Alex Poon

Poon graduated from Wellesley College (a women's college) in 2014, where he majored in computer science.[1][2] He came out as transgender as a sophomore.[3] He was the first out transgender person to win the annual hoop rolling race since it began in 1895.[1][4][5][6] His mother, Helen Poon, also won when she was a senior at Wellesley in 1982.[1][2][5]

Poon is Chinese-American and grew up in Virginia.[3][7][8] He attended an all-girls high school, where he was captain of the girls' swim team and the men's water polo team at a local all-boys school.[3][7]

Poon has been interviewed for news stories about transgender students, including trans women and non-binary people, at women's colleges.[3][7][9]

Poon works as a product manager at a technology company and does occasional public speaking and interviews about gender in the workplace.[8][10][11] He talks about having been perceived as both a man and a woman in the workplace, giving him a unique perspective on discrimination and sexism.[8][11] In 2019, he said that his work at IBM was undervalued before he transitioned to male, but afterwards, he was given "a seat at the table".[11] He told The Washington Post that after his transition, "People now assume I have logic, advice and seniority. They look at me and assume I know the answer, even when I don't. I've been in meetings where everyone else in the room was a woman and more senior, yet I still got asked, 'Alex, what do you think? We thought you would know.'"[8]

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