We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Lux St Diamond a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Lux, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Earning a full time living from one’s creative career can be incredibly difficult. Have you been able to do so and if so, can you share some of the key parts of your journey and any important advice or lessons that might help creatives who haven’t been able to yet?
So, I recently made the leap of faith to commit fully to my art n community organizing. For 8 years, I’ve worked either 2 or 3 jobs or a managerial job that required 10 hours of overtime a week, all while organizing events and creating community.
I have NEVER made more from my art than I have put into other people’s art. I started by doing this for free for queer youth, the closest to a check I got before the pandemic started was from the Pride Center which was a $50 gift card to smiths or something back in 2019. Seeing drag boom out here and blossom definitely gave me the inspiration to put more work to establishing my drag as a full time gig.
My drag is not just dance and rhinestones. My drag is emotional. Its spiritual. Its genuine to who I am as a trans indigenous person. And my goal has always been to make spaces for queers to connect, learn, and heal.
So now, I have turned my knack for community, my efforts in decolonization, and my glamor of drag to create a network of mutual aid from friends over the years, community organizers who also do work to decolonize, and also potential new people who are enamored by my performance art!!
I live a very simple and humble life, but im willing to make that sacrifice to care for my drag family in the ways we need to.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
So first and foremost, I am a drag mother. Which means I have a house of drag kids, as well as siblings who have their own kids. Im a cancer sun cancer Venus, so family means a lot to me. Im currently working w some of my kids to find housing, to escape houselessness, to process our addictions and continue our journey of recovery, and also encouraging/supporting them in their art to be able to get more queer stories out there!! I also mother those who aren’t my own, so u will typically see me in the green room of clubs lacing up someone’s corset, or kicking a drunk guy off the stage. I also hold free community events monthly to share in qtPOC culture and art.
And then, I also do drag. So thats pretty basic. I lip sync. I dance. I cry. Alla that.
Is there mission driving your creative journey?
Decolonization. Land back. Abolish the system.
For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?
Being able to tell my story and have other people relate and connect w it without having to even have a full conversation ♡
Contact Info:
- Instagram: Luxstdiamond
- Twitter: LuxS8nt
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@luxstdiamond?si=_P1UdoiMvGiNftwc
- Other: Tiktok: luxstdiamond
