To experience Ts Madison is a gift––and a masterclass in taking up space. Ever the renaissance woman, the multi-hyphenate entertainer has used candid storytelling online as a tool to educate, inspire, and build community. Through walking in her purpose––all while being Black, trans, and femme, Madison continues to model another way of being in a society that tells us conformity and shrinking is the only way.
As I worked on this story, trying to summarize the secret sauce that has made the 46-year-old, who hails from the Dade County area of Florida, such a sensation, I found myself stuck: How do you condense the greatness and cultural contributions of a person into a few succinct sentences? What I can say for sure is Madison is a walking testimony of the power of embracing your gifts with open arms; she is an example of what a willingness to build a space for yourself, no matter what you’ve gone through and how marginalized your identities are, can open up for you when you invest in yourself rather than waiting on corporate bigwigs and other entities to see your value.
For over a decade, hundreds of thousands of viewers have tuned into Madison sharing recaps of her day, immersed in her world as she freeflowed into a camera phone about her joys and annoyances, delved into current events, and recounted heaux tales from her time doing survival sex work via street prostitution and adult film (the latter resulted in Madison stacking a pretty penny and buying a home, pioneering the adult film genre coined Trans Hood Erotica, and safeguarding her film rights to ensure she receives money when her adult film work is streamed, which she has since retired from).
A luminary in every sense, Madison’s resume has swelled with sparkling additions like chatting all things pop culture and current events alongside friend and co-host Craig “The Writer” Stewart on the YouTube talk show Phag Tawlk, which she and Stewart are currently on tour for. Madison is also a judge on RuPaul’s Drag Race, she appears on Tyler Perry’s Netflix series Beauty in Black; she’s had memorable roles in A24’s Zola as the strip club house mutha and in the gay romcom Bros, she’s recognized as the first Black trans woman to have a talk show and reality series (The Ts Madison Experience); And in a mic drop of all mic drops––Madison had an impromptu 2020 YouTube video of hers repurposed into the famous outro on Beyoncé’s song “Cozy” from the Grammy-award winning Renaissance album.
Despite being very booked and busy, Madison found time to exercise a new creative muscle––fragrances. In partnership with the fragrance company METHRA, she debuted her first perfume, EH-VRITHENG, a sweet and mysterious mix of lychee, pink pepper, ginger, vetiver, Turkish rose, jasmine, and more. And recently released the follow-up, Eh-Vritheng BLACK, which offers a moodier vibe that smells tailor-made for nighttime adventures, thanks to notes like amber, cinnamon, nutmeg, bergamot, and tonka bean. Madison recommends mixing Eh-Vritheng BLACK with a vanilla, cashmere, or toasted almond scent to enhance the goodness and take the scent experience to the next level. There’s also a little something extra in each bottle—seduction.
“I’m a girl who believes in manifestations and intent and things like that,” Madison says. “When I partnered with METHRA, I told them I want these smells that have these herbs that do these certain things.”
While the star has had her share of pinch-me milestones, she’s still learning how to savor the wins. “I’m learning. People will say you’re only as big as your next thing, but that’s not true,” she says. Madison admits it can be tough to slow down when her creative juices always flow with ideas. “I’ve done a lot of firsts and a lot of way-making for the next. I haven’t taken a lot of time to bask in it like I should or like I would love to, but I promised myself that going forward, every new project that happens, I’m gonna celebrate. Whatever you believe in––God, the universe, I think it’s a slap in the face of what’s bigger than you to not celebrate, because what’s bigger than you is what’s providing it to you.”
Here, Madison shares how she’s bringing her signature flair to the fragrance world, what to expect from the Ts Madison Starter House—a fresh start in the form of housing and mentorship for Black trans women transitioning out of sex work, and the tried-and-true formula for connecting to your gifts.
This interview has been lightly edited and condensed.
ESSENCE: Your second gender-free fragrance, Eh-Vritheng BLACK, is now out in the world. Can you give some insight into the intention that went into creating the scent?
Ts Madison: What I didn’t tell people the first go around is when you spray it, you tell it what you need it to do for you. Listen, this is very much so, I’m beautiful, I’m fabulous, everything that looks upon me, looks upon me. It’s commanding. I want you to eat me. I want you to lust for me. I want you to follow me. You know, that type of stuff.
Put it on your pressure points, behind your ear, rub it in between your thighs. Hand to God, girl, I go to the airport and it’s happening. It’s men, it’s women. Oh God, you’re so pretty! That’s a nice dress and you smell good. I was like, mhmmm, yes, you’re caught up in the rapture. [begins singing Anita Baker] Been so long, been missing you, baby. That’s that Anita Baker. That’s that Regina Belle “Baby Come to Me.” If you let a guy smell it, he’ll be like, Ooh I like this. I don’t know what it is about you tonight, girl, but you glowin.’
The fragrance includes an affirmation card that gives a nod to you being featured on the popular Beyoncé song “Cozy” from the Renaissance album—which was epic! Can you talk about the role affirming yourself has played in your life?
Here’s the thing I think people don’t understand when they hear Transsexual Madison—I’m Black. I get the full Black experience. I get the full Black experience from so many different marginalized places. I’m also plus-size, I’m also male, I’m also a transgender woman, I’m also over 40. There are so many societal norms that are stacked against me. If I allowed the negativity to be at the forefront of my thinking, I would never achieve.
Who is this loud-mouthed Black girl? Who is this loud-mouthed cosplaying man that’s playing as a woman that thinks he is a she? There’s that aspect. Who is this Black transgender woman over here that thinks they have the right to have a big enough voice to stand ten toes down in white patriarchal society? You’re not a woman, you’re not a real man, you’re not female, you’re fat, you’re unattractive. I’d crumble if I didn’t keep affirming to myself that I can do all things and that I am beautiful and no I’m not female, but I am a transgender woman.
I think there’s such an allure to people who seem at ease and at peace in their essence and their authenticity. But it can also stir up things in other people who maybe don’t know how to access that in their own life. How do you protect your peace when encountering that?
If you continue to ask what’s bigger than you to give you the strength or the ability or the knowledge to make it work, it will intervene. Nothing anyone has told you about what’s within your reach or what they don’t see for you [is final]––you have to see it. You have to make a pact between you, God, the universe, the creator, the ancestors and be like, I know you got me. If I’m here and I’m supposed to get it, you got me.
I likened it to Peter walking on water. Jesus said, “Come. Get out of that boat and come.” And the doubt within Peter was like, but how can I walk on water, I’m not a god, I’m a man? When Peter stepped foot and he was focused on Jesus, that water was solid as ground. But the moment he started seeing the wind and the storm and all of this going around, he began to sink. Don’t lose focus on what gives you the power to be exactly what you are. Don’t lose focus on what empowers you for the noise, the storm.
In 2024, you made a major announcement that you were turning the first home you purchased into The Ts Madison Starter House, which will offer housing, mentorship, and other resources to Black trans women. What are you most excited about?
I’m excited about how many lives we can impact. We had an expected opening time and an expected intake time, but things got a little rocky. There was a situation going on with my friend Dominique Morgan, who brought me into the philanthropy space. She had a situation going on, two or three years prior to even meeting me, that followed her and kind of threw us off of the trajectory. [Allegations of misuse of funds were made against Morgan by The Okra Project, an organization where she formerly worked, which resulted in charges being filed in a New York court. The case is pending.]
I can’t speak heavily on her case but we’re back in motion. She was already in there doing the work and partnering me up with organizations that will help me fulfill my dream of helping my community. NAESM is still at the helm. Dominique was and is still a consultant but I’m partnered with NAESM. Once we fix little kinks in the house and refurnish it and are fully up and running, we’re going to open our doors to the futures of so many Black trans women who are going to go out in the world and walk in their purpose. I’m excited that my presence here on earth will never leave even when my physical does.
That’s a beautiful legacy. That’s such a special thing to have guidance to find your purpose.
It goes back to not losing sight of the vision you had for yourself. That vision was given to you by the divine. We lose sight of it because of that noise.
