Ava Zinn

Ava Zinn
Ava Zinn in Muncie, Indiana in 2014
Born	Frank Zinn January 4, 1983 (1983-01-04) LaGrange, Illinois
Other names	Aeverine Zinn (occasionally, legal maiden name 2005-present) Ava Nieves (2007-2011) Aeverine Nieves (2005-present, legal purposes) Franky Zinn (1983-1999)
Education	Mississinewa High School
Occupation	Journalist News anchor YouTube presenter
Years active	1989–present
Employer	Carey Services (2009-2013) NoSirGifts Venues (1987-2011) ATE Media Corporation (1990-1998)
Known for	Vote for the Girls (US and UK)
Notable credit(s)	INNewsCenter.net (1999-2011) Vote for the Girls USA (2010-present) Vote for the Girls UK (2013-present) Vote for the Girls Australia (2015-present)
Influenced by	Peter Jennings Patrice Rafferty Morton Downey, Jr. Bob Knight Bridget Fonda
Influenced	Thia Tola Rachael Passalt
Home town	Van Buren, Indiana
Television	WMRI-FTV (NBC) (1990-1998) WXXC (Ind.) (1999-2009)
Spouse	Angela Willis (m. 2001; wid. 2010)
Partner	Amanda Davidson (1993-97 and 2012-13) Elisa Everman (1997-2000) Kymberly Alvaraz (2014-present)
Children	11 (5 living) Samantha Zinn Ashli Zinn Tiffani Zinn Tabitha Zinn Kenneth Alvaraz
Parents	Margaret Zinn (1943-2002) (mother) Willis Zinn (1925-1984) (father)
Relatives	Albert Zinn (1977-2002) (brother) Sheena Jay (niece-in-law)
Website
{{#invoke:URL|url|1=http://www.avazinn.com/%7C2=}}

Aeverine Nieves, (born Frank Zinn January 4, 1983) better known as Ava Zinn, is an American transwoman. Zinn is known for presenting YouTube clips about promoting votes for contestants on reality-based television programs, such as Vote for the Girls. She has trained hosts, news anchors, and notable individuals such as Stephani Alvaraz, Kathi Jameson, Khayla Chow, Rachael Passalt, Melody Shields, Elizabeth Rock, Audra Hensen, Genevieve Shields, Ariana Imperial, Paige Lank, Lauren Rhodes, Ariel Swaringen, Michelle Steele, Nermal Everman, Tracia Ward, and three of her own four daughters: Samantha, Tiffani, and Tabitha. Zinn is also best known for successfully auctionining off her virginity for a long term relationship to fellow Vote for the Girls USA moderator and girlfriend Kymberly Alvaraz, that was revealed in her criminal trial after fatally shooting former Vote for the Girls UK moderator Khayla Chow on October 21, 2014.

Early life

Ava Zinn was born Frank Zinn on January, 4, 1983 in LaGrange, Illinois to Willis and Maragret Zinn and raised in Van Buren, Indiana from the age of 2 until relocating to Marion, Indiana in October 1996. Zinn was the youngest of two children, and raised in the Landess neighburhood of Van Buren. She had an older brother, Albert (1977-2002) When Ava was fifteen months old, her father died from pneumonia. She sang in the choir of Northview Elementary School, and graduated from Mississinewa High School in 2001.

She continued on to college at Indiana Wesleyan University (IWU) and was dis-enrolled for unable to adapt to the college life. After her dis-enrollment, Zinn has described her early adult life as "hopelessly itinerant", as her family moved constantly due to the aspirations and failures of her mother, who was violent at times until her mother's death in May 2002 and brother's suicide in August 2002. Zinn has described her mother as a diabetic and brother as an epileptic.

Career

In the early 1990's, she worked in a series of media giants until being inspired to work for the temperamental Patrice Rafferty at ATE Media.

After working at ATE Media for nine years, Zinn, tired of "the rages and the bullying and violence", decided that the way to further advance her career was to study webmastering. (While at ATE Media, she met Holly Everman, now her Vote for the Girls co-host and long-time closest friend since 1990.) From there, Zinn moved from ATE Media to NoSirGifts, which was founded by her mother in 1987, to work with Jackson Steele and Bob Imperial, both news anchormen. At one time, Ava Zinn states that Jackson Steele was her mentor. She continued her training at NoSirGifts for tweleve years, before giving in to the physical and mental stress of the television news industry and taking five years to work as a retail production associate.

News Anchor

She was a news anchor for RAT TV and WXXC-FDT, commonly known as INNCD 47. She co-anchored with Justin Planck in 2001.

On February 5, 2007, Zinn revived her news anchoring career anchoring INNCD News at 10 (now INNCD 47 Action News at 10:00 and produced with WTOR). Zinn, as a transgender woman, did what other transgender women almost never did at that time. Fellow transgender anchorwomen Julia Passalt, (KFMN Mineapolis, now with Vote for the Girls USA), Fiona Johnson (KBYF San Fransisco), Kendra Ray (KFIA Des Moines, now with Vote for the Girls USA and UK), Kristina Chow (KTEX Houston, now at WIFX Indianapolis), Juanita Davidson (WPTL Pittsburgh, now at WTOR Fort Wayne), Hillary Matthewson (WTOR Fort Wayne, now at WIFX Indianapolis), Rhonda Rhodes (formerly of WXWI Milwaukee, last at WIFX Indianapolis and Vote for the Girls USA and UK, now deceased) would all do the same in the late 2000s and early 2010s.

Webmaster

Zinn (then as Frank) in 2000 after launching INNewsCenter and AvaZinn.com

Zinn's largest effect on American culture came from her popular web sites INNewsCenter and Vote for the Girls. Shortly thereafter, Patrice Rafferty re-entered her life, offering to set her up with a webmaster position and 10% share in ATE Media. The show was named Wheel of Fortune. Despite the show's success, a dispute with Zinn's business owners and Zinn's dream of running her own web site led to her leaving the partnership in 1998.

From her first website, Zinn's empire has expanded rapidly, next launching INNewsCenter in 1999, then the RAT TV page on the Mississinewa High School web site, ATE Media, NoSirGifts (which she inherited five years after her mother's death and was later forced to close), and later the original American version of Vote for the Girls. Zinn has launched web sites outside the United States, beginning with the British version of Zinn's popular Vote for the Girls in 2013, despite mixed reviews from professional critics.

INNewsCenter

Original site (1999-2011)

At age 16 in November 1999, Ava Zinn had launched two web sites--her web site (currently known as AvaZinn.com) and INNewsCenter, a site devoted to discussing the television industry in Indiana's 10 markets (initially Fort Wayne and Indianapolis) that serve all of Indiana's 92 counties. Both were launched on November 1, 1999 while Zinn was a junior at Mississinewa High School in Gas City, Indiana. The site covered the changes in the ten media markets that serve Indiana (originally the Indianapolis and Fort Wayne markets until 2004).

The INNewsCenter site closed on June 30, 2011. The final story posted on the site was Fox's announcement on June 20, 2011 that it would end its affiliation with WFFT and its Fort Wayne affiliation moved to MyNetworkTV affiliate WISE-DT2 on August 1. Nexstar had earlier lost the Fox affiliation for WTVW in Evansville following a dispute with the network over retransmission consent fees that it wanted its stations to pay to the network.

Revival site (2014-)

On June 26, 2014, Zinn announced that she would bring INNewsCenter back online.

The revived INNewsCenter debuted on December 28, 2014. Sites that also carried the original site, such as Florida News Center, have picked up the revived site as well. Unlike the previous adaptation of the site, this version is relegated to a section of Zinn's AvaZinn.com web site. As with the original adaptation, the site still discusses the television industry in Indiana's 10 markets and five significantly viewed markets that serve all of Indiana's 92 counties. The first story posted on the site was the third Indianapolis affiliation switch in over 35 years as WISH (channel 8) and WTTV (channel 4) swapped affiliations, with WISH-TV becoming a CW affiliate and WTTV becoming a CBS affiliate, after Tribune Broadcasting announced on August 11, 2014 that WTTV would become the market's CBS affiliate through a deal that renewed affiliations on the company's five existing CBS stations; the WTTV deal was spurred by a dispute between station management at WISH-TV and the network during affiliation renewal negotiations over reverse compensation demands. WTTV originally planned to move its CW affiliation to a digital subchannel upon the January 1, 2015 switch until Tribune decided to sell The CW's Indianapolis affiliation rights to WISH owner Media General (which had completed its merger with that station's former owner LIN Media three days earlier) on December 22, 2014, with WTTV operating its subchannel as an independent station instead. The switch was an upgrade for The CW, due to WISH's prior history as a major network station and the fact it had a news department; it was also an upgrade at least for WTTV even if it was arguably one for CBS, as the station had not been a major network affiliate since losing the ABC affiliation to WLWI (channel 13, now NBC affiliate WTHR. It is interesting to note that thirty-five and a half years earlier on June 1, 1979 WTHR and WRTV (channel 6) swapped affiliations with WRTV taking WTHR's outgoing ABC affiliation) in 1957, had not maintained a news department since 1990 or aired any newscasts of its own since 2002 (the newscasts Tribune re-established for WTTV upon the switch use resources from Fox affiliate WXIN (channel 59)'s existing news department, but compete against and maintain anchor teams largely separate from its sister station). In fact, the major impetus of the deal was that it allowed WTTV to become the local broadcaster of the Indianapolis Colts through CBS' rights to the AFC.

In another notable difference from the previous site, the site will often feature clips of stories from the American adaptation of Vote for the Girls when a female contestant appears on a reality based singing competition (notable examples are Alisha Bernhardt and Marrielle Sellars of American Idol 11 and 13, respectively, and Valerie Rockey of So You Think You Can Dance 11) and local stories appearing on AvaZinn.com (a notable example is the death of Ashley Rheam).

Another difference from the previous site is the absence of the INNewsCenter Weather Wall, a feature that has since moved to AvaZinn.com and eventually added onto the Vote for the Girls USA web site.

Vote for the Girls

See also: Vote for the Girls, Vote for the Girls (U.S.), Vote for the Girls (UK), and Vote for the Girls (Australia)

Ava Zinn has presented the American, British, and Australian versions of Vote for the Girls since their launches

In 2010, with Holly Everman and Robyn Hurd, Zinn was a moderator and host on the first season of the American web site Vote for the Girls, which she created using her production company, Aeverine Zinn Holdings. Vote for the Girls was a surprise hit and success with the public and enjoyed its sixth season in 2014.

Haley Reinhart and Lauren Alaina, two female contestants on the tenth season of American Idol were prominently featured on the site after the elimination of Pia Toscano. Zinn returned for a third season alongside Everman and Hurd, as well as auditioning for the 11th season of American Idol herself and exposing the previous season's gender bias, the site gained popularity and overtook Vote for the Worst. After launching Vote for the Girls (which was launched to compete with VFTW), in response Zinn stated "It's becoming clear that people want a change that we all believe in. It's only about what you're doing and supposed to do, and I feel like I'm supposed to be doing this." The site's YouTube videos featured screaming matches among Zinn, her guests, and audience members. Using a large black bowl for an ashtray, she would chainsmoke during the video and blow smoke in her guests' faces. Zinn's fans became known as "Lesbian Dozers," patterned after the studio lecterns decorated with gaping cartoon lips, from which Zinn's guests would go head-to-head against each other on their respective issues.

Zinn's signature phrases "WGWG Commies" (in reference to white guys with guitars and communism) and "shush it!" briefly enjoyed some popularity in the contemporary vernacular. She particularly enjoyed making her guests angry with each other, which on a few occasions resulted in physical confrontations.

Because of the controversial format and content of the show, Zinn had problems selling the show to a number of advertisers. Even Zinn's subscribers were so fearful of advertiser and viewer backlash that they would air one or even two local disclaimers during the videos.

Zinn returned for the fourth season series in 2012, with Everman, and two new moderators Hillary Matthewson and Michelle Steele, as Hurd passed away after the site's third season ended. Zinn only appeared in the latter part of the American Idol 12 competition, as she was launching Vote for the Girls in Great Britain.

Zinn also launched Vote for the Girls UK in June 2013. It was announced that she would be a moderator and host both on the UK and U.S. editions of the site, which air at similar times of the year. She was joined by Ariel Swaringen, Kathi Jameson, and Khayla Chow. Zinn's pick of Leah McFall of The Voice finished runner-up of The Voice UK 2 as Andrea Begley won that series, and Zinn's pick of Samantha Bailey won The X Factor 10, making Zinn not only the winning moderator, but both victories for the site. Zinn returned for a second series of Vote for the Girls in September 2014 with Swaringen, Jameson, and Chow not returning and were replaced by Tracia Ward, Nermal Everman, Rhonda Rhodes and Kendra Ray. Zinn's pick of Caroline Flack on Strictly Come Dancing won that series, marking Zinn's second series as the winning moderator after she won with Samantha Bailey in 2013.

Vote for the Girls Australia launched in 2015. It was announced and confirmed that she would be a moderator and host on the Australian, UK, U.S. editions of the site, which air at similar times of the year.

Vote for the Girls USA

• Season 1 –
  • Losing moderator as her final Vote for the Girls pick, Crystal Bowersox, won second place of the ninth season of American Idol
  • (Make-up) Winning moderator as her final Vote for the Girls pick, Lauren Froderman, was announced the winner of the seventh season of So You Think You Can Dance.
• Season 2 –
  • Losing moderator as her secondary Vote for the Girls pick, Pia Toscano, was eliminated in ninth place, and final Vote for the Girls pick, Lauren Alaina won second place of the tenth season of American Idol.
  • (Make-up) Winning moderator as her final Vote for the Girls pick, Melanie Moore, was announced the winner of the eighth season of So You Think You Can Dance. (Runner-up Sasha Mallory was also her Vote for the Girls picks and was not present for the victory)
• Season 3 –
  • Losing moderator as her Vote for the Girls pick, Drew, finished sixth place on the first season of The X Factor USA.
  • Losing moderator as her Vote for the Girls pick, Erika Van Pelt, finished tenth on the eleventh season of American Idol.
  • Losing moderator as her Vote for the Girls pick, Bridget Carrington, finished fourth on the first season of Duets. (Zinn took the defeat sorely)
  • (Make-up) Winning moderator as her final Vote for the Girls pick, Eliana Girard, was announced the winner of the ninth season of So You Think You Can Dance. (Runner-up Tiffany Maher was also her Vote for the Girls picks and was not present for the victory)
• Season 4 –
  • Winning moderator as her Vote for the Girls pick, Cassadee Pope, was declared winner of the third season of The Voice.
  • Losing moderator as her final Vote for the Girls pick, Carly Rose Sonenclar, won second place of the second season of The X Factor.
  • Losing moderator as her Vote for the Girls pick, Angie Miller, finished third on the twelfth season of American Idol.
  • Winning moderator as her Vote for the Girls pick, Danielle Bradbery, was declared the winner of season four of The Voice. (runner up Michelle Chamuel was also her Vote for the Girls pick)
  • (Make-up) Winning moderator as her final Vote for the Girls pick, Amy Yakima, was announced the winner of the tenth season of So You Think You Can Dance. (Ava was not present for the victory)
• Season 5 –
  • Winning moderator as her Vote for the Girls pick, Tessanne Chin, was declared the winner of season five of The Voice. (runner up Jacquie Lee was also her Vote for the Girls pick)
  • Losing moderator as her final Vote for the Girls picks, Rion Paige and Ellona Santiago, respectively finished fifth and sixth place of the third season of The X Factor. (winner Alex & Sierra was her Best of Worst pick)
  • Losing moderator as her Vote for the Girls pick, Christina Grimmie, won third place of season six of The Voice
  • Losing moderator as her final Vote for the Girls pick, Jena Irene, won second place of the thirteenth season of American Idol
• Season 6 –
  • Losing moderator as her final Vote for the Girls pick, Dana Williams, won fourth place in the first season of Rising Star.
  • Declined loss as her final Vote for the Girls pick, Valerie Rockey, won second place in the eleventh season of So You Think You Can Dance as the moderators used their moderators' veto and became winning moderator.
  • Losing moderator as her Vote for the Girls pick, Emily West, won second in the ninth season of America's Got Talent.
  • Runner-up moderator as her final vote for the Girls pick Sadie Robertson, won second place in the nineteenth season of Dancing with the Stars. (Third runner-up Bethany Mota was also her Vote for the Girls pick)
  • Declined loss as her Vote for the Girls picks, Anita Antoinette and Reagan James were eliminated in the Top 10 in the seventh season of The Voice as the moderators used their moderators' veto. DaNica Shirey was eliminated in the quarter finals.
  • (With Kymberly Alvaraz) Winning moderator as their final Vote for the Girls pick, Nick Fradiani, was announced the winner of the fourteenth season of American Idol. (12th place finalist Sarina-Joi Crowe, was also their Vote for the Girls pick.) However, with the Moderators' Save used on Jax (Tracia Ward's final pick), Zinn, Alvaraz, and Ward was declared dual winning moderators despite Jax finishing in third place and the site's female victory and Fradiani getting the site's first male victory.
  • (With Kymberly Alvaraz) Dual winning moderator as their final Vote for the Girls pick, Meghan Linsey, was announced the runner-up (and female winner) to Sawyer Fredericks (chosen by Thia Tola) of season 8 of The Voice.
  • (With Kymberly Alvaraz) Dual winning moderator as their final Vote for the Girls pick, Riker Lynch and Allison Holker was announced the runner-up (and male winner) to Rumer Willis & Valentin Chmerkovskiy (chosen by Kendra Ray) of season 20 of Dancing with the Stars. (Chris Soules & Witney Carson, Willow Shields & Mark Ballas, and Charlotte McKinney & Keo Mostepe were also their Vote for the Girls picks with Liukin finishing 4th, Soules (with fellow moderators Kendra Ray, Julia Passalt, and Rhonda Rhodes) finishing 5th, Shields finishing 7th, and McKinney finishing 11th)

Vote for the Girls UK

• Series 1 –
  • Losing moderator as her Vote for the Girls pick, Leah McFall, was declared runner-up of the second series of The Voice UK.
  • Winning moderator as her Vote for the Girls pick, Sam Bailey, was declared the winner of the tenth series of The X Factor.
  • Losing moderator as her respective Vote for the Girls picks, Rachael O'Connor and Christina Marie, were eliminated in the quarter-finals and finals of the third series of The Voice UK
• Series 2 –
  • Winning moderator as her Vote for the Girls Caroline Flack was announced the winner of the twelfth series of Strictly Come Dancing (Zinn calls it Dancing with the Stars UK). Runner-up Frankie Bridge and 4th place contestant Mark Wright were also Zinn's VFTG picks.
  • Initially abstained from making a Vote for the Girls pick after her pick, Lola Saunders, wasn't chosen in the live shows, brought back as a wild card and eliminated in tenth place. (Tied with Erika Van Pelt as Zinn's worst finish.) However, Zinn became the winning moderator by default as her final Vote for the Girls pick, Fleur East, was declared runner-up of the eleventh series of The X Factor and the loss declined via Moderators' Save.
  • Declined loss via Moderators' Save as her final Vote for the Girls pick, Lucy O'Byrne won second place of the fourth series of The Voice UK.

Vote for the Girls Australia

• Season 1 –
  • Pending outcome moderator for the fourth series of The Voice of Australia.
  • Pending outcome moderator for the seventh series of The X Factor Australia.

Celebrity

The success of Vote for the Girls and INNewsCenter made Zinn a local and later Hoosier pop culture celebrity, leading to become one of the popular transgendered women in Indiana. This led to speculation that she could run for political office (such as Mayor of Marion, Indiana) and become the first openly transgender woman in Indiana to be elected to office as well as becoming the first female mayor of Marion, Indiana. However, in 2007, Zinn decided that she has no plans to run for office. It should be noted, however, Zinn has been far more successful as a woman than she ever was as a male, as she has interests in media, real estate, education, and retailing thus it is highly unlikely that she is actively looking to run for political office.

Awards

Launched in 1999, AvaZinn.com (then known as FrankyZinn.com) was Zinn’s first solo website, hosted on Geocities. In 2002, it was voted Top Web site in the State of Indiana in the Northeast Indiana region. In 2014, the Chronicle-Tribune claimed that Zinn spent more time on YouTube and webmastering than in her home but she still maintained the highest standards.

Zinn's flagship web site, AvaZinn.com, was voted one of Indiana's top sites for five years, but in 2006 was placed below INNewsCenter, another site Zinn owns and operates.

Aeverine Zinn Holdings

All of Zinn's business interests (web sites, media, consultancy) are held in the company Aeverine Zinn Holdings LLC, which was run in a sole proprietorship by Zinn herself. Zinn owns a 70% stake, with ATE Media and NoSirGifts Venues owns 5% each.

Whereas previous ventures acted as a combined consultant/brand, in May 2013 Zinn announced plans to purchase outright the Vore for the Worst upon the site's closure which would have redirected to Zinn's Vote for the Girls site and eliminate the competition.

Public image and reception

Personality

Zinn's music and image reputation is built upon her goal of media perfection. Since Zinn's development of long-running site INNewsCenter.net and later Vote for the Girls, the webmaster has also become infamous for her fiery temper and use of expletives. Zinn has also had confrontations with her fans, including one incident that resulted in a neighbour calling the police. Zinn attributes her pugnacious management style to the influence of previous mentors, notably entrepreneur Patrice Rafferty, and cousin Patricia Purvis.

Zinn's ferocious temper has contributed to her media appeal in both the United States and the United Kingdom, where her programs are produced. One source featured an article about America's worst LGBT individuals, which listed Zinn as the only transgender woman. They cited her frequent loss of her temper, her harsh critiques, notably when she picks on something other than one's singing abilities, such as calling someone a "jumbo bimbo." She maintains that such behavior and sexism within the voting period is necessary and demonstrates passion.

Zinn has been criticized for her frequent use of profanity on YouTube, first by fans of Vote for the Worst then, in relation to Vote for the Girls UK, by annoyed fans of The X Factor. In her autobiography, Zinn herself said he was unaware of the extent of her swearing and bias against male contestants until she watched an episode of American Idol. While she stated he did not have a problem with it and bias against male contestants, "Mum would be turning in her grave right now".

Zinn began ending some episodes (later every episode) of Vote for the Girls USA and Vote for the Girls UK with the phrase: "... keep voting for the ladies."

For most of her tenure as a biological male and heterosexual man, Zinn was one of the weaker males in terms of self-image and performance, usually ranking within the bottom ten percent of all males. However, since the gender transition to female and rise of same sex relationships in the state of Indiana, Zinn has been far more successful in her self-image, performance, and popularity.

Controversies

See also: 2014 Vote for the Girls conflict, Vote for the Girls (U.S.) controversies, and Criticism and controversies of Ava Zinn

Mississinewa 500 Prom Date Controversy (April 2001)

In 2000, at Mississinewa High School, Zinn (then known as Frank) used the phrase "Mississinewa 500" to describe the high school's prom. In August 2000, Zinn began her senior and final year at Mississinewa High School and recently broke up with then-girlfriend and mother of then-nine month old Tiffani (then known as Timothy), Elisa Everman, as she was attending IPFW in Fort Wayne and Zinn was unwilling to move to continue the relationship.

Zinn spent nearly her entire senior year searching for a prom date and eventually narrowing down to two women--Zinn's eventual wife Angie Willis and a sophomore by March 2001. Zinn's prom date search came to an end on April 16, 2001 when the sophomore and Zinn made a verbal agreement according to an investigation by Sheena Jay and the agreement had to be finalized by both Zinn's mother, Margaret Zinn, and the sophomore’s mother. Zinn had to lie about the sophomore's age because of Indiana did not have a Romeo & Juliet laws as well as a family rule prohibiting Zinn from dating a female younger than Zinn (this rule has since been repealed). Another likely factor was Angie's age, which most proms only allows individuals under 21 as Angie was 22 and Zinn was 18. This would play a key role to Zinn's dis-enrollment from Indiana Wesleyan University on September 27, 2001.

The sophomore student's name was initially released in 2001, but has since been banned from all Ava Zinn ventures. In August 2009, Sheena Jay, Zinn's niece-in-law, was hired to investigate and eventually concluded that two of Zinn's longtime friends, Veronica Schmerber and Sheena Fromholz, already knew about the plans for that Saturday night. Fromholz later claimed her plan was to go to Applebee’s in Marion instead of the Red Lobster restaurant in Muncie, where Fromholz and the sophomore student ended up for pre-prom plans.

Zinn's long-time close friends Veronica Schmerber and Telissa Hunt were officially identified as the prom date(s) of Ava Zinn on April 28, 2012, and the case was considered closed. Over the years, it was believed that Schmerber had spent more time than the sophomore student, but both times the sophomore student later recanted her admissions. In addition to the Mississinewa 500 fiasco, two other women (Marti Kincaid and Amber Dooley) claimed responsibility, but the cold case investigation determined that most of these from the sophomore student confessions were lies. An investigation revealed that the sophomore student did not fulfill the duties as a prom date. Following Sheena Jay's report, Zinn wasted little time to announce that she will invite Schmerber and Hunt to a future wedding of Zinn's (in the event should she remarry), in addition to Alec Dailey and Justin Planck (both of them will be named "Co-Best Man").

The Mississinewa 500 would prove to be the last time Zinn ever wore a necktie and eventually sealed the fate of her life as a biological male.

Indiana Wesleyan University Dismissal (September 2001)

Five months after the Mississinewa 500 controversy, Angie, Ava's wife, took Ava to Indiana Wesleyan University on September 27, 20011. Angie said that she stopped to pick up a jar of Ragu Spagetti Sauce (for 88 cents each) and bananas (38 cents a pound) at the local Marsh and the CVS pharmacy next door to get a couple of two-liters of Coca-Cola, and then stopping at the Speedway station to get gas. It was later conjectured by Zinn's account there was a lot of construction, remodeling, and a commuter’s lounge at the college, and the suggestion of a food pantry that was unfamiliar to Zinn.

Investigation and finding another college

Ava Zinn was dis-enrolled from the university after four weeks. Ava's mother, Margaret Zinn, and Angie were considered by authorities as a prime suspects as the investigation started to become exhausted. After about a week, both Margaret and Angie were later absolved of any foul play following Angie's highly emotional press statement that was televised locally.

An investigation done by Zinn herself, eventually concluded that an extended family of member of Ava Zinn's (of which many have since died) later claimed and confirmed by Zinn's brother, Albert, that a family member wanted to harm Ava's mother and Ava, but given the close relationship Ava Zinn had with Margaret, this was not very feasible due to Zinn diagnosed with Autism 15 years earlier. The investigation of the dismissal was alleged to be unsatisfactory, and they lost evidence and eventually, witnesses themselves.

One of Zinn's extended family members repeatedly harassed Zinn's mother and brother and then retracted accounts of her involvement. She was never charged in the case, even though she provided seemingly accurate descriptions as to how she committed the crime. Zinn's brother also place the extended family member in the days leading up to the Indiana Wesleyan University. She was investigated, but lost important evidence. Zinn conisdered filing a civil lawsuit against Indiana Wesleyan University for "wrongful dis-enrollment" but in 2007, the statues of limitations had passed. In 2006, Zinn's classmate at Indiana Wesleyan University, Paige Lank, conducted an exhaustive review of the IWU dismissal case after Zinn began transitioning from male to female. Although the dismissal was five years old at the time of Lank's review, she provided an analysis of the evidence, including reviewing interrogations. Lank says her review found evidence to prove "beyond a reasonable doubt" that the dismissal was caused by the extended family member.

By November 2013, most of Zinn's immediate and extended families have passed following the Indiana Wesleyan University dismissal. Zinn concluded in 2003 that her mother was murdered by the family member (via poisoning). On May 11, 2002, a day after Margaret Zinn died, two of Zinn's extended family members were removed due to a history of crimes, in accordance to Margaret's will that Ava Zinn executed.

In 2014, allegations earned widespread publicity that Khayla Chow, then ten years of age at the time of Zinn's dismissal was also named as a suspect in the Indiana Wesleyan University dismissal. She was living in a Dallas group home at the time, and two eyewitnesses placed Chow in Marion. Reports showed that Chow had been skipping school and had been a known runaway and truant at the time. She stalked young men (as old as 25) and boys (as well as young transwomen in 2011), and her modus operandi included stalking and raping males. When interviewed about Ava Zinn in 2010 and shortly before she was fatally shot in 2014, she repeatedly denied involvement, even stating; "I've told you everything—how I raped them and pulling their penises. Why wouldn't I tell you if I did someone else?" After this rumor surfaced, Ava Zinn stated that she had "seen no evidence" linking the IWU dismissal to Chow.

March 2015 VFTG USA tirade

Minutes after her Vote for the Girls USA pick of Sarina-Joi Cowe was eliminated on March 12, 2015, Zinn unleashed a torrent of expletives and threats designed to motivate her fellow purple team moderators. In one portion she exclaims she is "fucking tired of losing to the Pink Team [moderators of VFTG USA (Holly Everman, Kellie Rock, and Tracia Ward)]. "In another portion she exclaims she auctioned off her virginity to Kymberly Alvaraz (who had became Zinn's girlfriend since November 2014 and moved to the purple team) and said "there's no more Team Ava." Unknown to most, the cameras were still rolling and was included in the web site's sixth season finale. The speech has since been one of the most watched VFTG USA season finales on the web site's YouTube channel alone. Kendra Ray and Julia Pasalt were unable to remember the specific speech because such expletive-filled outbursts by Zinn are so frequent. Zinn and Alvaraz's pick of Nick Fradiani would go on to the American Idol 14 finale in which Fradiani became the winner of American Idol (as well as the web site's first male victory on Idol).

Possible Move to Indianapolis or Muncie

In March 2015, Zinn appeared before the Fort Wayne media and exclaimed, "This is my Goddamn site!" She reiterated that, despite problems, the rumors that she was moving were untrue.

Personal life

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Robyn Hurd (left) was Zinn's very first friend and were best friends from 1989 until Hurd's death in 2012 and Holly Everman (right) has been close friends since 1990 and have been best friends since 2012. The close friendships lasted 23 years including Patrice and Vote for the Girls USA.

Gender transition and sexual orientation

At the age of 11, Zinn started to self-identify with the female gender. At 21 years old, she officially changed her name through the Grant County Circuit Court. She is yet to go through the process of changing her name and sex marker from male to female on all of her state and federal documents, including her birth certificate, driver's license, and social security index as of June 2014, as well as estrogen hormone treatment to transition to living life as a woman. As a result of her gender transition, Zinn became a lesbian as a sexual orientation.

Zinn is currently a pre-operative (pre-sex reassignment surgery) transsexual woman, coming out as transgender on November 1, 2003. She began her transition on December 1, 2004 when Zinn legally changed her name.

In 2005, Zinn began home electrolysis to remove facial hair.

At one time, Zinn announced she is considering a facelift, sometimes called "facial feminization surgery" and tracheal reshaping and grafting, and contouring of the face to effectuate a female appearance. Because she wants to have biological children and sterilization was not a requirement to undergo a valid sex change anywhere in the United States, she kept her external reproductive organs intact. Zinn has stated that this has kept her from estrogen hormone treatment to transition to living life as a woman. However, as of May 2015, Zinn has stated due to current significant other, Kymberly Alvraz, approaching her 50's and having the early stages of menopause, it will be likely that Zinn will obtain a surrogate mother using Zinn's sperm. Also, Zinn has stated that her sexual assault in April 2015 may be a blessing in disguise.

The gender transition provided a major windfall for Zinn since 2010 when she launched the Vote for the Girls franchise in the United States, and since 2014 a year after launched the Vote for the Girls franchise in the United Kingdom as she celebrated 10 Vote for the Girls victories (So You Think You Can Dance victories of Lauren Froderman, Melanie Moore, Eliana Girard, and Amy Yakima; The Voice victories of Cassadee Pope, Danielle Bradbery, and Tessanne Chin; American Idol victory of Nick Fradiani; The Voice Moderators Saves of Christina Grimmie and Meghan Linsey; American Idol Moderator Saves of Angie Miller and Jena Asciutto) in the United States and four United Kingdom victories (Strictly Come Dancing victories of Caroline Flack and Frankie Bridge; X Factor Moderator Save of Fleur East; and The Voice UK Moderator Save of Lucy O'Byrne) with her site and recently began to wear strapless tops and dresses with thong panties to strongly reflect her gender identity as a woman along with the punishment for failure with Christina Grimmie's third place finish on The Voice and Jena Irene's runner-up finish on American Idol. Owing to her family's status as a femininity hotbed and Zinn's 11 of her 13 closest friends are female (as of February 2012, Alec Dailey and Justin Planck are the only remaining male close friends of Zinn's) being longtime fixtures with Zinn, the social status of Zinn are consistently among the highest-rated during the seasons of The Voice and American Idol. Also due to the the popularity of former Indianapolis Colts and current Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning quarterback as well as Indiana's status as a reality-based competition hotbed with fellow Indianapolis based contestants Alisha Bernhardt, Marrielle Sellars, and Valerie Rockey; Louisville natives Olivia Henken and Allison Bray; Chicago-based Haley Reinhart and Alice Lee; Detroit-based Amy Yakima, Jena Asciutto, RoxXy Montana, Malaya Watson; Ohio-based Alexis Gomez and Crystal Bowersox being supported contestants on the web site, Vote for the Girls is consistently among the highest-rated site in Indiana (as well as being the most viewed on the web site's YouTube channel) during the live shows of all competitions in both Indianapolis and Fort Wayne. In 2015, for instance, Vote for the Girls USA (along with some edited from the UK version) attracted a 21.6 rating and a 36 share, the highest viewership for the broadcasts in the United States.

Family and relationships

Zinn has been romantically linked to various women during her career. Zinn married Angela Willis on May 27, 2001. They remained married for nine years until her death on June 1, 2010 of heart failure. They had four children: Maxwell (b. 2001 d. 2002), Margaret Kimberly (b. 2002 d. 2003), Tabitha (b. 2003 ), and Zinn has not remarried since yet adopted Willis' daughter, Ashli (b. 1998 ) from Angela's previous marriage.

Zinn was involved in a relationship with Amanda Davidson (b. 1981 d. 2014), from 1993 until 1997 and from June 2012 to November 2013 and had five children from the first relationship, Katie (b. 1988 d. 2014), Deanna (b. 1990 d. 2014), Coco (b. 1992 d. 2012), Samantha (b. 1993), and Thomas (b. 1997 d. 2006). Zinn also was in a relationship with Elisa Everman from 1997 until 2000 and had two children Tiffani (formerly Timothy) (b. 1999) Shushu (b. 1999 d. 2009). As a result of Zinn's ongoing gender transition, she identifies her sexuality as a lesbian.

2014 Virginity Auction and Kym Christian shooting incident

On November 20, 2014, Dan Alvaraz filed for an at-fault divorce in Noblesville, Indiana, citing adultery by his wife, Kym Christian and naming Zinn and fellow transwoman Kristina Chow as co-respondents. News of the divorce filing became public during Kym Christian's trial of, when it was first widely reported that Kym Christian and Zinn were involved in a lesbian relationship prior to Kym Christian fatally shooting Khayla Chow.

Zinn announced on November 28, 2014, that she is involved in a relationship with Vote for the Girls USA moderator Kym Christian effective January 4, 2015. This confirmed speculation that Kym Christian's infidelity and her 20 year marriage to Dan Alvaraz came to an end. As a result, Christian (at age 47 and 15 years Zinn's senior) becomes the eldest significant other of Zinn (surpassing Angela Willis) and will have four new step children, Christian's daughters Stephani, Haley, Benita, and Denise.

On December 19, 2014 news of the relationship became public, in a Twitter post by Kymberly Alvaraz that she and Zinn were expecting a baby. The child will be Zinn's 11th, but the fifth for Alvaraz, who has four daughters with Dan Alvaraz. Zinn subsequently confirmed that Alvaraz is pregnant and Zinn, as a woman, is the biological father of Zinn's child and on March 28, 2015 Alvaraz gave birth to a boy named Kenneth.

Health and personal incidents

After losing a friendly wager on who would make the finals of American Idol's 13th season, Zinn went on a vegetarian diet (or meat boycott) from March 1, 2014 until December 17, 2014 following the conclusion of the thirteenth season of Hell's Kitchen as La Tasha McCutchen was announced the winner, effectively ending the meat strike 17 days early.

March 2015 Arrest

In November 2014, viewers in the United States and United Kingdom started noticing that Zinn's voice sounded uncharacteristically gravelly and emotionally unhealthy during Vote for the Girls shows. On March 30, 2015, she hosted Vote for the Girls USA for the last time in the season .

On March 12, 2015 while rehearsing for a Vote for the Girls episode, just three hours before the start of the American Idol 14 Top 12 Result, while in negotiation to find a way to keep Vote for the Girls in production during a remodel of the Vote for the Girls set resulting in Zinn (and Alvaraz in addition to the VFTG staff) being displaced, and was not willing to have production interrupted, defending her moderator's contract. Zinn, irate, stressed that under the terms of Zinn's contract--as per Vote for the Girls moderator rules--have be promptly present on the performance (and/or results) night from 8 p.m. Eastern (7 p.m. Central) to its conclusion and record the site's presentation of the results show(s) night both at the home location of Aeverine Zinn Holdings, and cannot be interrupted, delayed, or joined in progress for any reason. Zinn insisted that she wanted to do a temporary transfer of the networks feed, resulting in no interruptions. Upon hearing this, Zinn said “I want this done the way I want to handle this with and ZERO INTERRUPTIONS!”, and during the comment, pounded three times saying, “ZERO INTERRUPTIONS!” and got into the official’s face as the available resolutions Zinn was offered did not meet Zinn’s standards and swearing at the official. Zinn was ejected and was initially given a one-show suspension and a year probation from NoSirGifts. Zinn served a one episode suspension for Vote for the Girls USA and UK from March 12-23 and March 21, respectively.

Then upon seeing her pick of Sarina-Joi Crowe was not saved, Zinn was shown allegedly hitting VFTG moderator Rhonda Rhodes under the chin to get her to make eye contact. Although Zinn didn't comment on the incident afterwards and has not yet done so, Rhodes, her wife (Tricia), and NoSirGifts President and CEO Jack Steele insisted that Zinn did nothing wrong and that she merely lifted Rhodes' chin and told her, "Hold your head up and don't worry about mistakes. Just vote for our picks." Rhodes commented, "She was trying to teach me and I had my head down so she raised my chin up. She was telling me to go out there and don't be afraid to make mistakes. She said I was being too hard on myself after Shi Scott and Lovey James were eliminated." Rhodes later died on March 14, 2015.

2010 and 2015 Sexual Assaults

On June 10, 2010, Zinn was admitted to Methodist Hospital after being sexually assaulted by a black man in Indianapolis. She was released on June 11, 2010. Zinn returned to the production of Vote for the Girls as scheduled the following July.

Zinn suffered a second sexual assault on the afternoon of April 22, 2015 by a black woman that had unprotected sexual intercourse without Zinn's consent. However, she returned to the Vote for the Girls set the same night filming of the American Idol Top 6 Result, and the moderator panel questioned Zinn's emotional state at the time.

Sports involvement

Zinn is a devoted fan of women's sports, the Indianapolis Colts, Chicago Bears, Indiana Pacers, Indiana Fever as well Notre Dame Fighting Irish and her alma matter's Missisinewa High School . Zinn has shown her support for the Colts by occasionally wearing a "Believe in Blue" sweatshirt and a Super Bowl XLI shirt, often on Vote for the Girls UK.

Zinn's eventual gender transition to female eventually provided a major windfall five years before the transition, to which Zinn picked up the NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament, which has traditionally ranked among the highest-rated fan-base during tournament season due to Indiana's traditional status as a college basketball hotbed and local Notre Dame being longtime fixtures in the tournament, NCAA Tournament games had long been among the highest-rated programs in the market during tournament season. This ended when Zinn dropped Bright House in 2008, which now (through ESPN) holds the exclusive television rights to the NCAA Tournament.

Since Zinn and Alvaraz began dating in 2014, Zinn has also occasionally supported the Denver Broncos (due the popularity of quarterback Peyton Manning in both Denver and Indianapolis, Ava Zinn generally watches Colts, Broncos, and/or Bears games when Vote for the Girls UK is not in production) and the NBA's Denver Nuggets, though neither have been able to attend or even watch NBA games since most Pacers and Nuggets games have since moved to cable. Coincidentally, both the Pacers and Nuggets were two of the four ABA teams that joined the NBA in the ABA-NBA merger in 1976. For the 1976–77 season. Although Indianapolis and Denver both have NFL and NBA teams, Indianapolis does have the Indiana Fever of the WNBA yet does not have an MLB nor a NHL team while Denver has the NHL's Colorado Avalanche and MLB's Colorado Rockies (both supported by Kymberly), but Denver doesn't have a WNBA franchise. At one time, Zinn has stated after her American Idol audition in Pittsburgh, "I have a future in Pittsburgh... as a Pirtates fan" since the Pirates are the Triple-A affiliate of the Indianapolis Indians.

External links

• Ava Zinn Official Web site
• @aeverinezinn on Twitter
• Ava Zinn on Facebook
• 's channel on YouTube

Media offices
Preceded by none	Host of Vote for the Girls (United States) April 28, 2010 – present	Succeeded by Incumbent
Preceded by none	Host of Vote for the Girls (United Kingdom) June 1, 2013 – present	Succeeded by Incumbent
Preceded by none	Host of Vote for the Girls (Australia) July 15, 2015 – future	Succeeded by Incumbent