Let’s Share Storie is an oral history of the Ballroom/House scene. This is our version of LSS where we honor the legacy of Ballroom through the stories and reflections from the legends and icons that have paved the way in the scene. This first installment of Let’s Share Stories features the runway ruler, Twiggy Pucci Garçon; the blueprint for pop dip and spin, Tim Princess Lanvin, and flower of face, Rose Chanel Maison Margiela.
Part 1 - Twiggy Pucci Garçon 01:02
Part 2 - Tim Princess Lanvin 12:13
Part 3 - Rose Chanel Maison Margeila 21:02
Enjoying our show? Then please support us by joining our patreon! www.patreon.com/letsgetbacktoqueer
If you can’t support monthly, consider buying us a coffee @ https://www.buymeacoffee.com/lgbtqpodcast or CashApp/Venmo: Brand0nnick with the note “LGBTQ”
And be sure to follow us on IG @letsgetbacktoqueer and Twitter @lgbtqpodcast!
Transcript:
Opening & Intro
Brandon: Ladies, gentlemen, those who identify as both, neither, or either. Do me a favor and give yourself a highfive, a pat on the back, a hug or something because you are fucking dope! Now, Let’s Get Back To Queer!
[Let Get’s Back To Queer theme music by Byrell the Great]
Brandon: Welcome to Let’s Get Back To Queer, a podcast that recognizes that when the girls slam or delicately place their God given backs on the floor with their knee bent back like the side of a damn paper clip... we call that a dip, not a deathdrop. Don’t let you know who or you know what tell you otherwise. I’m your host Brandon Nick. Now let’s get into the episode!
Twiggy Pucci Garçon
Leggoh: Ladies and gentlemen. Girls and gworls, welcome to the motherfucking function! Let’s start this off the fuck right! Ladies and gentlemen, when you talk about a motherfucking legend, when you talk about legendary. You talk about this legend. Very legendary this, very legendary that. Thee runway ruler, legendary Twiggy Pucci Garçon!
Twiggy: My favorite part of balls literally since my first ball, LSS. LSS is legends statements and stars, which is when the commentator calls out the, um, most notable people in the room, it sets the tone for the ball, right? Like when these folks who are on the newer end and they're stars, they're like, they have something to prove. So they come out there and they fuck LSS up. The statements come out and, and you know, you know who they are and they want to be legend and they want to win this of the year or the styles are coming up. So they, so they also have something to prove. The legends come out and they're like, bitch you know who I am, get up, go off for me. And the icons are like, I paved the way for you. Like, there would be no you, no this, without me. So respect me, honor me, give gratitude, and like all of that happening, in one little part of the ball is just like crazy. The intensity, the energy. Um, yeah. It's my favorite part. If you can't tell.
I think I've been in love with ballroom since I discovered it, or rather it discovered me. Um, my first ball was 15 years ago, uh, in my home state of Virginia where I was born and raised. And I remember it very vividly. Um, I was definitely too young to be there, um, but I was there. And the person who brought me to the ballroom scene which was a guy named ShuShu Mizrahi. Um, he brought me to my first ball, um, and I walked European runway and got chopped. Rightfully so, because I was not walking European Runway way in the way that it should be, and is. I mean, I probably should have walked virgin runway, and maybe I wouldn't have got chopped, but they had me feeling it and they told me to walk European. Set me up. Um, but what stood out to me was it was the first time I had ever been in a space with that many, um, Black and Brown LGBTQ people ever. Um, and while I was like intimidated, I was also in some weird way affirmed.
The ballroom scene in Virginia then was sort of split between two areas. Um, and what we considered the at least the Virginia ballroom scene, which was Richmond, Capitol of VA the 804. And then Hampton roads, which is 757. Um, Richmond's was where the larger ball's quote unquote happened in the state. And then there were smaller balls in Virginia or the mini balls. I can say, you know, ballroom in Virginia was bangy cunt. It was like nitty gritty. It was what ballroom is, like. It was, it was the rivalries, it was the fights, it was the family, it was everything that ballroom is.
When I started in ballroom. A lot of my guidance was, um, local leaders. Um, Javan Chanel, um, was my first, uh, house father. Um, and, uh, his child was my father Cunt Punch Chanel. He later became an Ebony and he passed a few years ago. And, um, and the person who brought me to ballroom ShuShu. And because I was so young and I really, really was young, I won't say how young, cause I don't talk about my age, but, um, those were sort of the key folks. So everything I learned about ballroom about my queerness and identities, all of them, well, many of them, um, was through the times I spent with these people who were so self-reflective and so, um, confident and so sure of themselves and I wasn't. And eventually, you know, as you, as you sort of grow in yourself and grow in the scene, you meet new people, sometimes parents change. Um, and I largely credit like my, my current parents, um, Michael Robertson Maison Margeila, um, Shannon Garcon and Tyra Maison Margeila, I've been really privileged and blessed to have people pour into me throughout my 15 years in the scene.
Family is essential, um, to my life, to my purpose, to my, um, being re re-invigorated and rejuvenated and, and taking care of myself. What I consider my family now is for the most part chosen. Um, and even in that, like me choosing the folks from my biological family who, um, are still in my life actively. The majority of my family was not and still is not really receptive to that part of, of my life or that part of me. There's exceptions, like my mother and I are very close. You see that in Kiki.
When I first moved to New York in 2007, um, I was pretty young and in school, I went to FIT. I went to school for fashion. I dropped out. And, um, when I dropped out was around the same time that I lost my job, it was doing a 2008 recession. Um, and it was at the same time that I lost my apartment. Was in a fucked up roommate situation. So I was homeless and jobless. I'm like, do I really want to go back to school? Do I really want to work in fashion? Do I want to deal with that? Like, what do I want to do? And I want it to, to continue to like, do what we do in ballroom, but like figure out a way to do it in a, in a differently, structured, not more structured with differently structured way.
And so I'm like, oh, I go to these groups, I go to all these different organizations, what would it be like to work for one of them? Um, and a dear friend, Chi Chi Mizrahi um, got me a job as a peer educator at Faces New York. The younger folks that were around my age, went to various like nonprofit organizations or, uh, NGOs, um, and for like services for groups, for supports for like all sorts of things. Um, and I used to go to one in Brooklyn. Um, literally when I first moved here, um, that's how I met my gay father, Michael. He was the executive director, it’s called P.O.C.C., People of Color in Crisis. They also had one of the biggest balls in New York, for years. So I would go there for like their youth groups and that sort of thing, um, testing all that sort of stuff.
And they, it felt like then at least, because it was so early on in the Kiki scene that, that like different orgs, they had sort of their own kiki scenes. But then as the Kiki scene grew and became more organized and self-organized it sort of, it became all one. Um, and so that was around 2007. In 2009, I created my own Kiki house with my best friend, Dominique, um, called the house of Pucci. P U C C I like the label, but also as an acronym that stood for Peers United for Community Causes Initiative.
Um, running a house is, is running a fraternity. It's running a family, it's running a business, it's running all of those things at one time. Um, and so, you know, you have to not only pour into people's creativity and their execution of their categories, you have to pour into their lives, um, and their growth and their wellbeing. Um, and so it's a heavy lift to, to run a house or a chapter. Because I was doing what I was doing in the kiki scene and I was also not, not participating in what we considered the mainstream scene. Um, and so I was still in our house, in both, right at the same time many people are, but I was a leader in both. And so eventually it came to, uh, to a point where I had to make a decision. And that's when I closed the house. I literally, as one person could not run two houses, it was impossible. Yeah, my kiki house did well when it was open, we had at one point become the biggest Kiki house.
So my ballroom name came very early. Maybe the, maybe a year or two into me walking. Um, I, one didn’t want to use the name I was given. I was also extremely small framed when I was younger. I remember when I moved to New York, I was like a 23, 24. Um, so I was tall. I was slim. I walked runway. It made sense. Um, and it's obviously stuck, so... my mom even calls me Twiggy.
I mean, the expansion of ballroom from then to now has, has been unreal and surreal at the same time. I recall like so many folks who now, like the first thing they want to do is go to a ball were the same folks who frowned upon the ballroom scene. And now it's this global phenomenon that, um, transcends a lot of the barriers that disconnects us from one another.
One of my favorite moments, uh, experiences in ballroom was a very transitional point. Uh, there was a drama in my house at the time. Um, and so I wasn't really like in the know of why there was this drama or like what was going on. But there's this ball that I really wanted to walk, which was the Mugler ball in 2014. One to prove to like naysayers, just cause I hadn't walked into in a little moment at this time. And also to really more than that proved to myself, um, that I could still execute at top level, right? Like that I am still that girl. Right. I’ll never forget the months and months of preparation from figuring out the look, um, shout out to Derek Allure who helped me conceptualize the look shadows to Tiffany, who I believe is a West, who helped me create the look. And the theme of the category was extra terrestrial, haute couture, avant-garde extra terrestrial.
And so I was literally becoming a creature. Um, I was, uh, different shades of the ocean if you will. Like, so from deep blue to light blue, to white, a lot of iridescence, stones, prosthetics, on like my forearms or my face or my ears, lots of greens and yellows and red dots. So I really looked like an underwater creature. Um, but basically it was, um, a dress that looked like a piece of origa-, like a bunch of pieces of origami. Like those things used to play with when you were a kid, but like all put in, um, sort of spikes and it was silver. And then I had on like a seven inch heel, a platform.
Even that day, like I, I was in makeup for, um 10 hours maybe. Um, she was supposed to airbrush and then do the prosthetics and all the other stuff. She was an hour in and her airbrush machine broke. And so she had to do my whole body by hand, which means she had to like do three layers and then do the shadowing and the coloring and then the accents and then the prosthetics and it's. I was blue for days, literally. Um, and sore for days from standing in so long. And it was one of my favorite looks of myself. It was one of my favorite, um, nights of competing and battling people. Yeah, I'll never forget.
How I Pay it forward to the next generation is being Intentional to never close the door behind me. I've been really privileged and blessed to be in rooms and in spaces that sometimes was intentional. And like, uh, I am clear of how it happened. And other times I knew that it was the divine making it happen and it was of no action... I mean, all of it really is, of no action of my own. Um, but being really intentional to bring as many people as possible into those same rooms. And if not, if I can't bring them in the room, like make the connections for them to bring themselves in the room and make sure that door doesn't close behind me.
What it means for black and trans folks to be at the forefront of telling our own stories means that we tell our stories and we get it right. Um, and we get to see ourselves in a way that we haven't before and the generations that are our own and the generations after, um, get to see that same thing. Like, it just, um, opens up a new door and a new frontier. One for like, hey Hollywood, this is possible. You can do this too. Um, thus creating career paths for folks that may not have had one without this thing happening.
Tim Lanvin
Leggoh: Ladies and gentlemen, girls and gworls. Very this. Very iconic about the situation. You heard about a blueprint? Well let me introduce you to the printer! Very much a master of performance. The icon of pop, dip, and spin. Ladies and gentlemen, the icon himself, Tim Princess Lanvin!
Tim: If I saw younger Tim now, I would probably tell him to, um, not be afraid. Um, cause I've always considered myself a loner. But I think a lot of that, I had a lot to do with me, struggling with like my sexuality too, you know, growing up. I would probably say to a young Tim, um, to be empowered and have the courage to, to not be afraid to talk to your mom about certain things. I mean, I grew up in Jersey in Patterson, probably going to roughest cities in New Jersey, um, with a bunch of brothers. I'm not going to say that any of them were homophobic. Um, but they just weren't, um, they weren't, they weren't educated. You know what I mean? They weren't educated about the lifestyle.
I did have one brother who, um, definitely didn't have an issue with my sexuality. Uh, he actually used to come out with us all the time, but my mom, she did, she gave me a hard time. You know what I mean? My mom gave me a hard time. Um, she had gay friends, but then when she found out about me, it was, Oh my God, it was this, it was a lot, you know what I mean? It was just all about screaming and yelling and her being angry and frustrated and not knowing how to cope with that.
Around that time, I had stumbled, stumbled across the clubs in New York city. So I had started going out and then, and, and I fell in love. And then that's what led me to ballroom. So ballroom did help me out a lot in that sense. Cuz I had first came out in 1986 and I saw a Vogue and then I was hearing about balls and I remember people leaving from the clubs at like four and five o'clock in the morning when they leave, when, when the club closed, and was heading up uptown to, um, to the Elks Lodge.
So the first time I walked the ball, it was in 1989 and it was given by the House of Adonis. It was in New Jersey, Irvington, New Jersey to be very specific. The hall, the venue was called Irvington Manner. One of the main reasons why I walked that ball was because I wanted to be in the house of Adonis. And, um, their requirements was that you had to walk a ball and win a trophy. And I just remember like being like extremely nervous. I didn't even know what the hell I was getting myself into. I didn't know what to expect. And can't even remember for the life of me, what I did. I can't, you know. I did get chopped. I remember that. Then someone came up to me afterwards and told me that I did a good job. I don't know if they picked up on the fact that I was really nervous and they wanted to support me. You know what I mean? But they told me that I had done a good job. And that was my first ball.
So the House of Adonis was my first house, it didn't last that long didn't last that long, so I think I stayed in the house of Adonis for about, I want to say like six months, a half a year or something like that. What made me want to join was Jamal Milan. That's kind of what led me to want to be a part of that house because Jamal was in the house of Adonis. I think what capti-, what captivated me the most about his performance was, um, his, like his straight lines, the way his, his combinations. Um, well just the way things were put together, you know what I mean? And just how it all flowed. Um, cause one of the important things about voguing is it has to tell a story, you know what I mean? And you know, when I would watch him, he would tell a story. And me and Jamal battled before, uh, and I still kind of watched that battle now and that felt good. You know what I mean? Just this battling with him. Um, again, just knowing like, this is the person that I just looked up to.
So the way I came into my own style was well back then. We didn't have like social media and YouTube and all that stuff. Um, I would watch people, like I was saying before, like Jamal and, uh, Jason Ovahness, Ronald Lemay, uh, Jared Princess, Lamar Ebony. We would vogue, like every club. And then back then it was a club, like almost two and three clubs every day of the week in New York. And I remember like in the very beginning for me, I just remember just standing in the mirror, practice, practice. Imagine yourself in a photo shoot. So that's always running through my mind when I vogue, you know what I mean? So every move I make about turning left or if I turn right, or if I'm in the air, if I'm on the floor or if I'm this mid midway, I'm always focusing on what my angles are looking like. You know? So being picture perfect is what I call it, it is a part of my vogue.
I'm not a big fan of the title old way. Like what does that represent? Or what does that mean when people hear that? And then when I think about why they started calling it the old way, I'm like, I don't know what that made any sense, then. Like I remember a few years back, um, me and Jamal and a couple of other people were having a conversation about, um, old way dying off, you know what I mean? Cause there was a period where it was just dry and people wasn't even having it at they balls. Was like, well, what can we do or what needs to be done? Maybe we should like not use that term. One of the things that we, um, we came up with was the name - back in the day, it was called pop dip and spin. It was called performance. Pop dip and spin sounds a bit more exciting. So why not use that? So we would like, we could sponsor categories, you know what I'm saying? We sponsor it. And then that will give us a little bit more leverage in terms of what we think it should be called.
One of my most memorable moments in Ballroom. A few years back, Hector Extravaganza had reached out to me and wanted me to be a part of, um, the show that they were putting on. And it was, um, it was a show to commemorate Paris is Burning. I think it was, uh, 30 years or something like that. It was really memorable and for a lot of different reasons, one, um, you know, because someone like Hector reached out to me, you know what I mean, Hector, who was huge and ballroom, you know what I mean? And I remember just being on that stage and they all, it was all different styles of Vogue. And I remember coming into work and this was on a Saturday. I think I remember coming into work the next Monday morning. And one of the medical providers came up to me and she was like, I saw you! I was like, where? you know what I'm saying? Like where? She was like, you were at this performance voguing. I was like, Oh my God, but it feels good. You know, it feels good that people recognize me.
I've been having those thoughts or what happens if I didn't, you know what I mean? If I didn't stumble across the ballroom, would I not be alive now? And if so then what is it about Ballroom that potentially kept me alive? So I've learned a lot from being a part of ballroom. I think some of the important things that I've discovered, well that I've learned is I learned how to be a competitor, learn how to compete. Um, and I've applied that too to, uh, my life outside of ballroom. I really did. I went back to school, I started off, I got an associate's bachelor's and master's degree, you know, and I went straight through that wasn't easy. I had to apply that concepts. You know what I'm saying?
Um, I learned a little bit about fashion. You know, I've never considered myself a fashionista. You know, I'm just comfortable. I wear jeans every day, or shorts and Timbs. But I've learned a lot about fashion in ballroom.
And I've also learned, this is an important thing too. I've also learned that voguing has this ability to bridge, um, cultures together, bring cultures together. You can have somebody who is from a different country and might not speak our language that well, but can speak, um, effectively via Vogue. I'm telling you. When I was voguing back in the day, we had no clue that voguing was going to become what it has become today. Even though Willie Ninja talked about it, he had a vision, we was just voguing we paid that. We was like, we voguing.
Rose Chanel Maison Margiela
Leggoh: Soft, like a rose. Beautiful, like a rose. Very handle me delicately, like a rose. Ladies and gentlemen, girls and growls, you heard of mother nature. Well let me introduce you to the nature of face, the nature of realness, in and out. Ladies and gentlemen, the icon Rose Chanel Maison Margeila!
Rose: Familys very important, especially if you have a supportive one. When I left my home, I went on journey knowing that I might not be able to turn back. To Anyone. Dad, mom, sisters, brothers, cousins, auntie, I was like I’m in this world by myself. So for me, when it came to family, I got, I worked really hard to build the bonds that I did. Raquel, uh, at the time she was, uh, Extravaganza and Milan. They know her as Boom Boom Extravaganza. She chose me to be her daughter. And to be her daughter, I was honored because she saw potential in me. And back then Raquel was the epitome of nine to five good morning wifey, like, from head to toe.
There's a couple of movies that's out right now that are about the woman of my generation and how we met up and how we have family gatherings and the sister, mother bonds. So, um, 30 plus years ago. Um, I was hanging out with the girl named Ashley and a girl named Janet Planet. They ended up being my friends, uh, in the meat packing district back in the day where it was like a saloon where we all the girls met that, that worked the street.
Well, LeFrak city. LeFrak. To the LeFrak. LeFrak, Check Rack. Okay. LeFrak city. Um, that's where all the fab trade was at, I'm not going to lie. But the most powerful thing is when Kim Milan and Keisha Ebony and certain people like those sisters would pave the way so we can walk behind them because there was a time where if you didn't get hit by a brick or a bottle, you were real. The ones that they was attracted to were the ones they were abusive to, because you didn't know if the boy was trying to set you up because he was cute and he wanted to beat your ass. Because they would say names or do stuff, but secretly they want to have. And so it was just like living in the projects. LeFrak city was no different, although they're condos and co-ops, completely different.
Rose: The very, very first ball that I walked was for performance, was for performance. It was my first category. First two categories. I'm sorry. It was perfect. 10 and performance. Until, I went into a BQ dip. It was over for me. Now you can go into a BQ dip there's no question. You can throw your body against the wall. You can jump off a bridge and it is cunt. Cunty, cunt boots. Oh my goodness. I swear.
Ballroom back then wasn’t about survival, it was about being seen, being felt, um, being appreciated. Back in the days ballroom was really community back then, because as they say today now, “it’s a curricular activity.” Back then that was a lifestyle. There were people that were homeless, but it meant everything to be at a ball. So if they slept in a box and they took a bath at one of the shelters or somebody's house, they was coming done to the next ball and feel fabulous. Miss thing or sister, brother. Oh my God, miss thing. I'm going to turn it. Miss thing, look at this motherfucking silk bitch! Oh, bitch they going to gag when I walk out in this motherfucking Chanel from head to toe. Or, you know, it's always that moment. And you're like, bitch, I can't even afford Chanel, bitch. I gotta take all this shit back tomorrow. And go sleep back on that carpet or that floor or under that bridge til the next function. Because that was their fantasy of living the ultimate dream. Even if it was just for a moment. So secretly it's like a high.
From my era, all the girls were bad bitches. Even my generation coming up, where Onjanae, Onjanae was the fire, Tenae was the petite sensual seductions, just sexy alluring beast. Raquel, um, Stephanie Legends, Stephanie Seymour, Stephanie Johnson, Kesha, Danielle, like Kelly Cole Revlon, um, Amanda. And back then 60 to 70% of it was all natural. I dunno what the hell is going on today? Yeah, but those were all the girls. And all the girls are cunt.
Rose: That Roger Milan Ball, the Alphabet Ball. That was ovah. I won to puss in boots that night. I won puss in boots that night. And that's when I became one of Roger's working girls. That category specifically was to be one of, uh, Roger Milan's dolls at the time of his agency, which was a modeling agency. But of course it was a little extra too. We were in the queen of the undergrounds. Mistress of the underworld. That's what we were to the agency of Roger Milan. Those were very pivotal moments for me because they changed my, my income and it allowed me to go to school and be an entrepreneur. When I was told no, I made a yes for myself.
The first two houses that I was in was Infinity and Mizrahi. And when I was taught, ballroom was about climbing to be in being a mother. So going from Infinity to Mizrahi. One day I was presented by RR and he said, um, I want you to be my house mother.And I was like, okay. And I said, I have to present it to Andre. And he said, okay. Walked me over to Andre, just like that back in the day. Um, so I'm making your daughter, the mother of my house and it was nothing really can do. It was either you fight or you just let it happen. So, because RR and Andre knew each other for years, they weren't going to fight. But I know Andre was very, very upset that I had left the house of Mizrahi to become at that time, the overall mother to the international house of Chanel. And that was a beautiful title to hold for so many years.
Rose: I still always believed in putting a hundred percent and everything that I did. So for me, it just got better with time and my efforts got stronger and deeper. But I have to slow down with that shit, it's too expensive. I'm so serious. On that Fenty Beauty ball, I spent $7,900. Take that to the bank. I literally took me a whole month and a half to two months to get ready for that ball. From the headpiece to the stones, to my friend that was helping me create the shape of the dress and the coat and sewing the material. And then, and him getting cut with the wire and me getting stabbed with the wire and all this stuff and making sure this thing comes through because they said opulence, Haute couture, dreamy, iridescent color.
I think out of all ballrooms times that I've ever been let down, that was the biggest one for me. Because I knew, I felt it in my bones that the money was mines. I’m a be honest. Losing doesn't hurt. Losing in a ballroom doesn't hurt because I've not lost, I've learnt. Um, and I don't lose what I put out there. I put myself out there to win or to lose. So you don't lose anything when you're comfortable with whatever the judgment is going to be when you're allowing yourself to be judged by people. When you lose is when you care too much. When you don't give a fuck, it doesn't matter whether you win or lose. So at the end of the day, you know what I bring and for you not to pick me based on some girlfriend shit or to not pick me because I didn't sniff coke with you this week, or I wouldn’t let you come over to my house and spend the night and fuck five boys in my neighborhood? I don't like that fake shit. Judge me on what the fuck I'm bringing, judge me with the fuck you know your history on. Don't judge me based on, well, girl, you're fucking sitting, but girl, I got to go home tonight, bitch. And if I don't pick this bitch, I'm going to be homeless. Like that's not, that's not being fair. Then you shouldn't be on the panel. Say, I can't judge this category, remove yourself, let someone else can do the job, do the job, but it should not be no such thing as a girlfriend panel.
I think I've given a lot to ballroom too much if you asked me… This might be my last time that I walk a ball and I'm serious. Like, just to sit back and just watch from the sidelines. I have to bow out because not because I can't hang with it. How many more years can I give to ballroom? I mean, I'm always going to be part of ballroom. Now I want to enjoy Rose. I want to get back into being me.
Rose: What brings me joy in life, um, is food. The smell of it, fresh herbs. And then when the person tastes it, they’re like melting. Like bitch, you did it again. Like to know that you are able to present a really tasteful meal, is beautiful to see someone's light up by just the taste of your food. I love cooking. I love tasting. I love experiencing new things going in my mouth. And I would say almost 98% of the time my dishes come up perfect. 98% of the time. That 2% will fuck you up.
A rose means to me is beauty. First is one of the most sensuous and most beautiful flower. Most of the flowers you can just pick. A rose, you have to be careful how you pick. Roses have thorns, so be careful because I can be the sweetest thing in the world to you. But if you stroke me the wrong way, I can be a B I T C… It just fit. That lady has been through a lot of things. A lot of domestic violence, drugs, um, abuse, um, a lot of betrayal, um, broken loyalties. For me to meet some of those horrible challenges was not easy. I mean, from being beat in the head with a gun, jumping off a balcony to save your life, um, being beat with a bat, attacked for your fur by 14 people in the street and surviving that. And I still have that coat, it's in pieces. But I still got that fucking coat. I think I might cut it up and use it for a ball or something like that, but...
In life, I’m most proudest of not being afraid to do anything. I may have been scared, or nervous, but I wasn’t afraid. I just wanna be remembered as that iconic icon of a woman that was not just colored, but colored. Y’understand?
How do I pay homage? By doing what I do all the time. Anyone that I look up to or anyone that I respect, I still be in their lives as much as I can, uh, even like adding it to ballroom to still be participating in my forties. That shows a lot. I don't just walk for myself. I walk for Kelly Cole Revlon, Danielle Revlon, Octavia St. Laurent, Jennifer Legend, Amanda Milan, Shaniece Milan, the names go on and on and on. Yolanda Jourdan, Kiana Johnson. Like there's just so many that are not here today. So many. So I still do it for the sisters that I have fallen. And I hope that one young lady will pick up the torch such as I have. And believe in ballroom, just as much as I did. Because, uh, I think that's how we keep history still evolve or around by having people that are really passionate about history.
Outro
Brandon: Thank you for tuning into yet another episode of Let’s Get Back To Queer. Thank you to Twiggy Pucci Garçon, Tim Princess Lanvin, and Rose Chanel Maison Margiela, as the MCs say, give them a round of applause! Speaking of MC, shoutout to my gworl Leggoh Johvera for adding his wonderful skills to this episode!
Let’s Get Back To Queer is produced by myself, Brandon Nick along with my good good girlfriends Glenn Quentin George and Shannon Shird. This episode was edited by myself, and sound designed by me and Evan Joseph. Special thanks to Byrell the Great who supplied the beats.
If you’re enjoying Let’s Get Back To Queer, then please join us on Patreon. Help support independent Black queer media like us, and get some dope perks for joining like full interviews and additional bonus content! Link in the show notes. In the meantime, see y’all on the flip side. Bye!