Trixie Mattel, a Wisconsin native and nationally-recognized drag queen, visited Memorial Union’s Shannon Hall for a moderated Q&A panel with University of Wisconsin-Madison English professor Ramzi Fawaz.
The audience erupted into cheers and laughter throughout the night, with topics ranging from Mattel’s love for Wisconsin, drag inspiration, how she built her brand and her favorite makeup products. Mattel also offered the audience words of advice about navigating college, accepting identity and envisioning their biggest dreams.
“It’s always exciting when queer icons come to the area, especially because sometimes being queer in Wisconsin can feel a little isolating,” said Abigail Conway, a UW-Madison senior who waited in line for three hours before the event to see Mattel.
Mattel rose to fame in 2015 after competing in season seven of the competition reality show Rupaul’s Drag Race. Her fanbase grew three years later after winning Rupaul’s Drag Race All Stars, a spin-off show. With her Barbie-doll inspired appearance, Mattel has expanded from performing as a drag queen to other ventures, from creating a comedy series, cosmetics line and music albums to starring in multiple TV shows and a Youtube channel with 2.35 million subscribers.
Mattel reflected on her younger self and the fear of not being good enough when she first began drag, adding she realized years later there is no exact path to success. She emphasized projecting confidence early on and “faking it till you make it.”
“Like who wants to see a drag show where some drag queen is like ‘I’m middle amount good?’” she joked to the audience. “I really believe that the only difference between people really clawing up that mountain and people staring at the top of it is the audacity. Nobody is better than anybody.”
The Wisconsin Union Directorate Distinguished Lecture Series (DLS) planned the panel alongside the Gender Sexuality Campus Center.
“I know there were people at the event who had never had exposure to things like a drag queen before, and they came out of it with a whole new perspective on not only drag queens, but the LGBTQ+ community,” Annika McElduff, associate director of outreach and engagement at DLS, told The Daily Cardinal. “I think my favorite part of Trixie was that she really was just like ‘have the audacity to do what you want to do.’”
Garen Reiter and Gracie D’Angelo have been fans of Mattel since middle school and were ecstatic when Mattel’s visit to campus was announced.
“She is such a beacon of hope for the queer community, youth and adolescents. And she presents serious topics in a way that is so light and full of joy,” D’Angelo said.
“[Mattel] is definitely someone to look up to… she’s a successful gay person in a world where a lot of people put down gay people — especially drag queens,” Reiter told the Cardinal.
Before the Q&A, the Cardinal had the opportunity to speak with Mattel about her decision to visit campus and her Wisconsin pride.
The following has been edited for clarity and brevity.
Why did you agree to visit UW-Madison?
I pretty much said yes before I knew it was a paid appearance. Anything Wisconsin related, I'll usually do it. I love Wisconsin. I just think it's great, and it's growing. I'm super passionate about Wisconsin. I think it's America's secret best thing. Wisconsin has the best people, best food, best restaurants and we have every type of experience — beaches, water parks, log cabins, camping, cities, concerts. There's a lot of gay people here, like a lot. I mean, Milwaukee has, like, 10 gay bars. I don't even think West Hollywood has 10 gay bars. It’s just a great place to come visit…I think that I'm always kindred spirit with the collegiate community of Madison.
What are some of your favorite places or spots in Madison?
Well, I always stay at The Edgewater when I come here for a work thing. It's really pretty and especially in the winter, that whole frozen lake. I come with all these people who are not from here and they can't believe it's a huge frozen lake. They see people walking out on it and they think it's like final destination. I'm like, no, I'm telling you, it's frozen, they're fine. This is a great city for walking. Everything is beautiful and stunning. And I have friends here, like friends I went to college with at [UW-Milwaukee]...now I have friends who have children here. I think there's gonna be friends of mine who have kids coming to the show tonight.
How does it feel to have so many people, especially young Wisconsin queers, to look up to you?
(Jokingly) It’s awful. Honestly, when I was in college and high school in Wisconsin, I felt like I was in a waiting room to get out. I felt like the whole world was going on without me, and that Wisconsin was so removed that I was gonna have to turn 18 and move to a big city and play catch up. I truly think that most kids feel like that…After getting to travel the whole world and see everything, I realized Wisconsin's great. I wasn't missing anything, and I was very fortunate and privileged to be from here. In every city, everybody complains they wish they lived somewhere else, and I always find that to be like complaining about your relationship but not breaking up. It's like, well, you live here. And what I learned about throwing parties in Milwaukee in my 20s is like, if there's a type of event you want to go to and it doesn't exist, you can do that. You can make that event happen. We are actively sculpting our own experience, especially as gay people. Wisconsin is still so ripe and people here are so hungry and open and interested — if you build it, they will come. And [in my early 20s] I couldn't get bookings in drag — I was too weird — and so I started doing my own shows or traveling to Chicago or Madison. I mean, I used to work in Madison and Chicago like a 3-to-1 ratio to Milwaukee. I could barely find jobs in my town, but Madison and Chicago were so open. It really taught me that you can have whatever kind of experience you want in Wisconsin, you just have to be bold enough to be the person who creates the event, makes the flyers and creates the space to make it happen.
