Aria Trucios

The child of an immigrant father, Aria Xavier Trucios was raised Catholic by two conservative parents. A Lutheran today, Aria works as a power plant operator in the largest municipal steam plant in the state of Wisconsin. After high school Aria attended a Maritime Academy, where they obtained a USCG Merchant Mariner Officer’s license alongside a 4-year engineering degree. Discovering they were transgender in their junior year, Aria quietly transitioned until being forcibly outed their senior year. Due to safety concerns they chose not to sail, instead working in construction and FDA-regulated pharmaceutical manufacturing before returning to heavy industrial operations. Despite doing well in school, Aria lived with near-daily suicidal ideation for over a decade. After struggling for years with self-limiting stigma, they were finally able to access the healthcare they needed for their Major Depression and PTSD, giving them a new lease on life. Now recovered from the worst of their mental illness, Aria has become a volunteer organizer for multiple grassroots political groups, an advocate for mental illness and transgender rights, a citizen appointee to several local committees and commissions, and a legislative intern in the Wisconsin Assembly for the 2025-2026 session.