Sasha Velour
Gender Fluid Drag Queen, Artist, LGBTQ Activist & Ru Paul's Drag Race Winner
Sasha Velour
Gender Fluid Drag Queen, Artist, LGBTQ Activist & Ru Paul's Drag Race Winner
Biography
Sasha Velour (she/they) is a critically-acclaimed drag queen, author, and artist. Winner of RuPauls Drag Race and Co-Host of HBO's We're Here, Velour is one of the foremost experts on drag, known for her impeccable style, thought-provoking multimedia performances and radical genderfluid approach.
Velour's NYC drag revue NightGowns has been running for over eight years and just completed a sold-out six-month residency at Le Poisson Rouge (raising over $30,000 for direct mutual aid).
Her first one queen theater show, Smoke & Mirrors (2019-2022) combined drag with her signature high-concept video art and reached over 100,000 people across four continents.
In 2023, she published her best-selling first book The Big Reveal: An Illustrated Manifesto of Drag (Harper) which explores the history and philosophy of drag through personal stories.
As a visual artist and cartoonist, she has drawn a Google Doodle (Marlene Dietrich, 2018) and a cover for the New Yorker (June 2023).
Speaker Videos
Sasha Velour Breaks Down RuPaul's Drag Race, New Book & Finding Freedom in Transformation | Them
Sasha Velour "Can't Get You Out Of My Head" (bat) at NightGowns, February 2023
Speech Topics
The Big Reveal: Why Drag Matters, Now & Forever
Drawing from her new book, The Big Reveal: An Illustrated Manifesto of Drag, RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 9 winner and Gender Fluid Drag Queen Sasha Velour brings necessary and sparkling substance to help build understanding of drag, queerness, beauty, and liberation. In her own words, Velour illuminates drag as a unique form of expression through piecing together memoir, history, and theory. As Sasha recalls her own journey, from the women who raised her, to learning the craft of an artist, to success, disaster, and more, she also uncovers the history of queer life around the world that made it all possible. In this inspiring and thought-provoking discussion, Velour brings necessary and sparkling substance to our understanding of drag, queerness, beauty, and liberation, and lights a fire within all of us to protect drag at all costs.