I didnt leave any space to fail.
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Sasha Colby is not just a persona but a complete package.
Ive been wanting this forever, she says.
Ive always wanted to be a star.
My friends all know that too.
Theyre all like, Oh girl, youre made for this.
No one else has a stomach for any of this but you.
Its been a little over ten years since your Continental win.
But this is global.
What does winning mean on a personal level?I am a competitor.
I set goals and I manifest really hard and I didnt leave any space to fail.
But I was a nervous wreck.
You were?Of course.
You never know whats going to happen, and Anetras amazing.
I was up against some talented girls.
I always work great in tens, in decades.
At 18, I transitioned.
At 28, I won Continental, and now at 38, 39, I just wonDrag Race.
I understand my waves come in 10 years time, and I was able to catch three good ones.
Im going to catch a few more.
Maybe Ill chop it down to every five years.
What does the next manifestation for Sasha Colby look like?Im focused on making music and acting.
Thats the best part, the creative process and making things happen.
Well, not just to pursueDrag Race.I came to L.A. to be a star.
I was behind the scenes of music.
I was auditioning for dance gigs, choreographing forDrag Racegirls.
I had to go through life, too.
Whether its death of their family or their connections, we just know how to deal.
My family, all these cishet people, were like, I dont know what to do.
So of course the queer kid has to come up and take care of family business.
So I put myself in next toDrag Racegirls.
Going to L.A. as a trans performer, there were maybe three of us at the time in 2014.
There werent a lot of trans girls that were even comfortable doing drag.
Maybe they were performers, but that was not the thing for trans girls.
Ive been there now for nine years and changed the whole pH of that.
You mentioned before that part of the love comes from how vulnerable you were.
I competed four times and won the fourth time.
They want your truth at this moment.
I knew going in:I have to reveal everything.
It was important for me to say my truth as a trans person.
I knew every time I was vulnerable, someone else could relate.
We didnt necessarily see you go through that; we saw you more on the other end of it.
It was in real time.Growing pains because youre growing.
I thought,You just got a third win.
I didnt know what that was.
I realized its all about abuse.
It was finally not about getting their approval.
And there was never any of that.
It was always shame.
So it just made me feel like anything I did was pointless.
I did so much for so many years trying to get these people to like me.
I ended up having to set these boundaries of not even talking to my abusive mother or family.
It was so much shedding that night.
It was a lot of crying.
You went through all of this in one night?Yeah.
I get to the point.
I had to finish this competition.
I didnt have time to show any weakness right then.
I had to fix this.
I was like,Im not sabotaging myself.
Im learning this lesson once.
You mentioned in the finale that you want a TV show.
How do you feel about being a part of the mainstream?
Im famous for being myself.
I just showed everybody everything I can do.
My situation is perfect for a queer person to make a splash in this mainstream media.
We used to be mirrors of pop culture.
Now Gottmik and Violet are in fashion.
Bob is opening for Madonna.
And then you got into the 80s and it wasDynasty.
In the 90s, trans girls were models like Mimi Marks, Monica Munro, Erica Andrews.
They looked like Yasmin and Cindy and Naomi and Linda.
We were following pop culture.
We were mirroring it.
Then there cameDrag Race, which allowed us to have the mirror put against us.
Youve talked about self-monitoring as a trans woman before.
I would imagine that is heightened when filming a TV show.No.
No?It was completely wiped out.
I couldnt monitor anything.
After two or three days in front of that camera, you forget the cameras there.
I dont remember saying all that on TV.
But how do you get to that place?
It really does build a thick skin.
Being told by cis women, He looks so cute, hes so pretty.
All those microaggressions, I just take them with me.
The best revenge is pure success.
What does the connection between transness and drag look like for you?My connection came from Hawaii.
There was no disconnect of doing drag.
More than half of it was trans women doing drag in Hawaii.
Thats when I started to be like,Oh, theres a difference.
Certain cities are like, Oh no, girl, we dont do that.
That was in specific places, more so the West Coast, to be quite honest.
But Texas, the South, New York, Chicago, those were all heavily trans drag areas.
Those are all pageant areas, too.
Being able to participate in the conversation by representing onDrag Race, in particular, is so important.
You cant tell the story of drag without talking about trans drag.
We all went to the same jail cell.
So we all can also reap the rewards and the benefits that drag andDrag Racehas to offer.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
