Danielle Aguiar Silva had one certainty as a child: someday she would drive a bus. She would tell her cousins, half joking and half serious. Today, at 28, she is living that dream on the streets of Montes Claros, in northern Minas Gerais, Brazil.
The path wasn’t direct. She worked as a hairdresser, was a supermarket clerk, and even earned a degree in Physical Education. But the idea of getting behind a big steering wheel never went away. When she learned that a hiring process for drivers was opening, she got her category D license, the one needed to drive buses, and got the job. According to the Trans Emprego website, she is the first transgender woman to work as an urban bus driver in the state.
She began her transition at 13 with the support of her family, who feared the prejudice on the street more than anything else. In her three years on the job, she says she has never experienced any direct discrimination: passengers and coworkers respect her. Her story went viral in September 2026, and she received messages from other trans women who began imagining new paths. She responds with a phrase that sums it all up: “A trans woman’s place is wherever she wants to be, including in leadership positions”.
