We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Oriana Perón a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Oriana, thanks for joining us today. When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?

We’re sort of trained while we’re growing up that you have to fit into a mold in order to benefit society “correctly”. In the 3rd grade we did a huge class-wide project about: getting a job, making money, and paying your bills. Admittedly, I think it was a bit premature to walk 9-year-olds through this process, and yet, here we are.

There are many facets to what we learned during this project, but, it culminated in a trip to a warehouse style building that had a fake city built in it, like a theatre set. To prepare we had to choose careers from a list and apply to them as we would a job in the real world. We had to create a resume, attend an interview, and prove we were right for the position…at nine.

My mother was working three different jobs and one of them was as a wedding DJ, I had traveled with her to several gigs and understood the basics of what it took to perform the job. Which is what I had put on my resume and what I had described during my interview.

To this day I have no idea why I was not chosen for the position of “Radio DJ” for the project, I was definitely the only student who’d had actual experience. Instead I was assigned a “retail” position in a fake department store.

This taught me two things: First, in most situations no one cares what your credentials are or if you have previous experience. Second, you should just do the thing that you wanted to do in the first place because everyone will always try to put you in a box that you definitely won’t fit in.

I didn’t realize a lot of this until much later in my life, but, looking back that is definitely the moment when I started to realize that I needed to think outside of all the boxes the world wanted me to fit in if I was going to do anything with my life that I actually loved.

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.

For as long as video games and anime have been in my life I have loved them. My cousin, Megan, actually introduced me to both when I was very young. At 19, some friends invited me to attend an anime convention with them. I didn’t even know what to expect but we all decided to cosplay from Sailor Moon and attend Anime Central in 2006. I was hooked immediately.

At the time I had a boyfriend who was extremely negative if I spoke about drag, going as far as to attempt to emotionally manipulate me into not pursuing it. He was, oddly, alright with cosplay though. So, I continued to work normal jobs and cosplay in my free-time with my friends.

Many years later, I combined the two and began performing as “Oriana Perón”. I incorporated all I learned from conventions, where I would perform in skits that I wrote, at the cosplay contests or masquerade, which won numerous awards. I knew I had found my niche, the culmination of my skills could be used and a career could be created here.

After 18 years as a cosplayer with 12 years performing and hosting as a drag artist I now travel the country bringing my specialized Cosplay-Drag events to conventions everywhere. My events utilize audience interaction and bring a unique experience for attendees and performers that promotes fabulous experiences to be treasured for years. My events are all-ages to create a space that is accessible to any and all who wish to be there. These aren’t your average shows where the audience is simply viewing shenanigans on stage, they are directly involved with the shenanigans in multiple ways.

As a small town entertainer I am extremely proud of the business I have been building with my Manager, Cindy Sibilsky and my Co-Host, Verna Vendetta. We have all worked very hard and invested many long nights to bring the joy and light of these events to conventions everywhere. There are many more conventions to visit and we look forward to growing and expanding every single day.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

I’m from Bloomington which is a small town in southern Indiana. While a lot of the city area promotes inclusion and detests hatred and bigotry, if you go too far in any direction you are faced with small-mindedness, religious paraphernalia, and confederate flags. Growing up I was called “gay” by other kids before I even knew what it meant. In High School I had my life threatened by two other students in my grade level. We had a “gay” club but you weren’t allowed to talk about what that meant because teachers could be fired for such a conversation. There was no where to go and nothing to do as a queer person under the age of 21. I made a lot of questionable choices while learning about the world around me, I was lucky and came out the other side safe and unharmed.

I try to make sure my shows and events are all-inclusive for this very reason. If someone wants to attend, I want them to be able to. If only just to provide a space that is safe, free of substances, and free of sexualized behavior and situations. I feel very privileged to have families that travel to see my shows as something fun to do together, allowing their kids to bask in queer joy rather than be bombarded with adult themes.

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

Buy. Their. Merch.
Haha, as lurid as it sounds buying merchandise directly from the artist either on their website or in person at a show is the best way to support them. Often times the merchandise helps to fill the gap in income between gigs or shows and directly encourages the artist to keep creating and keep doing.
Other, less expensive, options are interacting with their socials through comments, likes, and shares. The more organic interaction a post gets the more of a boost it can get which helps your favorite artist be seen by new people.
You can also reach out to local venues and suggest they book your favorite artist, a lot of the time if a venue sees or hears several requests for one person they will seek them out for a booking!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.orianaperon.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/orianaperon
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/orianaperon
• Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/orianaperon

Image Credits

Oriana Peron
Verna Vendetta
Photographer: Katie May (katiemayphotographyindy)
MHG Photography @mhg_photo
Shin Kurokawa for @injoyentertainment