Karla Mosley honors groundbreaking trans model Tracey Norman

The Bold and the Beautiful's Karla Mosley was on hand to honor a real-life trailblazer for the transgender community.

The third annual Truth Awards Gala was held earlier this month to honor trailblazing African American men and women whose personal and professional accomplishments have positively impacted the perception and image of the Black LGBTQ community. This year, The Bold and the Beautiful's Karla Mosley (Maya Avant) was on hand to participate in the ceremony.

Mosley and reality star and transgender model Isis King presented the History Maker Award to Tracey "Africa" Norman. Norman is the first African American transgender woman to work successfully as a high fashion model. King, an aspiring trans model, praised Norman as a role model. Mosley explained that she has researched Norman's life to bring authenticity to her role as Maya on B&B.

The two friends shared with the audience how much Norman was a role model to them - that is, King as an aspiring trans model, and Mosely, as an actress, researching Norman's life to bring authenticity to her role as a trans woman on the daytime series "The Bold and the Beautiful."

Norman is a true history maker in every sense of the word. She was the first African American trans woman to grace Clairol's "Born Beautiful" hair color boxes (the bestselling dark auburn/box 512) in the 1970s. Norman worked undetected for years, until she was outed, and her modeling career came to an abrupt end. Fast forward 40 years later, and today, she is the face of Clairol's Nice 'n Easy "Color As Real As You Are" hair color campaign. She has been featured in various publications, including New York Magazine, Out Magazine, Essence, Italian Vogue, Harper's Bazaar India, Maire Claire South Africa, Us magazine, People.com, Madamenoire, and Huffington Post -- just to name a few.

Other honorees included Lifetime Achievement recipient James Earl Hardy, Ally Award recipient Loretta Divine, Beauty and Fashion Award recipient Sam Fine, Passing the Torch Award recipient Malcolm "MJ" Harris, Media Arts recipient Marcus Wilson-Smith, and Business Leadership recipient Mya Dobson.

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The Truth Awards are presented by award-winning actress Sheryl Lee Ralph, the DIVA Foundation, and Better Brothers Los Angeles. For more information about the organization and its scholarship program, visit www.BetterBrothersLA.com.

Were you aware of Tracey Norman's story? Do you appreciate the research Karla Mosley is doing to bring authenticity to her work on B&B? We want to hear from you -- so drop your comments in the Comments section below, tweet about it on Twitter, share it on Facebook, or chat about it on our Message Boards.

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