Deep Stealth Productions

Education and career

James grew up in Franklin, Indiana, and attended Wabash College, where she majored in English, Latin, and Greek. After graduating in 1989, she obtained an M.A. in English language and literature from the University of Chicago. After college, James worked in advertising, first for several years at the Chicago Tribune, then for a decade at DDB Chicago. It was while working there that she transitioned. By 1999, she created Transsexual Road Map (later renamed Transgender Map), an online resource for the transgender community.

James moved to Los Angeles in 2003 and co-founded Deep Stealth Productions with her roommate, author and entertainer Calpernia Addams, to create content by and for transgender people. They filmed an instructional video, Finding Your Female Voice, to offer voice coaching to trans women, and in 2004 produced and performed in the first all-transgender cast of The Vagina Monologues, debuting a new piece created by Eve Ensler for the occasion. James was also a co-producer of and appeared in Beautiful Daughters, a documentary film about the event. According to her website, her work in film has continued, and as of December 2023 she has directed at least 11 videos, shorts, or TV series, and acted as a consultant on many more.

James has served on the boards of nonprofits TransYouth Family Allies and Outfest. She writes about consumer rights, technology, pop culture, and LGBTQ rights on her website, and she has contributed to Boing Boing, QuackWatch, eMedicine, The Advocate, The Huffington Post and Wikipedia.