Maki Yurong Gingoyon (born 1990) is a Filipino transgender model, beauty queen, transgender activist, and businesswoman. She is the co-founder and chief operating officer of My Transgender Date, the number one international dating platform for trans women, which also employs mostly trans women in and out of the Philippines.
Early Life and education
Gingoyon was born in Cebu City, Philippines. She graduated from University of San Carlos in 2009 with a Bachelor of Science in Psychology.
Starting in 2009, Gingoyon worked in a call center for four years. She lived as a woman during this time, however she was made to use the male bathroom, a situation which frustrated her.
Pageantry
She was named Queen of Cebu Universe in 2010 at the age of 21. Later, she became better-known after winning the title of Super Sireyna of the Sky on Eat Bulaga's 2013 weekly finals.
After a nine-year break from pageants, Gingoyon came back to pursue her goal of representing the Philippines in an international beauty competition. She was the 10th contestant for Miss International Queen Philippines 2023, where she hoped to bring Cebu its second consecutive victory.
My Transgender Date
In 2013, Gingoyon and French businessman Cyril Mazur founded My Ladyboy Date with its initial focus is in Asia. It is designed to be a supportive and safe space for trans women. In 2014, they launched My Transsexual Date, a second brand for My Ladyboy Date intended for a global audience. Both were available in 9 languages and had registered members from 190 countries in 2015. By 2020, 1 million users had joined, and over 100 million messages had been exchanged. My Transsexual Date was renamed My Transgender Date in 2021, to be more inclusive. Gingoyon and Mazur still manage it together today. According to Gingoyon, developing a secure dating environment for trans women was what motivated her to launch the dating website.
Personal life
Gingoyon is a transgender woman and uses she/her pronouns.