Q. Could you speak to how you identify?

First and foremost, I’m Indigenous. I’m Diné. I do identify as Two-Spirit. But I would be considered, nàdleehé. That’s Two-Spirit in our language.

Q. Could tell me a bit about your role in DBIWP?

I think I’ve become the auntie of the group . . . I always say, if you need me, lean on me. I will bring my power, my strength, my voice, and my existence. My presence is what I’m going to bring. I am going to be one of the hosts and performers. I’m also going to be a moderator for one of the panels. So you’ll get to see me all weekend, and then some! I’m very excited. This has been two years in the making, and I’ve just been so excited. It’s not all the time we are afforded a platform, especially during Pride season, especially when you’re Indigenous. It’s so beautiful to see and to be included.

Q. Could you speak to the importance of DBIWP events?

I think they’re very important. Especially because I was born and raised and currently still live on my territory. There are not many events for me to do, especially on our territories. I have to travel to these big cities to be included. And so events like this bring us together, and it’s sad that it only can happen during Pride season. . . We need to go back to the ways of including each other as relatives and coming together. So events like this give us the opportunity to build those relations.

Q. I’d love to hear your reflections on the significance of DBIWP events through the lens of your artistic work.

I’ve never considered myself an artist until just recently, and it was one of my mentors that encouraged me to do that. We lost him a few years ago. He was a radical Indigenous resistance organizer. And he told me, you do have a voice, and you can do that voice of your artwork, do drag. And so, after I got that push, that’s when my art really flourished through my drag.

Q. Could you share more about giving back to the community?

My art has become bigger than myself. It’s benefiting not just me, but my community . . . I do mutual aid work around the year, and there’s one called #ShugChallenge. I go to my social media, and I ask community to help me fundraise. Now that I’ve gotten a voice through Lady Shug and through my mutual aid #ShugChallenge, why don’t I help the communities that are always forgotten? Because there was a point in time in my life that I felt I was forgotten. Now that I’ve become comfortable in my skin and know that my existence is strong and very loud, I want to help the ones that are forgotten, or don’t have a voice.

Q. I’m wondering if your perspective on your performance, or on DBIWP, has shifted either over time?

I wouldn’t say it has shifted. We’ve always been left out or forgotten or erased. It’s always been that. We just gotta continue to fight to exist.

Q. Could you speak to the ways in which being Indigenous impacts your performance or your creation of art?

We were always taught to be aware of the white man, as superior to us, so keep your head down. Don’t ever talk out of turn, or don’t ever “spread your Indigenousness,” if that makes sense. So now that I’ve gotten older, I am proudly Indigenous and proudly queer, [it] took a long time and took a journey for me to say that out loud, and to actually live it. And I want to, continuously.

A lot of times we’re not included nor will never be included because we still live in a white man’s world. So somebody (that’s me!) that’s out queer and femme and does drag is very challenging for a lot of cisgender people.

I’d like to put my work everywhere, but also it gets exhausting because it’s not my goal to educate everybody. But I open my arms to everybody to be able to experience what I offer as an artist. And I hope that it not only educates them, but also puts a respect on Indigenous folks and queer and trans people.

Q. How do you do drag correctly, what does that mean to you?

We’re the ones that do drag, and we’re the ones that do drag correctly. So don’t give those cisgender Indigenous folks the views! Don’t pay them just because they think they can put on a wig. I beg to differ and would love to see them walk in my heels one time! Native humor is amazing.

But, honey, you can’t just throw on a wig or put on some lipstick and think you’re doing drag. I think anybody can do drag but put an effort into it or put intention into your drag. The ancestors and the people that opened the doors before us, put a respect on them. Put some dignity to it. Drag’s not easy.

Q. Are there any other projects that you’re working on?

The La La Land Back tour. We do an all Indigenous variety show.

It’s the opportunity for us to go to these communities and book [and pay] local, Indigenous, queer, and trans artists. Please look up the La La Land Back Tour, and book us, or tell your Pride organization to book us, but also tell your community centers. Tell your tribal leaders to book our tour.

I’m a founder of Indigenous Drag Story Hour, which is me and Landa Lakes. It’s also for adults and for elderly, for anybody who is a kid at heart. Indigenous Story Hour highlights and amplifies Indigenous voices, whether it’s the authors, the drag artists themselves, or whether it’s the illustrators or publishers, or even our own storytelling through our traditions.

Q. Do you have a take home message for any of the Indigiqueer folks who will be attending DBIWP?

It doesn’t matter who you love or what you love. It’s important that you love, and I think a lot of times we forget that. To all my relatives, far and near, whether you’re gonna come to this event or not, I want you to know that there are people like me that are trying to kick the door down and normalize Indigenous, queer, and trans excellence. For not just you, but for our elders, for our young folks, our future generations, to know that it’s beautiful to be Indigenous. And one thing that I tell people wholeheartedly, especially if you’re Indigenous, and especially if you’re queer or trans, is somebody cannot take away your existence. Somebody can’t just come up to you and just be, “Oh, I’m taking away your queerness. I’m taking away your transness. I’m taking away your Indigeneity. I’m taking away that you live in the city, or you live in the reservation.” They can never take away your trauma, your triumphs, your love, your passion, no one can ever take who you are from you. Your existence—who you are and what you are—is your power, and existence is a form of resistance. So you, just existing and just being who you are, is power within itself. And once you find that, and once you find that power, you’ll feel the joy and passion.

Sometimes you have to rely on the land. What I mean is, sometimes I’ve emerged myself into the water, or even just going outside and putting my feet in the dirt, and talking to the land, and respecting the land, has given me so much power and so much strength. You might not have your birth family that support you. Or you might not have built up a chosen family. But remember, you always have Mother Earth and Father Sky to protect you…So always look out to them, always talk to them, even to our four-legged animals and our plants. Those are relatives, too.

You will find a way to get that strength, and I encourage you to just energetically be Indigenous, energetically be queer, trans. And don’t let nobody tell you different.

Q. That is important. That’s beautiful. Thank you. And do you have a take home message for the allies who might be attending DBIWP?

Yes, give us some land back or pay us well. To the allies, I would just say to uplift us, include us. Give us a voice or give us a platform. Give us that respect that we would need. Our ancestors were never afforded that, or it was taken away from them. Give us a chance to speak. Get to know us. Educate your family, educate your community. That’s more put on you, instead of us, to educate. You, educate your colleagues, your family, your communities, and include us. Don’t forget that the First Nation people have been here and have existed. We’ve been here. We are here. We’ve never gone anywhere. We’re here and we don’t want to be erased.