Because of the Catholic thing, any kind of queer want felt
wrong. It felt a destructive.
I took this opportunity when I got fired to really sit there
and say either I can I can boohoo and not do anything about
it or I can try to discover what being full time would look like.
I believe that I'm the Simon Cowell of drag in this
community. I can evulcably look at somebody
and see where your heart, your craft and your your
determination aligns together to say you deserve this shot. 2
parents that had no kids at that school complained that I was
there and it went to Rush Limbaugh.
It went to it literally went international news.
I got called an axe murderer by Rush Limbaugh.
Seeing somebody that exists like you is ridiculously powerful,
and when you see somebody that exists like you doing something
that you can see yourself doing, it's the most inspiring thing
that you're going to hold on to. Hello and welcome back to the
Queerest podcast telling the fiercest stories.
This is queer talker and I'm Ben Cechetti.
This week I sit down with the incredible and the inspiring
drag performer Jessica Lahore. But before we get to that
conversation, I've got a very quick favour to ask.
Wherever you are watching or listening to this episode, hit
that subscribe button. It's one click and it's going to
make a massive difference. It's going to allow me to grow
this podcast and it's going to bring you the best and the
Queerest episodes every single time.
So in advance, thank you. Now to my conversation with
Jessica, Miss Jessica, Jessica Lahore, if you're nasty, we will
start with our queer panic rapid fire set of questions.
You just respond with the first thing that comes to your mind,
starting with what was the first album you ever owned?
Now that's what I call music #9 there's like 78 now, but number
9 is the one that I owned. I love that.
I love that now comes up a lot on this, which I love.
Like, I think it's a lot of people's kind of first
introduction to to record. So I couldn't say like one
person's specific album, but one of a conglomerate for sure.
Yeah, yeah, I think that's great.
What is your or would be your lip sync for your life song of
choice? OK, there's there's two.
I know it's just one rapid fire, but it's either Pictures of Your
Dick by Rachel Bloom. It's hilarious, it's very fun,
it's very exciting, or amazing by high fashion.
It's really sassy. It's really, it's got a good
flow to it. It's real dancy.
Love the lyrics. I love that.
Well, as everyone knows, we have a Spotify playlist that we Add
all those songs to so they can all go and check those out now,
which I love. Please add the pictures of your
Dick 1. Who was a childhood celebrity
crush of yours? It is Cameron Diaz when she
walks in wet to the bank in the mask in that red dress, and
she's hitting on Jim Carrey. Immediate crush pants.
Yeah, yeah. I actually just watched that
movie The other weekend, so very very fresh in my mind.
Fresh in my mind to the storm. What is your biggest red flag?
You know, I wasn't sure if you wanted us to be like a drag red
flag or like a human human red flag.
But I'm just going to go generalise.
People that have a 0 awareness, like social awareness, like no
emotional or social awareness of the people around them.
Immediate red flag. Like for super easy things like
this person might need a door held open or this person doesn't
seem OK or something very general.
Like you should be able to tune in to the surroundings of people
around you. Yeah I agree that kind of lack
of awareness is is is a big red flag for sure.
What is your favourite queer movie or TV show?
I kind of want to go. I don't.
I feel like it's claimed by the queers Devil Wears Prada.
I know the second one is coming out.
It's not necessarily a queer cult classic.
If you're going queer cult cult classic, it's probably going to
be to 1 Foo if you're talking like dragon queer but claimed by
the queers Devil Wears Prada. I'm very excited for the second
one. Yeah, I saw the musical in
London. It's fantastic.
So yeah, I'm all about it. If you were to compete on
RuPaul's Drag Race, what would be your go to Snatch Game?
You know, I, I've thought about this many, many times, but I
kind of want to go with Larry the Cable Guy as one option.
I know that sounds really insane, really insane, but
that's. I can see it.
That's where my spirit comes from.
OK, I look like I'm rushing A sorority, but I'm really a
redneck deep down in my soul. And then I'm Miriam Margolis.
Yes. I'm obsessed with her interviews
and just she's like a more tame Tammy Brown from the show.
There's just something about her that just is off the charts wild
and I think I could embody her. Yeah, I agree.
She's Miriam Margulies is Like a dream guest of mine for this
podcast. As well.
Really. Yeah, we'll make it happen.
Now. Who is your ultimate queer icon?
I really, God, I, I feel like modern day queer icon.
It's it's Gaga. I I I've been here with her a
little monster since the very beginning, even before she was
taking off. I'm researching some of her
earlier stuff, but if I'm going like iconic diva, like she paved
the way, it's probably Shirley Bassey.
I'm obsessed with her voice, her stage presence, her, her
Hollywood glam and the way that she out onto the onto her live
performances. So those two from now to old
school. Amazing choices.
Who is one person you would like to hear on this podcast?
Such a selfish question. Miriam Margolese.
Margolese. Calling you We need you on this
podcast. I'll take anything that you're
on a podcast for. We're just perfect.
Thank you. Yes.
And now I can tag her and you know, we'll make it happen.
Exactly. Yeah.
Look out for this soon final of our Quipanic questions.
What is one word you would use to describe your childhood?
Confusing. Confusing.
OK, OK. Well, we can call it a little
bit more. Stick with one word for that one
Very, very hard. I'm a, I'm a this, this, this
and that kind of girl. So just confusing.
Confusing. I like it.
So let's pull on that thread a little bit because as long term
listeners know, I have this theory that to understand
someone today, you first need to understand them as a young
person and as a child. So you say confusing.
What should I know about you as a child or a teenager to
understand the Jessica that sits in front of me today?
Oh my God, I would say ridiculously sheltered.
Very Catholic, family reserved. My dad was very involved in
making sure his kids turned out right the way he wanted them.
So like can't pick things up with the left hand, have to pick
things up with the right hand. He would only have right-handed
kids. Very controlling over what
activities we would do in school or where his levels of interest
would be involved with. Like what he thought was
important for us to grow up on. Family was super close and then
broke really quickly once we moved.
Moved as a kid. Super sheltered.
Didn't come out his career until 23.
Really tumultuous relationship with my with my parents and
extended family. I really didn't discover the
type of person that I was or went through large periods of
like self hatred and dwell dysmorphia for like the 1st 10
to 15 years after like of my my middle ground era.
I don't know how to set my teens.
There we go middle ground teens. I feel like it's important to
know that I've always had a weird like sick twist, twisted
sense of humour in some ways. And so drag allows me to bring
that out in the most appropriate ways really, I would say
ultimately shelter and like very naive to the world around me
growing up. So once I was able to moving it
to college, I learned a lot really quick and that's really
escalated to where I am now. And then in that kind of
experience of, you know, you talk about kind of relatively
sheltered childhood, teenage years and then obviously going
off to college. When do you do you remember the
first queer LGBTQ plus person you became aware of, either in
real life or kind of in media? I do only because I remember
them like in the box in the back of my head when I'm when I'm
hearing this question, I'm like, oh, this unlocks.
Like the first person I remember at one point being maybe 3rd or
4th grade and seeing my gym teachers, both guys making out
in the hallway but not understanding anything about
that because they both had wives.
And I remember that very, very specifically, I was walking
American Idol and one of the quick contestants while the
finalists was in Mohawk. But he was, I don't know if he
was queer, but my mom would unfortunately yelled queer at
him at the TV and I didn't know what that was.
So there's that. But when it comes to like first
out proud, like mentor in college, I have my mentor even
today. His name is Kyle Oldham.
He taught me really what being proud and loud and queer and
exciting was. And then I guess like my first
queer interaction when I was told like guys could like me was
freshman year of high school, maybe sophomore year of high
school, I had a guy tell me like me.
And I'm like, that's weird. That doesn't seem possible.
And then I guess hearing that from another guy, what was the
kind of a lot of us kind of remember that first feeling
inside that first kind of spark and awareness of our queerness.
Do you remember when you first felt that inside you and how
that made you feel giving kind of your your family background?
Yeah, it was pretty rough. When I heard that out loud.
I really, I didn't even inquire more to adults.
I just kept inquiring in my head of that possibility.
Although the Internet was accessible during that time,
everything was very slowly downloading.
So like research on the Internet wasn't quite the same.
I think it was a good explanation for feelings that I
might have been a feeling inside or been trying to explain or
make excuses for in the past. Why was I interested in the, you
know, at the sleepovers with the boys, finding ways to be, you
know, curious and inquisitive with each other, things like
that. But I because of the Catholic
thing, any kind of queer want felt wrong, felt destructive.
Anything from sexual expression, pornography, masturbation to to
just being interested in guys felt very wrong, sinful,
terrible. Why can't I control this?
Why do I like this? And so that was like a long
period for at least a year until I changed my attitude to being,
I'm straight, but I'm going to have gay revenge and I would
like, sleep with guys or make out with guys, but I was still
straight. But I did it just so I could
break their heart. So there's a lot of weird, like
religious trauma that came with a period of my time.
Yes, I guess that must have been really hard to unpick,
especially when it it's also your family, right.
And you know, family is important either biological or
chosen to unpick that. When do you think you first felt
authentically yourself, and then when do you feel you could just
bring that unapologetically to everything?
I'm not going to lie, my authentic self probably came in
end of 2930 like in the last couple of years.
Quite a journey. Daily practises daily at Words
of affirmation. I feel like sometimes if you're
on a path like this, you don't lose old bad habits, you learn
how to manage them as you get older.
And so I would say 2930 was like first hard hit of being like,
this is the human that I am and this is who I'm going to
embrace. But even to this day, at 32,
last three or four years, there's been a lot of resistance
and still pushing through some of those films or some of those
boundaries to really become the person that I want to become.
I find myself on better days and then other days I I don't know
who that person is. And it's, it's weird.
It's a weird feeling to go back to old school mentalities.
Yeah, I can imagine. And then you mentioned we've
talked about kind of family a lot already.
So when I say family to you, what do you think of?
Do you think of your biological home family or do you think of
your chosen family where you are now?
You know, I have always been a big stickler of just using the
terms that fit best with me, and I know a lot of people do too.
What I mean by that is when you say family, I do think of my
biological family. I think of my sisters, I think
of my parents, I think of my aunts, uncles, cousins.
When you say chosen family, that is the family that feels closest
to my heart. Like that is the the family that
feels like they've been there for me, love me
unapologetically. Been through different stages of
my life depending on when they came into my life.
But I do separate the two. I still give the weirdest
respect to like when other people come to me like oh I'll
be your mom. I'm like well I already have one
She just chooses not to be part of my life.
But you can be my my loving like mom figure and give me a hug.
But I I feel like weird taking titles from those different
categories. Yeah, I can appreciate that.
And obviously, we've touched on the fact that Denver is your
kind of home base. It's where you call home, but in
2025, you've toured across, I think there's 15 different U.S.
cities, which is incredible. How would you describe the
climate of drag and for LGBTQ bus people as it compares to
Denver and then all those cities that you visited?
You know, I learned a lot when travelling across the country
and I the last time I travelled was the beginning of 2020.
I was doing 32 cities and COVID shut down like I was 5 cities in
and as I was go heading to my next place, shut down, shut down
and taken from me. So it's been five years since
I've gotten to travel consistently and so, so much
impact in one month to figure out what drag was like in the
career scene was like. And I think that it's, it's been
really rewarding to see how powerful all things given with
our country in the US happening that they're still positive,
strong queer forces, whether that be this like 20 to 30 year
old range or I'm talking about like queer elders.
So going to Salt Lake and meeting some of my queer elders
that have been working hard in a place that is so conservative
and so anti queer, but still strong, loud and proud is really
inspiring to see. When I travelled around the
country, you could definitely see how drag was appreciated,
how it was treated, how queer people were treated by venues
across the country. I'm realising that Denver kind
of sits in the middle. We're not some of the worst
venues that take advantage of our queer artists.
And on the other end, there are venues that are truly partnering
with the artists to make entertainment a full benefit for
everybody. The venue succeeds, the industry
worker succeeds, the artist succeeds, and it's a full
circle. And there's not a break in that
chain. So I feel like Denver could be
doing more when I'm looking at like the queer culture around.
I was thankful not enough to not have to experience any kind of
backlash or any kind of protesters or any kind of
issues. Even travelling to DC or Los
Angeles where ICE agents or just the governments heavily
involved, I was not in areas where I saw that prominently.
But after talking to a lot of the entertainers in the cities,
those things are existing. They're existing in smaller
communities outside of that city that are more vulnerable, easier
to target. And it's harder going to cities
like Minneapolis or I'd say even DC, where most of the
entertainers are people of colour and they have a different
experience where every weekend is going to be a different
weekend, whether they feel comfortable going out to the
shows or their fans feel comfortable going out to the
shows. And so they're trying to find
ways to reach those people that crave their artistry while still
making sure that they stay safe. And that's not something that
we're noticing right now in Denver.
It's been really rewarding to see how powerful, but also how
people are just kind of getting by with a smile.
Drag is so powerful, right? Like drag has such a role to
play in the queer community as a whole.
It's often drag performers. I hear people talk about kind of
often that some of their first experiences of seeing queer
people were seeing a fantastic drag performer.
So it feels like we need to do as much as possible to protect
and empower drag Queens, drag kings to continue to do that,
right? And is that your sense that the
community is behind you and kind of pushing for that, that
awareness? Yeah, I would say this year more
than ever, even while travelling, there's there's an
essence of people feeling the not scared to stay inside, but
really pushing themselves to go out and support queer venues and
queer artists. Because every weekend people,
venues are closing down, artists are not able to survive,
protesters are becoming prominent laws or shutting down
the ability to express ourselves.
So I do, I do believe that that is accurate.
I think people are finding ways to support artistry in some way
to keep it going. Yeah.
And I can't imagine it's easy. You know, you've been a full
time drag performer, if my research is correct for over 10
years and you stay consistently booked without a certain TV show
that we may have already mentioned a couple of times.
What do you think is the secret to that longevity and success?
And I guess also a secondary question that kind of what is
your relationship like with RuPaul's Drag Race and what that
is doing for the kind of the drag community?
So I, I'm going to kind of answer questions in reverse.
I think RuPaul's Drag Race, I will always give it the the
credit that it is due for pushing and projecting queer
voices and faces to the forefront, even bigger than
RuPaul, who runs the show. Sometimes people are able to
take this opportunity to be seen for their talents, their voices,
their, their, how they resonate with audiences in ways that have
never been happened before. Do I think as the show has
progressed, it has changed and altered what I remember it to be
when I'm watching season 6 or even if I go back to season 1-2
and three, I think that there's elements of that support the
local stop looking for what's going to hit hard on TV and
what's going to be supportive of the show.
I I think that some of my views on it has changed.
And so my relationship is positive.
I do the viewing parties. I have submitted auditions in
the past. I actively interact with some of
the drag race girls and, and everything like that.
But I think that there's a huge chunk of the heart that's
missing from what the purpose, what I think the purpose could
be for the show and I, I, yeah, I And so in reverse, being full
time for 10 of the 12 years or a little bit over 10 years, that
was a really difficult time. I started in 20, 16 when I
started hitting the ground running really hard.
I was working at a job. I walked in to set up.
I was a busser server. And after we finished the whole
restaurant setting up, they said hey, guess what, we're closed
down effective immediately. No more.
Take what you can, drink what you want, and then you're done
for the day. And that really hit because I
was struggling financially. I was barely able to afford
rent. I had no friends.
I was not out. I was closeted.
So it was just one thing after another.
And I took this opportunity when I got fired to really sit there
and say either I can, I can boohoo and not do anything about
it, or I can try to discover what being full time would look
like. Nobody was really doing that in
my scene. I, I'm not going to lie, I
humbly take credit for being the 1st at least in my Denver, Co
scene to being a full time entertainer outside of TV shows
and consistently dealing with venues and reputation and
consistency with shows. So the 10 years is because I
started so long ago, I, I. Put in the work and I've been
doing this type of schedule that you see this like 40 to 65 shows
a month since 2017. And I got a lot of shit for it.
I can, I swear I didn't ask that.
I got a lot of shit from it from 2017 to maybe 2020.
And then post COVID when I tried to quit, I reformatted my
business and it came back stronger and more respected and
it became more respected by other artists.
And now we have so many full time artists in Colorado.
We have so many people that are striving to do full time
artistry. So the growing pains, like any
business sucked the first three years really sucked.
As you learn more about yourself, it becomes easier.
Consistency and just the repetition of it makes it really
like picking like ride a bike. Easy, easy, easy.
Yeah, and we actually kind of brushed over this, but actually
I'm super curious to get the kind of origin stories.
How did you get started in drag? When did you get started in
Dragon? Kind of what was that kind of
early journey like for? You Yeah, I, I was interested in
drag, so I hated drag. I I always tell the story
because I think it's important. I distinctly remember calling it
gross and disgusting, and that's a lot of the insecurities that I
had, a lot of the uncertainties that I had with a gender
expression or things being OK or not OK or being interested but
not wanting people to know that I was interested in it.
I dated a boy who was super into drag and I wanted to support
him. So we went to a competition
about an hour away in Denver, and I watched the show.
I watched this queen. She was so beautiful.
I so immersed into it immediately.
She did this beautiful ballad and was singing all beautiful.
And then she started fingering herself on stage and I said, I
want to do that. I want to do that as soon as the
show was over. And I'm, you know, at that time
I was like, I only like the pretty Queens.
I don't like the scary Queens. I remember calling Nina Flowers
really scary at one point. And now it's like the opposite.
I think she's the most Immaculate being ever and all
the pretty girls can go go eat it.
I don't care. But she but but we went to
Walmart afterwards, got a bra, he had some makeup.
I put on all of this stuff and it's like, wow, I love this
transformation. And he was like, you're an ugly
woman. You should never do drag again.
I feel great. I'm doing wonderful.
I think a month after we broke up, he got put in gaol for
embezzling. So I'm doing great.
I'm doing wonderful as an ugly woman, if he thinks that still.
But that was the first thing I tried it out that night.
My university had a drag show once a semester that I decided
to participate in. Even though I was terrified.
I got up on the stage. I had a local queen see me and
say, hey, do you want a chance at a local bar?
And I took it and that is where it started.
Started that one time to once a month, to once a weekend to
twice a weekend to every weekend, to now six days a week,
5 shows in a day. Sometimes it's it's crazy.
It's incredible and it's it's so.
What happened in like a week? That's 12 years of crazy.
So I mean, I just think it's so interesting how often you
mentioned someone kind of giving you that opportunity and kind of
bringing you along. We had L of a day also on the
podcast from UK, UK Ripples Drag Race and she had a similar
experience where it was someone kind of bringing them along on
that journey. And I guess that must be
something that you are now able to do.
And I guess if there's anyone listening to this podcast who
maybe wants to get involved in drag or just as super curious,
what a kind of advice and what do you do for younger people who
might be trying to get into drag?
You know, I've been really thinking about this a lot more
lately. I've had a lot of wonderful
close people to me that have never before been like, you
know, you have a lot of qualities whether people enjoy
them. But there's one thing that I
will always respect about you is that you make people feel seen.
You make people feel as though they are seen and what they do
online, even if you're present or not with a message, with a
voice memo. And I think that's because of
the experiences that I had. I felt seen in that performance.
I was offered an opportunity. I consistently, for at least the
last 10 years, have produced so many events and shows, given
hosting opportunities and nothing for nothing in return.
It's simply because I believe that I'm the Simon Cowell of
drag. In this community.
I can abolably look at somebody and see where your heart, your
craft and your your determination aligns together to
say you deserve this shot. I can see you doing bigger
things. You need someone to believe in
you. You need something to show you.
And that's just in my drag community.
That's artistry, that's go go's, that's dancers, that's anybody
that is doing what they love. I'm inspired by people at any
age doing what they love. When it comes to supporting like
a youth generation, I'm one of maybe 10 of many, many, many
artists in the scene and in in the state that actively provides
opportunities to queer youth. Finding ways to provide safe,
alcohol free, all ages, family friendly experiences for kids as
young as three years old to as old as you want to.
If you're a kid at heart, to get up on stage for the first time
and showcase what you've got, whether you're straight, trans,
gay, whatever you want to identify as.
So I feel like that is also put it planting seed and watering a
lot of these kids feelings that I had when I was younger of is
this OK? Am I able to do this?
And really allowing them to feel like you're in a room full of
support. Whether you are enjoying it,
whether you find out you enjoy it or not, whether this is for
you or not, experience it, love it, try it out.
I love that. And you mentioned obviously, you
know, alongside Jessica Lahore, you also created Miss Jessica,
which is your more PG, let's put it, drag persona who performs
for children and young people. That is so incredible and I'm so
interested to hear about it. How did that side of your drag
come about? How does it differ from Jessica
Lahore? And what has it meant to you to
connect with kids and families through drag in that way?
You know, when people ask me this, I've been doing all ages
events since the very beginning. I've always had the business
mindset. If you need it done, I'll figure
out how to do it, and if I can't, then I'll refer you.
But you know, that's how you build your rapport of what
you're capable of doing. All ages, audiences, family
friendly shows where it hit harder.
In 2018 I went to a career day, different careers came into this
middle school and you talked about how literacy, education,
reading, writing impacted the career choice that you made.
It was not a show up and say you should be a drag queen or you
should do this. I went in, I talked about how
going to college effectively helped me become a drag queen
and how I use the skills that I did with reading and writing and
how I use them today. I read a book on not bullying or
anti bullying to the kids, like a small passage from a book.
And then I did AQ and A and all of the Q&A stuff.
Were there questions and curiosities of how amazing and
magical I look and and what it's like and what it's like to be a
drag when people were curious? Well, that took off and became
international news within like within like a week, 2 parents
that had no kids at that school complained that I was there and
it went to Rush Limbaugh. It went to it literally went
international news. I got called an axe murderer by
Rush Limbaugh. It was really cool.
He compared me to that, but that kicked it off.
I had a choice in that moment to say, am I going to bow out
because everyone's so focused on this Lahore thing, this Jessica
Lahore thing, or am I going to figure it out?
So I created a whole different persona that is public, a public
page for Miss Jessica, Miss Jessica services on my website.
I do things with businesses and corporations as Miss Jessica
because HR is worried about the language or the the name.
I do drag story times, drag shows, inclusivity training.
I do GSA visits and it's just progressed since then.
I I've made it part of the business and more publicly to
combat a lot of people saying I shouldn't be doing this.
Yeah, I think it's amazing. I think it's so incredible.
I, I went to London Pride this year and they had kind of a
family section and it was amazing to see the joy that,
that young people get from drag performers.
And I think it gets such a, there's so much focus on it and
there's so many headlines around it.
But actually, if you look at the children, they are loving it.
They don't have that prejudice in them.
They are just loving the experience.
Queens are fabulous and they just kind of love that.
And I guess that must be your experience and, and how does it
feel when you see kids and I I guess also parents, especially
given your kind of history with your own family, how does it
feel when you see those families really embracing what you're
doing? You know, I think that's, that's
the key. Most of my experiences, although
I enjoy watching how the kids are expressing themselves.
I've gotten more interactions with parents coming up to me
saying something's been off with my kid.
I we've tried talking to him. We're trying to be supportive,
but we we can't relate in the same ways.
When we come to this show, which happens once a month, they are
the most them most outgoing that they have ever been.
They're the most confident they have ever been.
And so when I hear that it feels as though parents are struggling
to find sometimes the right tools and words when they're not
queer on how to relate to their kids who might be experiencing
queer thoughts and putting them in the space that is a safe,
kind of like very comforting, welcoming space allows them to
feel like this is normal and this is OK.
And parents find it easier to relate with their kids.
And you know, for example, one of those kids in 2019 that I
that I Regina roars is her name. She's a young and she's still
doing drag and she's still supported by her parents years
years later. And you can just see a complete
shift from this person that wouldn't even say hi and
introduce themselves to this person that is literally now
bringing their sibling up with them to do a duet for a Pride
performance. And it's just really, really
cool. That's really cool.
Yeah, I love that. I love the phrase be the person
you needed when you were younger.
And it feels like you are being the person you needed when you
were younger. That person can show you that it
is OK. We forget that representation
matters in any way, shape or form.
The visibility, whether you have an interaction, seeing somebody
that exists like you is ridiculously powerful.
And when you see somebody that exists like you doing something
that you can see yourself doing, it's the most inspiring thing
that you're going to hold onto. It's like meeting your hero or
seeing your hero because you have the ability to take all
those inside thoughts and say, wow, someone else is expressing
the way I'm feeling. Yeah, yeah.
And Speaking of visibility, you have built a following of over
150,000 people on TikTok and Instagram, which is incredible.
And as listeners know, I launched this podcast with 600
followers on Instagram, so I knew it was going to be an
uphill battle to build that audience.
So for you, what's that process like of building that audience?
And what advice would you offer to queer creatives like me
trying to grow authentically online?
Gosh, nine years in or 10 years in.
I decided at 10 years that I was going to stop.
Not stop, but I was going to change my focus on where I was
going to invest my time and energy into my business.
And as I was trying to self manage, create my own
promotions, do my own tedious work, book my own shows, do
everything, everything, post online, I realised that my
strengths could lie in the business side and I needed to
seek out people that were Team Lahore.
Essentially, how can I find people that are experts at what
they do the same way that I'm an expert at what I do, that can
dedicate the time and energy to my voice and letting them know
and educate them on who my voice is, who the person I am, so they
can translate that to the public.
And so 10 years in, I decided to hire a marketing and social
media team, some Michael and Oscar from private
communications. They're phenomenal.
And we took about six months to learn, learn what that
relationship was going to look like, what worked and what
didn't work, how we're going to support each other.
And we've been going strong ever since.
So when I hired them on, I was at like maybe 1617 thousand
followers on Instagram, very few, maybe a little bit more on
TikTok. And after hiring them, not only
was I able to focus on content creating and the visions that I
had for putting content out and how I wanted it to be seen, I
had people that were professionals in editing,
lighting and sound and production to help put that out.
Learn the algorithms, which are impossible for me to learn.
They don't make any sense. So that was one thing.
It's kind of getting off of my getting my head out of my own
ass and saying I can't do it all.
Give up some control and some power and say, how do you find
people that you can work together?
That's how a company grows. And so now I have a publicist
and a merchandising manager and a social media marketing manager
and a personal assistant. And these people that I've built
relationships with help build Team LOR and that's helped with
following, helping understanding social media.
But the second thing that I'd say is you got to stop.
As hard as it is, numbers can't matter to you as an entrepreneur
in the social media world. They have to matter in terms of
milestones and making sure things are are being seen.
But you can't focus on how many views, how many likes, how many
impressions, how many re shares. For me, my social media is an
instant resume that anybody can go to.
You should take 10 seconds to scroll and see a variety of the
things that I can offer as an entrepreneur.
And I want that to be from the messy to the polished to the
podcasts to my fun little excursion videos to the
emotional and vulnerable to the reviews.
I want people to see that I have my hands in everything.
But the voice that's coming behind it is single streamline,
one human being that no matter what you're watching, you're
getting the same persona, the same person through all of it.
And I stopped worrying about the content.
I stopped worrying about, is this edited correctly or is
this, you know, polished correctly?
You know, I'm so mindful. Don't put crap out.
But I am very intentional about what I put out just as much as
trying to remove that that obsession of what I'm putting
out. So I simultaneously work with my
team. I post and they post and you can
see tell which ones I post because I'm more anal and more
meticulous about everything. And you can see what they post
because it's fun and it's air free.
And I have a rule with them that they can post, you know, they we
approve all posts with me. But any performance videos, I
say just post. Don't even let me see it because
I'll tell you not to because I'm so self critical of my work that
I don't want people to see it. And then it posts and people
love it. And of course, people are going
to be critical, but you have to get your mindset out of
everyone's going to judge or hate, not what you like, but
you're going to impact some amazing people with what you're
doing. Yeah, I think that's incredible.
And as a marketing professional, I can tell you all that was a
branding and marketing master class you all just got because
that consistency is incredibly incredible.
For one, we've kind of, there's been a thread that's come
through this, which is around drag and the fact that it has
kind of been, it's always been political, whether it wanted to
be or not. Do you see your work as activism
activism, or do you prefer to frame it as pure art and
entertainment? Kind of What's your relationship
like with drag from that perspective?
It's a yes and and I've been questioning this a lot more this
year. I, I have been very humbled in,
in called out indirectly, indirectly about having a
platform that I do and how I'm using it to project issues that
are happening across the world, happening in the US, happening
locally in my own scene. And although I, I could have in
that moment argued, oh, I'm doing this, this and that.
Obviously the people that are expressing this are not seeing
the right things for me. So again, it's taking your head
out of your ass for a little bit and just saying, OK, what can I
do more? And I do focus on the escape.
I'm not going to lie when I when I look at myself and my
influence as an artist, I have gotten more messages about thank
you for clearing my timeline. My feet up of so much horror, so
much tragedy, so much anger, so much sadness, so much heartache,
so much, you know, weight on my shoulders with a funny any video
of you eating sausages or a video of you doing makeup or you
have video talking about how you're dealing with things that
are happening in the world. So what I've been doing
recently, probably in the last two months with my team is
finding a balance of how can I show my my political sides and
how I can be supportive of the communities that I am more than
I have been and more prominently vocal about it while also
honouring that I am for a lot of people that escape from reality
that that escape of that there's goodness and there's fun and
there's laughter till to still to exist.
And that's even at my shows, finding a moment in the show to
talk about what's happening in the world in a way that's
engaging while then saying, all right, now we can get back to
some fun, but you need to know what's going on.
Do I have a strong answer for you about what things I'm doing
outside of sharing Gofundmes, donating tips, lift uplifting
certain communities in my my own community to have those voices
re sharing and reposting? No because I feel like on some
topics my my opinion on it isn't the point.
My my right or wrong approach is is the point.
This is wrong period. Not This is why I think it's
wrong. Trying people's teams don't need
to hear your reasons, they don't even care.
But verbally saying this is what I think and this is how I feel
reassures people that I'm a safe space.
Yeah, I love that. Let's we started this
conversation talking about young Jessica.
Let's revisit them. Because if you could give your
younger self one piece of advice, what would it be?
And would it be different if I said, what advice would you just
give to a young LGBTQ person today in 2025?
Quid drag. No, I'm joking.
Quid drag. Don't do it.
If I could give, I'm gonna do both because that's, that's how
crazy I am. If I were to give myself advice
as a younger queer person, it would be to come out earlier.
I came out of 23. I wish I would have come out at
16. That's easily 8 year, Nine years
of work that I could have avoided, 9 years of trauma, 9
years of therapy. I could have gotten into
discovering. So I feel a decade behind my
queer colleagues that have been out at that age.
I feel like I'm now as a 32 year old entering my 21 to 23 year
old queer self because of the the where I'm placed at.
So if I could say anything, come out sooner to my younger self.
Come out sooner and work on loving yourself a little bit
harder. It's it's easier said than done,
but to this day, find ways to embrace the person that you are,
the voice that you have, the skin that you are in the flaws
that you see. Embrace them, don't make fun of
them, don't mock them, don't try to change them.
Try to grow with them. And, and that'll be really
great. And I guess that could apply to
any queer person, any queer youth.
But my, I'm going to steal this from a queen in Denver.
Her name is Shirley Delta Blow. If I could say anything to queer
people as a whole, it's it's really showing up exactly who
you are and finding the people that embrace how you show up and
don't criticise the way that you show up.
She says it very fluidly, but if you walk into a room and you are
authentically yourself, weirdly, when those people in the room
see you being yourself, you're giving them permission to be
themselves. So easier said than done, but
learn it earlier. If you're allowed person, be
allowed person. If you have no patience for
certain things, then have no patience.
If you don't let whatever just be that human and naturally the
universal will gravitate those those people to your circle.
People will resonate with you. Yeah, I love that so much.
I think it's incredible. And we will include links to all
your incredible social accounts to your website in the showness
of this podcast. People should check you out if
they haven't already. It's incredible.
I love all your content. But most of all, and I said it a
little bit earlier on. I do love the phrase and I kind
of try and live by the phrase, be the person you needed when
you were younger. And I think that's kind of what
I'm taking away from this conversation we've had from kind
of your childhood to where you are today.
I do genuinely believe you are being the person that you
needed, but also the person that so many of us needed when we
were younger. So thank you so much for
everything you do for the drag community and for the entire
LGBTQ plus community. Thanks.
I appreciate the acknowledgement and I I don't do it for to hear
that. And it's also really rewarding
when people acknowledge that. So thank you with every word.
Our lives together. We