[1][4] Being "very visibly queer" and wearing women's clothing beginning in junior high school, she faced bullying and rejection from her classmates and family.

[4] Satya learned from "conservative relatives" that the city of San Francisco was liberal and gay-friendly, so she made her way there after graduating from high school.

[1] Arriving in San Francisco at the age of 19, she was homeless for the better part of two years, and in 2011 became the victim of a hate crime when she was severely beaten for being a trans woman.

[2] She worked to enforce an ordinance in the city code that requires departments to provide LGBT sensitivity training "to any employee or volunteer who has direct contact with youth".

[4][13] Satya served as a delegate to the 2016 Democratic National Convention, where she drew attention to the murders of trans women, and called for a more intersectional understanding of politics.

[14] On her way to the convention, she was detained at Reagan National Airport when a body scanner indicated a "groin anomaly", and was subjected to a pat-down and visual inspection of her genitals by the Transportation Security Administration.