Second Son: Transitioning Toward My Destiny, Love and Life

Second Son is a unique lens on life and love, intimately exploring the transition experience of Ryan Sallans—born Kimberly Ann Sallans. Ride alongside Ryan’s transition from a child to a body-obsessed young woman with an eating disorder; from female to male, daughter to son, and finally a beloved partner to a cherished fiancee’. Ryan candidly shares his struggle to find love and acceptance; a struggle that transcends through every layer of society. He nearly died from an extreme case of anorexia as an insecure female college student. The only thing that saved him was his inner spirit begging for a chance to live. Second Son chronicles Ryan’s battle with his family, his romantic partner, and his body. It is an unblinking focus on self-empowerment tracing Ryan’s evolution into manhood as he underwent gender reassignment surgeries. It took twenty-nine years for Ryan to find himself. Second Son is an intimate and honest autobiography that will educate and empower anyone journeying to find their own destiny, love, and life.

Ryan Sallans, born and raised in rural Nebraska, began his transition from female to male in 2005. He works as a public speaker, diversity trainer, consultant, publisher and author specializing in health care, campus inclusion, and workplace issues surrounding the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer/Questioning, Intersex and Asexual (LGBTQIA) community. Today, he is most known as a national speaker who shares his transition journey, as well as his struggles with an eating disorder. His story is told with an intermixing of humor and intricate clinical details surrounding the transition process. Ryan attended the University of Nebraska-Lincoln where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and Anthropology, a Master of Arts degree in English and a Master of Arts degree in educational psychology.