A Drag Cartel champion and Drag Den’s wild card pick, O-A is always winning.
O-A (read as O-dash-ah) won Drag Meet O-A, The Campy Chameleon of Drag Den 2018 and has become a regular performer at Nectar Nightclub. Drag Cartel is the drag competition at the said club during Poison Wednesdays that inspires and fosters many young queens and also where Drag Den’s wordplay is built around. “Super thankful sa Poison Wednesday family for creating a space for young queer kids out there to express our kabaklaan,” she says.
Drag shows crank up high spirits and the mental well-being of audiences, but then there are magical instances that sometimes call forth a desire that will be the start of someone’s constellation-building and greatness. O-A was nineteen when she first went to Nectar and watched Andy Crocker and Viñas DeLuxe on the stage when something inside her awakened. Now, she wishes she would do the same to a doe-eyed spectator. “I want to inspire,” she says earnestly.
She was described as the campy chameleon during the Drag Den wild card voting run, which she eventually won. The core of her drag lies in cosplaying. (I will never forget how she tickled my 90s heart when she appeared one night as Dionne Davenport, best friend of Cher in Clueless, and Storm.) She’s been exploring many looks that I’ve seen progress while doing virtual shows with her sisters Minty Fresh and Shewarma during the height of the pandemic.
O-A addresses how drag has helped her build confidence. “Ang pagiging confident ko siguro ay nag-improve dahil sa drag. Mahiyain kasi talaga ako eh, pero slight nawala na siya now.” Putting on a wig carries a hefty dose of self-empowerment. Other than the apparent aspects of art and performance, drag is a way to triumph over personal limitations. “I would be lying if I won’t say I’m proud of myself. From being a winner of Drag Cartel to being part of Drag Den completely blows my mind. I never thought I would be part of something historic in our community. Charot! I knew I would be, hindi ko lang alam before kung ano ‘yun”, the shapeshifter affirms.
Drag Den premieres on December 8, 2022 via Prime Video.
