing a sense of purpose and testing her faith all the way. Teri received her BS degree at Illinois State University in 1978 and her master's at Kennedy Western University in 2004 en route to a 41-year career in corporate risk management. Among several roles over the years, she offered professional consulting to global business development focusing on workplace liability risk. Within that timespan, she was also an adjunct instructor at a Wisconsin University campus for graduate-level health promotion studies for 9 years and another two before that in HS construction technology in a 2-year assignment right out of college.