CeCé Telfer
CeCé Telfer (she/her) is a Jamaican-American athlete who, in June 2019, became the first openly transgender woman to win a NCAA title. Telfer became a NCAA National Champion in the 400- meter hurdles event which put her on the trajectory of becoming a U.S. Olympic hopeful for the Tokyo Olympics 2021.
In June 2021, Telfer qualified for the 2021 U.S. Olympic Team Trials | Track & Field in the 100M & 400-meter hurdles. Telfer has appeared on multiple national media outlets, including The New York Times, CNN International, ESPN, Women’s Health, People Magazine, The Advocate, and more, capturing global attention for her incredible story.
By turns harrowing and hopeful, MAKE IT COUNT is the inspiring story of the first openly transgender woman to win a NCAA title, following her traditional upbringing in Jamaica, her fight to become a US citizen, and her efforts to achieve her Olympic dreams.
This is the story of running on what feels like the edge of a knife, of what it means to compete when you’re not just an athlete but treated like a walking controversy. But it’s also the story of resilience and athleticism, of a runner who found a clarity in her sport that otherwise eluded her—a sense of being simply alive on this earth, a human moving through space. Finally, herself.
2024 Trans & Nonbinary Leadership Summit
CeCé Telfer will be speaking at Out Leadership’s 2024 Trans & Nonbinary Leadership Summit, hosted by us.
Learn more and RSVP here.
Bold, resilient, emotional.
It brought authenticity to my story. I didn’t have to make anything up. I just had to put my lived experience on paper as best as I have experienced it. Also, my life experiences have helped me be patient while writing and not knowing where to start.
What inspired me to write “Make it Count” was my journey and the adversaries I had to face becoming an Olympic athlete. Sports and how it save lives. Also looking at the different intersections of race, identity and culture.
The view from my writing place is the alleyway between my building and my neighbors.
A book I’m reading right now is called “Dear Black Girls” by A’ja Wilson.
Currently listening to the Jamaican rap battle between Stefflon Don and Jada Kingdom.
The last book I recommended to my friend was, “Running from Fear to Faith” by Sydney McLachlan, an Olympic 400m USA runner. I recommended it to her because like me, she’s been having a lot of anxiety lately. As an athlete, competing at the highest level on the highest stage can bring about a lot of fear. But if you trust in God or your faith and believe, you will always prevail. But obviously it takes some time.
Anna Cockrell.
Doctor Who, Arthur, Charlotte‘s Web.
Time travel.
CeCé Telfer is a warrior. The first openly transgender woman to win an NCAA championship, she has contended with transphobia on and off the track since childhood. Now, she stands at the crossroads of a national and international conversation about equity in sports, forced to advocate for her personhood and rights at every turn. After spending years training for the 2024 Olympics, Telfer has been sidelined and silenced more times than she can count. But she's never been good at taking no for an answer.
MAKE IT COUNT is Telfer's raw and inspiring story. From coming of age in Jamaica, where she grew up hearing a constant barrage of slurs, to beginning her new life in Toronto and then New Hampshire, where she realized what running could offer her, to living in the backseat of her car while searching for a coach, to Mexico, where she trained for the US Trials, this book follows the arc of Telfer's Olympic dream.
This is the story of running on what feels like the edge of a knife, of what it means to compete when you're not just an athlete but treated like a walking controversy. But it's also the story of resilience and athleticism, of a runner who found a clarity in her sport that otherwise eluded her—a sense of being simply alive on this earth, a human moving through space. Finally, herself.