Alright. Well, it all started when I was about 20 years old. I was a struggling university student in the sciences and didn’t have the funds for rent, school, and gender-affirmative care. Going outside became a struggle. My friends and family were supportive, but I still had trouble with groceries and such because my physical dysphoria was so strong. I barely left the house and my mental health suffered quite a bit from it. I just wanted to go outside as me, you know? And the person in the mirror didn’t quite feel like me yet.

I’d been working with drones and holographic technology in my school projects and that’s when it hit me. If I couldn’t go out in this body, why not make the right one?

How does HologramU work?

So it works like a VR game, basically! You put the headset on, activate the drone, and it projects a hologram version of you, modified to fit your preferred presentation if you want, that can go wherever you need to go. You can socialise, go to the park, and generally interact with society in a way you might not be able to otherwise. It’s also been a great asset for the disabled community.

So a university science project turned into an amazing piece of technology that’s changed people’s lives for the better. How do you feel about that?

It’s better than anything I could’ve ever hoped for. And it paid for my gender-affirmative care, too! (Laughs.) No, the real reward is knowing that I can help people live their lives a little easier. We all deserve that.

And HologramU is free worldwide, is that right?

That’s right! We’re largely funded by donations from the gender-diverse community, and we’ve got more than enough to handle production, servers, and shipping the technology to every person that needs it. I really hated the idea of putting something that could save lives behind a paywall, especially when I’d been in the same situation years ago.

And what of the solid colours that the holograms come in? I ended up with a neon yellow hologram. I’m a safety hazard, Martine.

(Laughs.) That’s just a little fun for the people using HologramU. I used to love those little personality tests that you’d get in magazines – remember the ones? You’d answer questions and they’d tell you what flower you were, or things like that. I loved stealing them from my sister’s collection. HologramU users can change their colours whenever they like.

Thank you for letting us interview you, Martine!