This interview appeared in the April 2023 issue of GAY TIMES.

Photography by Raul Romo
Words by Sam Damshenas
Creative Direction by Umar Sarwar
Fashion by Lateef Abdullah
Hair by Lorenzo Calderon
Makeup by James Michael
Cover Design by Jack Rowe

The queer-speaking world (and its allies) unleashed a unified gay gasp earlier this year when RuPaul’s Drag Race announced the long-awaited Sasha Colby era (we had to). As a former Miss Continental and the “first child and grassroots startup queen” of her respective house (one of the most distinguished drag houses in the U.S.), Sasha’s participation on the Emmy-winning franchise was likened to – as Bosco said – “Beyonce being on American Idol”. Now widely referred to by fans (and us) as “MOTHER!” – or as she puts it, “goddess slut” – Sasha stomped into the werkroom in her Hawaiian warrior garb as the de facto frontrunner, and has since demolished RuPaul’s stage with the charisma, uniqueness, nerve and talent that has contributed to her enduring legacy as a drag juggernaut.

As of writing, she’s conquered three maxi-challenges, two of which were consecutive: she neck-cracked her way to victory as God (fitting) in episode three; crystalised the runway in Drag Race’s landmark 200th episode; and cuchi-cuchi’d the improv with Spanish flamenco icon Charo “without subtitles”. (Imagine explaining that sentence to a straight?) There’s more: her LaLaPaRuza lip-sync against Anetra to the beat of Fifth Harmony’s I’m in Love with a Monster, featuring a plethora of flips, kicks, splits and other quintessential Sasha Colby tricks such as her ferocious hairography, has been lauded as one of franchise’s most iconic battles to date. (“I could see us looking like Swiffers at one point, just completely mopping the floor.”) The smackdown is still going viral on the social medias, as well as other hidden gems of Sasha’s spellbinding performances including a clip in which she dowses her hair in water and drenches the crowd to Paramore’s pop-punk anthem Misery Business. 

Following two decades as an unsung shero in the art-form, Sasha is finally – repetition, bold and italics necessary: finally! –  receiving her dues on a global, mainstream level as a drag trailblazer and the trans icon the world is in desperate need of right now. “I did not expect the fanfare and the crazy outpour of love and energy,” gushes Sasha. “It’s overwhelming, and it’s made my 20 years feel worth it.”

The House of Colby came to wider prominence on RuPaul’s Drag Race last year with the arrival of Sasha’s drag daughter Kerri. While she didn’t snatch the crown for her house, the Kerri Kares star – alongside Kornbread “The Snack” Jeté – notably ushered in the franchise’s most “trantastic” era yet when three additional contestants subsequently came out as trans: Jasmine Kennedie, Bosco and winner Willow Pill. As a result, season 14 made herstory as the first Drag Race season across all ever-expanding iterations to feature five openly trans contestants. “After Kerri it was like, ‘Whoa, everyone’s trans?!’ It was wild!” laughs Sasha. Admittedly, she always intended to compete in the ‘Olympics of Drag’ – “I’ve had friends and sisters in it, it’s our World Cup!” – but it didn’t seem conceivable for her until the recent trans takeover, which also includes fan-favourites such as Peppermint, Kylie Sonique Love, Gottmik, Vanessa Van Cartier and Dakota Schiffer, among several others.