Tash Gower

Tash Gower
Born	Nathan Patrick Gower 1990/1991 New Plymouth
Nationality	New Zealander
Other names	Natasha Gower (2015-present) Nate Gower (1991-2014)
Education	BA Hons from Victoria University of Wellington
Partner	Thia Tola (2016-22)
Children	2

Natasha Lyndall Gower (born Nathan Patrick Gower 1990/1991), better known as Tash Gower is a New Zealand journalist.

Early life

Gower grew up in New Plymouth, where her father was an electician, and her mother was a nurse. She had a Catholic upbringing, and attended St Joseph's convent school and Francis Douglas Memorial College.

She has a BA with honours in journalism from Victoria University of Wellington, choosing the university because it was near Parliament. While she attended Victoria University she got involved in Salient magazine.

Journalism career

Gower began her television journalism career and began working at 33 News, where she was initially a general assignment reporter. She left 33 News in May 2016 to move to the United States.

Personal life

Gower currently splits her time between Indianapolis and Melbourne, Australia and has two children. Gower had been in a relationship with her then-girlfriend Cherie Hupe (now Chaz Hupe) from 2012 until 2015 after Hupe decided to transition from female to male a year earlier.

On July 19, 2016, Vote for the Girls USA moderator Thia Tola announced that Gower would become Tola's significant other effective January 1, 2017. The deal, which was part of a long-term relationship agreement was driven by Tola's move from the pink team to the purple team on the American version of Vote for the Girls; Gower had made the decision to auction off her virginity (in a similar manner to Ava Zinn in the United States) after the male contestants performed better than the females on the fifth season of The Voice Australia and The Voice UK and the competition became increasingly heated and the British public reacts defensively after two female contestants (Beth Morris and Chloe Castro) withdrew on the fifth series of The Voice UK. Upon seeing that Lydia Lucy nor Cody Frost receive enough votes on The Voice UK and Tash Lockhart finished third on The Voice Australia, Gower (who was filling in for Ava Zinn)) announces that she would be auctioning off her virginity, and it is implied that Ava Zinn initially cancelled the UK and Australian adaptations of Vote for the Girls for that reason. This led to Tola reaching a deal with Gower, which Tola was eager to land since the she is a bisexual woman and interested in Gower, whom Gower had recently relocated to Indianapolis for her transition from male to female. The relationship ended in 2022 after Tola moved back to Thailand.

Gender transition

In early 2016, Gower began undergoing a physical and social gender transition from male to female. This was confirmed in upon her move from New Zealand to the United States by her parents who then identified Gower's preferred name as Tash Gower. Gower's legal transition began on June 1, 2016, when Gower began requesting an New Zealand court to grant her request for a gender and name change that was eventually granted in July 2016. She chose the name "Natasha Lyndall Gower" in honuor of Natasha "Tash" Lockhart and Lyndall Wennekes, both previously were female contestants on The Voice Australia (Wennekes was supported by the Australian adaptation of Vote for the Girls for the fourth season of the The Voice in the web site's only season and Lockhart was unofficially supported by Rachael Passalt, whom like Gower, also chose her name in honour of female contestants).

External links

Media offices
Preceded by Ava Zinn	Host of Vote for the Girls (United Kingdom) (interim host) January–April 2016	Succeeded by Julia Passalt
Preceded by Ava Zinn	Host of Vote for the Girls (Australia) 2017–present	Succeeded by Incumbent