Sasha Velour, a gender-fluid drag queen, was the winner of season 9 of RuPaul's Drag Race. Since winning, she has had top billing in drag shows around the world, including sold-out solo appearances in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, London, Toronto, Vancouver, and Auckland. Through her namesake production company, House of Velour, she has produced a TV show (NightGowns [Quibi 2020]), a NY Fashion Week Show, a NYC world pride float, a 300-page art book about drag, an off-off-broadway show, and an international stage tour (Smoke & Mirrors), creating new business models for drag as art, which Fast Company said was “disrupting the business of drag”. Variety included Velour in the “Power of New York List 2019” and she has made two appearances in the Out 100. Velour has spoken at the Teen Vogue summit and at the Smithsonian, and this past year she reached 1.6 Million followers on Instagram.

Sasha Velour Speaking Links:

Tate Britain's "TateShots" 

The Smithsonian’s "The Long Conversation 2018" 

Fast Company's "Creative Conversations" podcast

WWD  "Met Gala Report Card"

Peppermint is a trailblazing actress, singer, DJ, reality star, and activist who defies limitations. A longtime key figure in queer nightlife, Peppermint’s star rose thanks to her smashing success as the first out trans contestant to be cast on Rupaul’s Drag Race where she finished as first runner-up in one of the series’ most-talked-about finales. Soon after, her talent led her to become the first trans woman to originate a principal role on Broadway in the hit musical Head Over Heels. As an activist, Peppermint has raised six-figure sums for prominent LGBT rights groups, partnered with the MAC Cosmetics AIDS Fund and is involved in the HIV Vaccine trials network. She is particularly concerned about the challenges faced by transgender and non-binary people in today’s political climate and takes every available opportunity to speak at universities and to various communities on the issue.  

Recent projects include an appearance on Ryan Murphy’s Emmy award-winning series “Pose”, a recurring role on the CBS series “God Friended Me”  and an upcoming role on the new Fox scripted drama “Deputy”. She is currently recording her fifth studio album and looks forward to breaking new ground and being a positive voice during troublesome times.

Peppermint Speaking Links:

Billboard “What Coming Out Means…”

Mic “Peppermint Opens Up on Transphobia in the Drag World”

RuPaul’s Drag Race “Peppermint Gets Real”

Google “‘Head Over Heels’ On Broadway: A Trans Perspective”

Structure of the presentation: 

• Sasha Velour & Peppermint introduce each other to the audience

• Discussion of how they met each other at Rupaul’s Drag Race

• Peppermint describes her experience coming out as trans on national TV. Sasha compares and contrasts it with her journey coming to identify as gender fluid...

• Peppermint describes how she discovered drag, and how she came to understand her own gender as a connected but separate phenomenon.

• Peppermint and Sasha break down what drag is all about (and touch on its history).

• Sasha describes some role models from queer history who inspire her.

• Peppermint describes some activists today who inspire her.

• The two reflect on the power of community. The necessity of connection and relationships for activism, success, self-acceptance, and joy.

• Questions from the audience

• Peppermint & Sasha talk about lip-syncing, and each perform a crowd-rousing performance. 

• They close with a duet.