Maureen Raisch figured it was time. As senior designer at the NFL and the lead behind the Super Bowl XVI logo for the 2022 game in Los Angeles, Raisch strives to to make her creations authentic. Earlier this month, she knew it was time to make her authentic self known to the world.
“I arrived at place in my life where i needed to face who my authentic self was to move forward,” Raisch said in a video she released for Transgender Awareness Week.
“What I’m pleased to share is that as daunting as a task it was, I have the support and acceptance of my creative team and the league itself. That gives me strength to come out as transgender in the NFL. We have an opportunity at the NFL to create change. At creative, we dream up the impossible, but for me, life imitated art. I stand here rebranded as my authentic self.”
Raisch, 39, who has an extensive background as a designer in the sports industry, has been out to her NFL co-workers and close family and friends for seven months, she told Dawn Ennis (former managing editor of Outsports) in an interview for Forbes.
Raisch came out to most of her co-workers via Zoom. She said her transition actually benefited from the Covid-19 lockdown and the resulting work-from-home isolation. When the NFL offered its staff half-days, she took advantage of the opportunity to have her first makeover.
“I had a whole makeup session where they completely transformed me, and God, that was just irrefutable, the euphoria I felt,” said Raisch. “It just quieted my mind. The balance I felt, coming out the other side, ‘Oh my God. We can just do this?’ It was so right and a very special time for me.”
On Nov. 18, her official public coming out, Raisch posted to Twitter:
I shared my authentic self at the #NFL today. It’s time I share my journey as a #transwoman with you all. For me — Life imitated art — Rebranded as my authentic self. I feel my story is important to share as I hope it can be a shining light for others. #TransAwarenessWeek #trans
Unlike many transgender people, Raisch does not shy away from using her pre-transition photo and name given at birth (commonly called a “deadname”) in her posts, telling Ennis: “The relationship I have with that name really doesn’t bother me, actually, nor do I associate the word ‘dead’ with it. I call it my ‘legacy name,’” she said. “I think of the newer “Star Wars” films: they looked at Harrison Ford as Han Solo and called him ‘the legacy character.’ So I looked at that and thought, ‘Ah, ‘legacy;’ I like that!’”
You can follow Maureen Raisch on Instagram and Twitter.
