A diverse group of talented drag queens competed for San Diego State’s first ever Superstar Drag Queen crown on the evening of Jan. 25 at Montezuma Hall.
The thought of strutting and dancing in eight-inch heels for a crowd of more than 1,000 people may be daunting to the average person, but these veteran queens have experience under their belts.
Contestants Melanie Blue, Silverella, LAUXE, Stella Vanilla, Imani Zella and Lady Blanca shared some insights into their lives, before all the glitz and glamour, and their inspiration behind becoming queens.
Psychology sophomore Juan Barcenas, also known as Lady Blanca, was introduced to drag culture through RuPaul’s Drag Race at the age of 14. Barcenas’ mom encouraged and inspired Barcenas to pursue drag.
“She’s always been my inspiration,” Barcenas said. “Ever since my dad passed away when I was 5 years old, I’ve always looked up to my mom.”
Acting and musical theatre performance junior and winner of Saturday night’s drag pageantry Noah Leach, also known as LUXE, discovered drag at 19 after seeing guest performer Shangela at a drag event at SDSU. Leach believes drag has changed Leach as a person, and Leach wants to inspire others.
“Myself, Noah, has evolved so much from the presence of LUXE that I don’t know if I’d be at the same point in my life had I not found LUXE,” Leach said. “And just being that beacon for other people to want to liberate themselves or find their true self.”
Before being crowned SDSU’s first superstar queen, Leach said it would mean the world to Leach to win.
“I would feel validated,” Leach said. “It would be a validation of what I’m pursuing and to know that the way I look and what I do and what I’m here to do means something here at SDSU.”
Baby Bheos Hood, also known as Stella Vanilla, began drag at the age of 19 when a friend pressured Hood into doing a show at the University of San Diego. Ever since then, Hood’s been performing and appearing in various shows. One of Hood’s favorite moments was when Hood successfully landed a complicated stunt on stage.
“I did this ballroom stunt essentially and I was laying upside down in the air,” Hood said. “And the audience gagged. I was like we did it … I didn’t fall on my face.”
For queen George Andrade, also known as Melanie Blue, drag came into his life at the age of 18. When Andrade’s favorite Youtuber landed a spot on RuPaul’s Drag Race, Andrade was motivated to use drag as an outlet, but Andrade wasn’t eager to change certain aspects of Andrade in order to fit in with the other drag queens displayed on television.
“At first I was hesitant because I didn’t want to shave my beard,” Andrade said. “I was like, ‘Do I have to do this?’”
After Moore’s first encounter with the “extra non-ordinary” looks displayed by queens on RuPaul’s Drag Race, Naomi Moore, also known as Silverella, was 12 when Moore realized Moore wanted to be a drag queen. Moore feels it’s important for diversity to be a part of drag culture.
“I’m here representing not only all the queens of color, but all the trans queens and if you watch the show then maybe even little beard queens,” Moore said.
Single-subject teaching junior Christion Covington, also known as Imani Zella, was 18 when she got her start in the world of drag. After being encouraged by drag queen Amber St. James to compete in her first event, Covington was eager to immerse herself in the community and culture.
“Once I started getting into the drag stuff, I started watching RuPaul’s Drag Race, looking up queens online, learning from Amber … It was just drag everything after that pretty much,” Covington said.
