Happening Digital Volume 1 | Issue 10 | Jan 2023

HAPPINESS CAN BE HAPPENING FOR US ALL

I’m one of those people that worries. Not just about the big stuff like “normal people”. I worry about stupid shit. The problem is - I’ve gotten really good at hiding it. For so many years, I’ve perfected the ability to just put a big wide-eyed face on, use humor and just power through most any situation I’m confronted with that most people can’t tell. Even though, deep down inside it feels like my life is hemorrhaging away. I’ve come to realize - THAT’S NO WAY TO LIVE and I’ve been finally doing something about it.

It’s no secret (at least not to my close friends and family) that I’ve been diagnosed as clinically depressed, have hyper anxiety (this is when a panic attack can spring on you without warning) and a pinch of agoraphobia (ironic right?). I originally noticed the symptoms of depression and anxiety in my early 30s. That was 20 years ago for anyone keeping score. Back then, people (especially men) did not readily share those types of feelings with anyone. Especially not strangers.

We tried to cover it up and hide it as much as possible. As a Latino man, I was taught “butch up and get it done”. Additionally, I did not want to seem weak or damaged. So, I white knuckled it and learned other coping mechanisms. Not all of them great. It wasn’t until, my ex-partner of the time said to me one night when I just could not sleep from all the racing thoughts going through my head,”why are you suffering so much?” and I began to weep. The reason being was I just did not have an answer. The next day he began to make phone calls necessary to make a first visit (since my teenage years) to a therapist. It was the best thing that ever really happened and one of the best things he ever did for me.

I began my journey of mental health recovery in a very naive and clumsy way or at least I thought. I went through a succession of therapists and I felt bad each time I had to start the process with a new one. I was too busy trying to convince each Dr. that I was “OK” and was just having a few “normal” insecurities. Plus, I was subconsciously and immediately seeking their approval and doing everything possible to get “better” so I could just move on with my life. I started to feel like I was failing at therapy until I had an amazing encounter with Dr. Sophia Loraz.

Dr. Loraz was the first person who had caught on to my ability to be able to be a chameleon and put on a good show for my therapists. When she gently confronted me with her observation it was the “face crack” of the century. The little boy inside of me that was holding the crack in the damn back with just a finger, flinched and the bitch broke. Needless to say THAT session lasted almost 4 hours (no joke), but I was finally and truly on my way to healing.

Then a funny thing happened, I started seeing life differently. I remember the exact moment too. I was driving home my mom’s house in Miami to my apartment in Ft. Lauderdale and tears of joy started to flow. I was finally feeling “happiness” and I had forgotten what that felt like for so many years that my body began having this involuntary response of “leaking from my eyes”. The only thing I can explain it was like was to finally be able to take a full breath after being mentally asthmatic for most of my life. Wow. It was a powerful feeling. It’s one that I constantly chase day to day even now.

Lately, thing have gotten a bit rough for me again. Yes, we all have extra baggage since the pandemic. Mine came in the way of Agoraphobia (an extreme or irrational fear of entering open or crowded places, of leaving one’s own home, or of being in places from which escape is difficult). That one was not to hard to see coming. After all, we were all locked in our home for years during the beginning of Covid. But, where as everyone else was dying to get out and mingle again, I was building the warmest little nest for myself in my apartment that was yummy and safe and I never wanted to leave it - EVER. Sounds great right? Well, I took it too an extreme. Even after it was deemed safe to breathe the same air again, I became too scared to even go to the grocery store. I’ll be completely transparent now, I’m STILL working on this one and have not gotten completely to the other side of it yet. It’s a process. Which is what I’ve learned with ALL mental health journeys - IT’S ONGOING and that is perfectly OKAY. Your path towards releasing (or living with) your mental baggage is your own and there is no itinerary on this lifelong trip. Once you realize that, it is very freeing mentally and liberating physically.

I want to remind everyone of a very cliché adage - “don’t sweat the small stuff.”

Really, it serves no one, especially yourself. Also, look around at the friends and family around your and recognize they are going through their own issues as well in a myriad of degrees. Start looking those you love in the eyes and say,”How are you? Are you OK? I mean - REALLY OK?” I promise you their responses my surprise you. Plus, as an extra benefit of helping others that it feels great and releases endorphins. When you keep the people around you strong, the load you ALL lift in life is lighter. (Check out the picture to your left. Wouldn’t you like to get or give “BOOST” sometime?)

Finally, I wanted to give a shout-out to My Psychiatrist (really that’s what the practice is called. Look it up online). After living for so many year with my diagnosis, I feel like I’m finally in the hands of professionals that care about me and are committed to my mental health. So, don’t forget to check in with yourself regularly and especially on the people you love. We ALL deserve to be happy. It’s a human birthright and don’t YOU forget it!

Light, Love and Peace, Francisco Garcia Publisher of HAPPENING DIGITAL MAGAZINE

Religious Trauma. Yes, it’s real and needs to be addressed in ALL communities. Over the last decade, I’ve had dozens of conversations with LGBTQA + religious trauma survivors on their experiences growing up in the church.

Sadly, like myself, thousands of us couldn’t wait to escape those chains of bondage and shame that sought so hard to darken OUR rainbows.

Sharing my own story, I grew up in South Georgia and didn’t come out to my immediate family until I was 32. I was raised in church to honor thy mother and father and live in a way pleasing to them, even if that meant that living was a lie.

The church sermons all too often would address the homosexual community as an abomination that would surely bust the “pits of hell” wide open. I remember being no more than 10 years old at my Southern Baptist church reading a pamphlet in the pew calling for a boycott on Disney for supporting Gay days. The article shared graphic details about sexual acts certainly not fitting for the eyes and minds of children, but this was our church. What was this type of material doing at the arm’s length of a child anyways? Surely, this was their mission to indoctrinate our impressionable minds early on to view our community as a threat.

I soon realized I was gay around 12 after I began admiring the haircuts of the cool guys in elementary, I wanted to be just like them…or so that I thought. I later realized this was a deep attraction that would only grow stronger as I matured. Like many, I grew up in youth groups in the church. My teenage years endured countless jokes, jabs and insults about myself and our community which bruised but did not break me. To survive, I kept my closet doors right, only to realize this would lead to self-destructive behavior throughout my teens and 20s.

As the years passed, I saw many that weren’t so lucky and I watched as their mental health declined. Many ended up in rehab, or prison, while others ended up six feet under. I knew I didn’t want to be one of the statistics. I knew I had to get out and start living my truth if I was ever to make something of myself.

I’m now closing in on 40 and have never felt more fabulous and confident! Age truly is a blessing we should all embrace, as many aren’t as fortunate. I know many who grew up in church do miss that sense of community. I now strongly support the non-denominational church movement that has distanced itself from the manmade doctrines of religion that divide more than unite. I’ve certainly learned it’s OK to be more spiritual than religious.

To all those who are still in hiding, worried about your faith and family, I can promise you, IT DOES GET BETTER. Start living your truth today. Oh, and call your mom. She misses you.

HDM: You have been entertaining audiences with your stand up and acting for years. How did you get started in the industry?

PB: Gosh I could spend an hour on this question. In a nutshell, I was born with performance in my blood. I was put on this earth to entertain and make people happy. It’s not a job…it’s a calling.

When I was 19 years old I went out on a limb and auditioned for my first play. I was cast as a lead dancer in Hello Dolly. The theater bug bit me and I’ve been actively involved in LIVE theater ever since!

HDM: You’ve worked along side some amazing actors and comics. Any favorite stories come to mind?

PB: I headlined a show in Asbury Park, NJ several years ago where I had sex with Rocco Steele. I wouldn’t call him an “amazing actor or comic” but that experience definitely comes to mind! I was also the opening act for Bianca Del Rio twice. That bitch sells tickets!! I performed in front of 2000 people. It was pretty amazing! I was also one of the hosts for the Gay Games in Cleveland, OH 2014.

HDM: You have an online and LIVE talk show called “Ask a Naked Guy Crocheting.” How did you learn to crochet?

PB: My grandmother taught me how to crochet when I was 5. It’s been a secret talent of mine my whole life. So during the quarantine I came up with this crazy idea of crocheting naked while people called in and asked me for advice. The first episode on YouTube received over 10,000 views. Last May we decided to try the show LIVE at a local bar and it KILLED. The audience loved it and we packed the place every time! We give away door prizes and raise money for my favorite charity…dog rescue. We are currently on hiatus looking for a new venue and hope to bring the show back this spring!

HDM: You wrote and produced a TV sitcom Vent and Chester. Tell us about that.

PB: In the summer of 2017 I came up with a really cool idea for a TV sitcom.

So, I wrote a pilot episode and wanted to shoot it at a professional television studio. It took me 2 YEARS to save enough money to produce this pilot episode. We shot it in front of a live studio audience. The pilot episode went on to win awards at film festivals. Unfortunately, the pandemic shut that project down so I decided to re-write the script into a 2-act play. We performed the play in December 2021 and it was extremely successful with standing ovations every night. Funny story: I actually funded the entire production by using my unemployment checks I received during the pandemic. So I like to say that my big gay play Vent and Chester was brought to you by Ron DeSantis (thanks ASSHOLE... lol) I’m now looking to bring the show to a New York City stage!

HDM: Who is your dream cast for this next project?

PB: I would love Bugs Bunny to play lead! Actually, I’m a HUGE fan of Alan Tudyk. I think that guy is one of the most underrated actors in Hollywood today. I would LOVE for him to be in my movie!

HDM: How can our readers help to have this new film made?

PB: Well of course funding is always a challenge. I HATE FUNDRAISING. It sucks and it’s humiliating. So far in my life I’ve always paid for my own projects. However, I do need to raise the funds for my film. Your readers can help by making a contribution to this amazing piece of cinema by visiting: facebook.com/donate/538418681203786/ Your readers can also be an extra in the film. We need to recreate a nightclub scene so we need as many people as possible to fill the dance floor. If anybody is interested in being in this scene, they should email me at laugh@mybigfunnypeter. com HDM: What is the biggest misconception about Peter Bisuito?

PB: HA! Where do I start? Boy the LGBTQA+ community can be quite judgmental. And that judgment always comes from those who never met me. I’ve been called mean, arrogant, a bully, racist you name it. On the contrary. I’m one of the kindest and most accepting people you’ll ever meet. I am VERY proud of the diversity of friends I’ve surrounded myself with. I treat everybody with respect until they give me a reason not to.

HDM: What’s next for you? Any other projects you want to explore?

PB: ONLY FANS! Er um…I’m really putting all of my efforts into my film - I Remember and my play Vent and Chester. I’m 100% optimistic that these 2 shows can and will be HUGE. However, I also came up with a brilliant elimination show that I’m looking to develop soon. Once again, it all depends on budget and funding! Stay tuned!

Photos Provided By: MICHAEL MURPHY

HDM: Tell us about our latest project.

JJ: I cannot tell you how excited I am to bring you my latest project. I decided to write my first ever “dramatic” piece. So, I wrote an amazing psychological drama called I Remember. It’s a bout a guy named Derek who wakes up one morning and realized his husband Dom is missing. He cannot find or remember where he is. Everybody else knows exactly where Dom is but the only way Derek can find him is if he steps outside his normal state of consciousness and remembers. The film deals with a very traumatic experience, repressed memory and Derek’s will to find the man he loves even when he can’t remember. It’s an amazingly powerful and intense story!

I met Jimmy James during one of his performances at the iconic METROPOLITAN ROOM in New York City. My friends and I were attending a few FRINGE FESTIVAL shows that season and while at one of the venues I happen to spot a post card announcing that the legend would be performing the following evening. I turned to my friends and said,”I don’t care what else we do during this visit - BUT WE ARE GOING TO SEE JIMMY JAMES PERFORM LIVE!” (I had only seen him perform on talk shows like Donahue, Sally Jesse Rafael and Joan Rivers untill then) We were lucky enough to scoop up the last tickets and all piled into the amazing cabaret style venue and enjoyed his spectacular show. It was simply a dream come true. After his porformance, I introduced myself,we exchanged phone numbers and I promised I would see him again soon. Sure enough, I called my friends at the world famous PARLIAMENT HOUSE and Jimmy was immediately booked for shows in the Footlight Theater. Flashfoward to NOW - Jimmy is making a return to his old stomping grounds of NYC. Enjoy the world of the FASHIONISTA himself JIMMY JAMES!

ALL IMAGES FROM THE PORTFOLIO OF DIANIEL MIAGANY

HDM: You are FINALLY returning to the stage in NYC! Are you excited to bring your new show back to your old stomping grounds?

JJ: Yes! New York City where I used to live for so many years! So many memories. I have so many friends there. I heard we’re already selling out! I’m very blessed. New York has the coolest people.

The last time I performed in NY was my Summer tour 2019.

HDM: Are there any new voices that you have been working on that you are going to be introducing to your show?

JJ: Yes! My VOICE! (lol) The big problem I have is choosing because I have so much New material.

Lana Del Rey - Summertime Sadness Liza Minnelli - Losing My Mind Britney Spears - I’m Not A Girl Kermit the Frog With Barbra Streisand - Rainbow Connection Mazzy Star - Fade Into You Annie Lennox - Sweet Dreams Alison Moyet - Only You I’m desperate do Miley Cyrus - Flowers.

I’m obsessed with that song right now. I’m practicing right now but I’m not sure I’ll be able to nail it! Sometimes if I can’t do the impression, I’ll just sing it as myself. I tend to forget I’m a singer/songwriter-recording artist in my own right (lol). So, I always do a couple songs as myself in my Voices shows.

HDM: Do you have a favorite voice or song that you do in your act?

JJ: I’m always asked that. It’s hard to pick one. Because when I’m in it doing the impression, I’m in love with that voice. Maybe Cher gets an extra pinch of love. She can sing anything really anything. Cher is magic. Barbra Streisand is the hardest to do.

HDM: Are you going to be working your worldwide hit FASHIONISTA into the set as well?

JJ: Yes! The younger people get mad if I leave it out (lol)! I think I’m also singing Who Wants To Be Your Lover h from 1998. Who knows! I’m still compiling the show’s set list right now! I really have so much material to choose from.

HDM: Where is the weirdest or coolest place that you have heard FASHIONISTA play around the world?

JJ: After the Afghanistan War, I got an email from a soldier telling me that the FIRST dance club to open played FASHIONISTA to kick off the night! That was very cool to hear. Also a fan sent me a queen doing my song in Vietnam. I loved it!

HDM: You are pulling together a documentary on your Marilyn years called THE BOY WHO WAS MARILYN. Tell us a bit about this project?

JJ: So, right now we’ve entered Phase 2 of the GOFUNDME. We are in the process of transferring/ digitizing another round of hundreds of never before seen tapes and photos of me as Marilyn Monroe and more. We have to make the “sizzle reel” FIRST to pitch shop to all the platforms like Amazon Prime, Netflix, HULU, HBO, YouTube etc., in the hopes of getting a deal to actually make the documentary. Anyone can donate still. Your readers can go to : gofundme.com and search The Boy Who Was Marilyn Phase 2 donation page. I have so much to share about my experiences as Marilyn.

People will be quite surprised!

HDM: We love your Facebook LIVE concerts co-hosted by Mama Josephine! How did those start and will you continue doing those in 2023?

JJ: In March 2020, due to Covid, I lost ALL my gigs for the whole year. I am not a “rich white woman” like RuPauI! (lol) I have to keep working hard come hell or highwater. So, by May 7, 2020 I started the Facebook Live Living Room Concerts with my Mom, Josephine. They were instantly popular! I did NOT charge. It was optional electronic tipping and people were very generous. I’m eternally grateful to my amazing fans over the years.

I did them every Thursday evening for 2 and half years!

We just halted the series in mid December 2022. Maybe I’ll do it once a month, who knows. People are busier and out and about now.

HDM: What’s next in the life of the ICONIC Jimmy James?

JJ: It’s all about the documentary - The Boy That Was Marilyn! It’s going to be a long journey, but I have a great team. But, I am also open to making more music. That’s my first love afterall.

Photos Of THE MARILYN YEARS: JIMMY JAMES

GAY Icon, Cuban musical artist Gloria Estefan is headed to the Songwriters Hall of Fame for its Class of 2023. The star-studded event is slated for Thursday, June 15 at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York City.

The Songwriters Hall of Fame’s ongoing mission is to celebrate and honor the contributions and legacies of songwriters of all genres of music while developing and nurturing the next generation of songwriters through Master Sessions, songwriting craft forums, scholarships and digital initiatives.

Estefan is a Grammy award-winning singer, actress, songwriter, author of two New York Times best-selling children’s books, philanthropist, and humanitarian. Not to mention, just and ALL AROUND GREAT HUMAN! The Latin music queen is considered one of the world’s most recognizable and beloved performers and the most successful Latin crossover artist in music history, per Billboard Magazine. So much so, Mattel honored her likeness with the production of a Legendary Women Barbie this last year.

The popular songs in her catalog that she has penned include Anything For You, Don’t Wanna Lose You, Words Get In The Way, Rhythm Is Gonna Get You and Let’s Get Loud.

Having sold over 100 million records worldwide, Gloria has garnered 8 Grammy Awards and an Oscar nominated performance for the song Music Of My Heart. She also received an American Music Award for Lifetime Achievement and was inducted into the Latin Songwriters Hall of Fame, she received the Gershwin Prize for Popular Song, in 2015, President Obama honored Emilio and Gloria Estefan with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor, presented to individuals who have made meritorious contributions to the United States, to world peace and cultural endeavors.

In 2017, Gloria was the first Cuban-American singer-songwriter to receive The Kennedy Center Honors.

A long advocate for the LGBTQA+ community, the Estefans are part of OUR community directly alongside their amazingly talented daughter, queer artist Emily Estefan (who portrayed her mother in HBO Max’s summer smash hit Father Of The Bride).

Representation matters and we are proud to be seen and for the world to recognize one of our hugest and most ardent allies GLORIA ESTEFAN!

Aside from meaning being pushed to one side or a theatrical ‘aside’ commonly used as a staging mechanism, the word Side, as in “I’m a Side” has also being put to good use since 2013 as a sexual position identifier.

What is a Side you ask? American psychotherapist Dr. Joe Kort, coined the term to describe gay men who don’t enjoy anal sex and don’t feel comfortable defining themselves as a Top or Bottom!

Now, gay dating app Grindr has acknowledged that commonly accepted binary terms fail to accurately account for all of the delicious variations on the complicated spectrum of human sexuality. Even the more accommodating Versatile or Vers descriptor doesn’t really begin to cover the range. Grindr has announced that it was going beyond Top, Bottom and Versatile and adding a new option – giving its users the option to identify as a Side.

Grindr contacted Dr. Kort, a clinical director and founder of The Center for Relationship and Sexual Health in the United States, at the beginning of this month to advise him that they were taking his suggestion of adding Side as an position in their drop down menu of selectable positions and a matching filter.

“We wanted to let you know some of the good news!” a Grindr guru emailed Dr. Kort. “We have listened to your feedback and, in the next release, we will be adding Side as a position and a filter!”

When Kort first introduced the term in 2013 in a piece for HuffPost, he described the position thusly - “Sides prefer to kiss, hug and engage in oral sex, rimming, mutual masturbation and rubbing up and down on each other, to name just a few of the sexual activities they enjoy.”

“These men enjoy practically every sexual practice aside from anal penetration of any kind. They may have tried it, and even performed it for some time, before they became aware that for them, it was simply not erotic and wasn’t getting any more so. Some may even enjoy receiving or giving anal stimulation with a finger, but nothing beyond that.”

Queer men who identify as a Bottom are well familiar with the misogynistic idea that being penetrated is somehow less masculine.

Sides fight stereotypes too, with Kort explaining, “A lot of Tops and Bottoms call sides boring, virgins, trauma survivors, ‘you haven’t met the right guy,’ give me 10 minutes inside you and you’ll be speaking a different tune, et cetera,” he said, a trope many queer folks experience when they first come out of the closest.

Everyone is fighting stereotypes. It takes a different type of courage to defy the norms and own the decision to identify as a Side but now Grindr has done some of the hard work. By allowing it’s users to select Side as an option, the gay dating app just made an incredible difference to the types of conversations now being held on the app, not to mention the hours of time saved on endless conversations with someone it turned out you weren’t compatible with anyway!

Imagine the relief and delight of Sides all over the world, now being able to come out of this closet that many may not have even been aware they were hiding in, having never had the vocabulary to identify as a Side, or even knowing it was an option!

AQUARIUS DATING SEASON To understand the mystique of the Water Boy, simply absorb the significance of naturalist Charles Darwin, actor James Dean, publisher Helen Gurley Brown and radical Angela Davis all being born beneath this sign of our time.

Not every Aquarius is out to change the world, of course, well, at least not the whole world. Idealistic, creative, and above all, individualistic, he is dedicated to serving man kind - on his own terms.

The mythology behind Aquarius contains strongly gay overtones the straight world rarely mentions. The Water Bearer is identified with Ganymede, a handsome youth who caught the heavenly eye; first of Eos, Goddess of the Dawn, who abducted him from a lonely sheepfield. She, in turn lost him to Zeus, King of the Gods, who, having an appropriately Greek interest in young shepherds, sent an eagle to retrieve him for a houseboy. Following a great deal of drama over this affair, Zeus was forced by his furious wife to put his boy-toy away among the constellations for all to admire.

Why are we telling you all this? Why, so you can use it for conversation starter when making time with an Aquarius, of course!

Naturally, you’ll have to wait in line, because in the cookie-cutter world of speed dating, nearly everyone feels about him as the ancient Greek Gods did…like snatching that one up before he becomes a collector’s trophy.

Aquarius is ahead of his time and somewhat uppity about it. Don’t be surprised if he delivers a wild-eyed sermon on some new groundbreaking idea he had - while watching Discovery last week.

HOW TO ATTRACT A AQUARIUS

Aquarians will be found wherever conventions are being bucked and change being promised-Pride marches will have a healthy contingent of Water Bearers leading the charge, but issues like the environment, and social justice for the poor, will attract as much of his commitment.

Despite his watery name, Aquarius is ruled by the Element of Air, and the planet of (you guessed it) Uranus. And, yes, for those who were wondering, the overwhelming conventional wisdom is that it fits.

You’ll find that his preferred mode of communication is the unstructured debate. Don’t even try to agree with him, no matter the topic; he’ll just change the subject and offer more and more deeply improbable premises, until you relent to spar with him. At that point, his response to every attempt at reason will be a pouting,“you aren’t understanding what I’m saying at all!” which you may as well concede, before he starts speaking Martian to prove his point.

GAY AQUARIUS EROGENOUS ZONES

If you have the good fortune to be seated across the table from a friendly, flirtatious Aquarius, and feel that making a move is called for, consider initiating a hidden game of tootsie with him while your friends seated beside you have no clue. This will not only stir his sense of daring, but plug you in directly to his sensitive spot, which happens to be the calves and ankles.

As things get more serious, be open to literally anything. A virtual garden of bizarre pleasures awaits the playmate who can play along.

Just agree that you are whatever strange character he insists that you are, without probing for details, and you can be a stand in while he pretends you are a team of alien scientists performing erotic tests, or some three-headed beast-man from a forgotten 60’s horror flick, or whatever other twisted fantasy has a hold on his strange imagination.

A DATE WITH A AQUARIUS

Aquarians thrive in urban bustle and expect to be entertained.

Small theatre groups and comedy clubs are a great way to evoke the warmth beneath his cool exterior, as well as giving him a framework to compare with his life in the ensuing hours. Protagonist of his own first person story, Aquarius is apt to relate nearly any drama to a parallel (though not necessarily in any way similar) event in his own life.

He’ll usually buy coffee and pie, but he’s rarely loaded; his eccentricities have probably kept him from climbing the corporate ladder.

Nor is he particularly susceptible to conspicuous displays of wealth; in fact, he tends to resent attempts to buy his affections, and loading on the bling-bling will surely backfire.

Inviting you back to his place is hardly a bad sign, but he might merely have tea in the porch in mind; Aquarius is most comfortable in his home, and generally prefers familiar surroundings. The Water Boy usually “stakes his teepee” near a comfortable river for many years.

RUPAUL ARTICLE

SALINA ESTITTIES @estitties

32 Years Old Salinas EsTitties was born in the bay area, Northern California, but moved here to LA when she was 17 years old. Salina came to Hollywood for college and graduated at the age of 20 with a BFA in musical theater. Initially, her dream was to be on Broadway, but did not have the financial means to make it to New York.

Salina started doing drag a few years ago and realized it is not an easy career path to take. “Now drag is EXPENSIVE! The wigs, the fabric, the makeup, the heels (IN MY SIZE), the time it takes to make a mix, choreograph dances, sew a costume, ITS ALOT. Not to mention cultivating a name in the nightlife scene is not easy to do either,” she says in her very over the top way.

Salinas considers herself a “campy eccentric spicy Latina showgirl! At first, people just hired me as a dancing queen because coming off of my dance scholarship program, I was an amazing dancer.” But, as we have seen thus far on RPDR 15 she has so much more to show.

AURA MAYARI

@auramayari

30 Years Old

Aura Mayari, the self-proclaimed “trade of the season”, put in her audition tape for the biggest drag show on television, Rupaul’s Drag Race, leaving her fate in the hands of people she hoped would see the star power in her. She got in on the first try.

“When I got the call saying I made the show, I totally freaked out and couldn’t understand anything that they were saying on the phone. I had to tell them to give me a minute to breathe,” she says.

The Filipino-American is set to compete against 15 other queens and has her eyes on the crown! And, gravitating toward her character of “the moon goddess” was inevitable. “Growing up, I watched a lot of anime and superhero movies.

For some reason, I always gravitated towards characters with gray or white hair, and coincidentally, they were all connected to the moon,” Aura says.

Under all the pressure of being in the running to become winner, Aura is determined to stay authentic, hoping to be an inspiration to young queer Filipinos. The walking face-tune is making it WERK!