Amy Schneider is making Jeopardy! history. As of December 28, Schneider has won 20 consecutive games, securing her position in the game show’s history as 4th in consecutive games won and 4th in highest winnings in regular season play, tying the record for most wins by a woman.
While this alone would be newsworthy, the Oakland software engineer who dreamed of being on Jeopardy! since she started watching the show in kindergarten, and who was also voted by classmates “most likely to appear on Jeopardy!“, is also using her platform to talk about her life as a transgender woman. Her historic winning streak began coincidentally during Transgender Week of Awareness this year.
Alex Schmider, GLAAD’s Associate Director of Transgender Representation, caught up with Schneider as she came off her 20th consecutive win where she shares what it was like to get the call to play Jeopardy!, categories she’d rather (not) see, some of her lesser known talents, and the message she hopes people receive seeing her succeed as a trans woman.
“Amy Schneider’s incredible run on Jeopardy! allows families all over the country to get to know her as someone who is great at word puzzles, has in-depth knowledge on a range of topics, and who also happens to be a transgender woman. Amy is using her history-making appearances and new platform to raise awareness of transgender issues and share a bit of her personal story too,” said Nick Adams, GLAAD’s Director of Transgender Representation.
Follow Amy on her social media accounts where she gives play-by-play analysis of her games, and updates on her girlfriend and their cat Meep.
Read more:
- Amy’s interview with trans journalist Dawn Ennis: https://www.thedailybeast.com/amy-schneider-is-proud-to-be-jeopardys-trans-champ-but-im-a-lot-of-other-things-too
- And her interview with Emily VanDerWerff, also a trans journalist: https://emilyvdw.letterdrop.com/c/amy-schneider-jeopardy-champion-interview-trans