Juanita MORE! is a denizen of the limelight. For almost three decades, the laudable hostess has blitzed San Francisco with high glamour, drag irreverence, and danceable beats that have illuminated the entire city. She inspires those around her to make positive differences in their lives and communities — and doing it all with timeless elegance and an innovative spirit. To date, MORE! has helped raise over 1 million dollars for local LGBTQ charities — among them GBLT Historical Society & Archives, Our Trans Youth, Q Foundation, Queer Lifespace, Transgender Law Center, and more. MORE!’s culinary expressions are an extension of what mothers have been doing in their kitchens for generations — which, simply states, is sharing “loads of love.”
In this delightful interview we discuss how Juanita created and continues to create their colorful, unique and purposeful path. We get to hear about Juanita’s spiritual spirituality, from childhood until now. We talk about synchronicities and spirituality weaving through our everyday lives.
We then get a full TEA story about Juanita’s journey trying drag for the first time and all the epic events that followed, plus all the synchronicities and fabulous players who came together to birth the magic that is Juanita MORE! Next, we chat about their amazing charity work and activism work and what inspires it. And we end chatting about the importance of following one’s passion in life and always seeking joy.
Learn more about Juanita MORE! here- https://juanitamore.com/
Learn about Wil's work here- https://www.wil-fullyliving.com/events
Juanita MORE! is a denizen of the limelight. For almost three decades, the laudable hostess has blitzed San Francisco with high glamour, drag irreverence, and danceable beats that have illuminated the entire city. She inspires those around her to make positive differences in their lives and communities — and doing it all with timeless elegance and an innovative spirit. To date, MORE! has helped raise over 1 million dollars for local LGBTQ charities — among them GBLT Historical Society & Archives, Our Trans Youth, Q Foundation, Queer Lifespace, Transgender Law Center, and more. MORE!’s culinary expressions are an extension of what mothers have been doing in their kitchens for generations — which, simply states, is sharing “loads of love.”
In this delightful interview we discuss how Juanita created and continues to create their colorful, unique and purposeful path. We get to hear about Juanita’s spiritual spirituality, from childhood until now. We talk about synchronicities and spirituality weaving through our everyday lives.
We then get a full TEA story about Juanita’s journey trying drag for the first time and all the epic events that followed, plus all the synchronicities and fabulous players who came together to birth the magic that is Juanita MORE! Next, we chat about their amazing charity work and activism work and what inspires it. And we end chatting about the importance of following one’s passion in life and always seeking joy.
Learn more about Juanita MORE! here- https://juanitamore.com/
Learn about Wil's work here- https://www.wil-fullyliving.com/events
Wil Fisher 0:00
Queerly Beloveds, We are gathered here today for some juicy conversations about all things spiritually queer and clearly spiritual. I'm Sylvia will gather rainbow, spiritual life coach retreat hosts with the most and drag queens and I'll be chatting with the most amazing folks are simply sharing some wisdom on my own. If you like what I'm serving, please remember to subscribe so we can keep hanging out. Alright, let's get super wound together in this spiritually queer a cosmic container and blast off a low beloved Alright, for this next episode I get to interview Juanita more. Juanita Moore is a denizen of the limelight for almost three decades, the laudable host has has blitz San Francisco, with high glamour, drag, irreverence and danceable beats that have illuminated the entire city. She inspires those around her to make positive differences in their lives and communities. And doing it all with timeless elegance and an innovative spirit. To date more has helped raise over $1 million for local LGBTQ charities. More as culinary expressions aren't extensive of what mothers have been doing in their kitchens for generations, which simply states is sharing loads of love. And in this delightful interview, we discuss how Juanita created and continues to create their unique and purposeful path. We get to hear about one ETUs spiritual journey from their childhood in town now, we talk about synchronicities, and how spirituality seems to weave through our everyday lives. If we notice it, we then get a full T story about one eat his journey to become one eater, and all the synchronicities and fabulous players who came together to birth the magic that he's one eat up more. We then chat about their amazing charity work and activism work and what inspires it. And we end up chatting about the importance of following one's passion in life, and always seeking joy. And it was a joy to do this interview. And I hope it brings you joy as well, my listeners. All right. Well, Anita Moore, thank you so much for joining us here on queerly. Beloved,
Unknown Speaker 2:13
welcome. Thank you. Well, I'm excited to be here.
Wil Fisher 2:17
I am just thrilled that you made some time for this today. I know that you live a very active life. I always have a lot going on, which is super inspiring to me. And yeah, just really excited to be able to have this conversation with you today.
Speaker 1 2:35
Oh, thank you. Thank you. So been a medic. It's been a minute since I've seen you. It's
Wil Fisher 2:40
right. Yeah, it was so awesome to get to have that time together in LA, where you officiated the wedding of our dear friends Sean and Jeffrey, and did it with such grace and beauty and then you were on double duty and DJ made.
Speaker 1 3:01
It did. That was fun. I love it. And Shan Shan had some, some requests. So it was fun to do it.
Wil Fisher 3:09
It was such a fun night and such an incredible group of people that were all just like ready to get down on that dance floor from the first song you put on.
Speaker 1 3:20
I mean, officiating weddings. This is such an honor. And I've been blessed to do quite a few. And they've all been friends and family. I have of course, had other people reach out who just want to drag queen to officiate their wedding. That I don't know. And I've actually declined because I really need to feel a connection and super honored that that this boys asked me I actually just officiated a wedding last weekend with one of my bar boys, which was also such an honor to be around his family. So super cool.
Wil Fisher 3:59
Yeah, how wonderful. I've officiated a few weddings myself. The one straight wedding that I officiated did not last very long. But the two gay weddings that I did have are thriving. And yeah, that really resonates with me that there's something important to you about doing it for people that you know, love and care about. Because ultimately, in my perspective, when you do something like that you are giving a blessing. You are blessing this love. And so you want to feel a connection to that you want to offer a blessing to something that you can stand behind.
Speaker 1 4:34
Yeah, that's true. That's true. Yeah. So I've been lucky to do a few.
Wil Fisher 4:42
Awesome. Yeah, well, those couples are, are very fortunate to get to experience your love and your blessing. So yeah, the question I like to ask guests right at the top of interviews, is to take a moment to maybe close your eyes and just drop in to how you're feeling this day, what you're experiencing, maybe take a couple breaths, and then tell me who you are in this moment. But do so by describing the drag avatar that embodies that.
Speaker 1 5:16
It's such a fun question. That's a good fun question. Well, I think the drag avatar that describes how I feel today and how I feel most days is super motivated. With I have a lot of direction, I have a lot of goals. I'm constantly moving and looking forward. I rarely rarely look backwards or dwell on things from the past unless they're pushing me forward. So I don't know is that might be a tiger some sort of a tiger running to running for its prey for
Wil Fisher 6:07
I love that, that energy that that moving you forward movement, that's, that's yeah, that embodied by this, this tiger on the hunt, who's also fierce and beautiful. I mean, that the tiger coat is just so gorgeous and sleek.
Speaker 1 6:25
I mean, I'm definitely nonstop I work all the time. I'm constantly planning and growing and moving forward. It's just, it's just part of how I am, you know,
Wil Fisher 6:38
wow, what an incredible path and one that is so embodied and who you are, it's like this, it's such a unique path that is a full expression of you, or that's the way I observe it anyways, it's a path that is, could not be prescribed to anyone else on this planet. And there's something so inspiring about how unique Your path is. And you know, as I forged my path, it's beautiful to see yours and to feel inspired to also forge a path that is uniquely mine and a unique expression of my consciousness. That's what I see in your path.
Speaker 1 7:28
Oh, that's, that's very thoughtful. Thank you for the Thank you for seeing that. Absolutely.
Wil Fisher 7:35
So yeah, I'll share my drag avatar for the day. And yeah, I am present to this admiration for this, this tiger on the line with me. And so yeah, I suppose I am going to also embody that but but I'm, I see myself in a different a different Feline, animal skin, and perhaps it's like a puma, perhaps it's like a lion, also, you know, basking in the sun, but perhaps still looking for that, that constant source of motivation. And so yeah, I also am on this, this journey. And I'd love for you to share about how that has been for you to to forge your path to discover your calling in action, you know, what I see is that it's you, you do have this perpetual motivation. And yet, it I imagine happens somewhat organically or perhaps not, perhaps it's more calculated, but I'd love to hear more about how you have carved out your purpose and your path.
Speaker 1 9:03
Wow, that's, that's a good question. I mean, I've, I've always been a very organized person. That was evident in grammar school and in high school for sure. I love to keep things organized in an order and, and that kind of stuff. So that grew Of course, into into other things. When I started doing drag, I mean, the first year, like most drag queens, I was just partying and having fun, you know? But I realized as that first year was growing, that there was power in what I was doing, and I wanted to take that power and you know, use it for good For sure, I think within even maybe even for the end of that first year of drag, this is boring in my 31st year of drag now, I plan to nonprofit event and realize that what I was doing could have a better effect on the community that surrounded me. But right from the start, I put that to use. And I think that in, in the end, that's really what has kept wanting to moving forward. Because of my love for the community, and my, you know, my desire to keep it moving and healthy and all that. So, yeah,
Wil Fisher 10:49
so beautiful. Yeah, it makes me think of the Spider Man quote, right, with great power comes great responsibility. And I imagine that, you know, many other people might fall into power, but not take on that responsibility, not necessarily feel that motivation to do something good with it. And so it is, again, inspiring to see how you've taken it and ran with it. And I'm curious what your thoughts are on what it is about drag that makes it powerful? Why is there a sense of, of energy of strong energy that gets connected with drag and makes it an influential art form?
Speaker 1 11:36
Well, I mean, I mean, when we look back at the history of drag, and how powerful and what a political movement was, suggest get in drag, when during all the times of people being arrested for being in drag, especially in the late 50s, with Jose Saria, for one who was our first emperor, so the Imperial Council, Francisco definitely was someone who I sort of see a bit of me, like, he saw that as well, a number one, you couldn't be outside of the bar, in drag, he would get arrested. And many times they shaved all your hair off, or, you know, they were mistreated in so many ways. So Jose saw that and right away, began to make it a political thing of wanting everyone to be able to live their true selves. So So just from that point of view, drag is super powerful. I mean, it takes it takes balls to like walk out of your house and drag and be on the street. You know, it just does, it just does. I mean, I've gotten to the point where I mean, I have a particular style, of course, and I gotten to the point where and it's just maybe also who I am, that I could just walk onto the street and wait for a cab my cab to come outside of my apartment and the people walking by it feel my energy and really love what I'm doing and say You look amazing, you know, or this is strangers, this is not people looking at Oh, you know, so. So something is, is coming from me that that other people are enjoying. So
Wil Fisher 13:44
yeah, beautiful. It makes me think of this, this presents, right? This this some ways larger than everyday life presents that gets to be embodied in drag, and what's actually coming to me and this might be perhaps too grandiose, but I'll just share it because it's popping into my mind. But it's almost like the presence of a deity, that this this, this other worldly persona that gets to be created. That is that is different than sort of our normal, everyday persona. And there's also something beautiful in it as a, an act of creation, right? That that drag is a persona that is created. And this also, again, perhaps a very grandiose thought, but it's like, you know, this idea that God or source created humans, right. And then humans in this art form of drag are creating these new personas. So there's, there's something like godly about it in a way I'm curious if you have any thoughts on that. I know those are pretty epic ideas, but they're just popping through
Speaker 1 15:01
I don't know. I mean, I mean, that's kind of spiritual what you're talking about. And when I think of, of what I create, and where, where I was, as a kid growing up, I mean, growing up, my mom's side of the family was Catholic, my dad's side, this Christian went to, you know, catechism on one day, and the Catholics go on it, you know, like, all these things were just happening all week. And it's really interesting to me, this is unlike my siblings. But for me, I was not interested in those stories. I wasn't interested in the stories of the Bible. I didn't believe them. They weren't real to me. Like how I was living my day to day life, and how I was interacting with people at school. And my family. It was like, wow, these stories just don't relate to me. And it was something that I suppressed as, as a young kid. And as I got towards was getting close to being a teenager, and I think it was time for me to make my confirmation or something. And my mom was like, when you know, when do you want to do it? Are you ready? Have you picked a name and all that kind of stuff. And I sat down with my mom who was religious. And I said, you know, I haven't believed any of this stuff. And this is the first time that I'm saying this to her. And I said, I will do it, I will do the confirmation. If you allow me to make decisions moving forward, about whether I want to go to church, whether I want to new Catholic school, whether I want to go to Christian school, she agreed that that was fine. And I made the decision not to go anymore. Because what I was seeing happen in my life, was that I was the one making the choices, not something above me that I didn't believe in and that I didn't know, I was the one planning what I was doing day to day, it was my fault if it wasn't right, or if it was wrong, or if I fucked up. It was my fault, not someone else's. So I start taking on, you know, taking on that power of Juanita came to responsibility for me, right if I wanted to be a certain thing. And, and yeah, I was, I mean, this is the true part about just the physical look of Juanita and all of that, that was created by a lot of other really creative people. I had a lot of really amazing people surrounding me. When I first did drag, I had an amazing hairdresser who wanted to do my hair, Mr. DavidI are designing my clothes, like other people were helping this creation come to life, the ideas, a lot of times were mine. Of course, you know, like, oh, I want to look like this, you know, or I want to wear this color. But I want it to be this way. Like, those things came from me. But I had a lot of other hands. That really helped create it. Yeah, well, that's happening for me inside and how I was thinking, but still how I was as a little kid. Still planning and forging forward, like still doing all that. So? Yeah.
Wil Fisher 18:33
Wow. Yeah, thanks for sharing that story. And I'm present to the sovereignty of that story of you having the courage to share that with your mom, and then striking that deal from sharing that, you know, very vulnerable statement, then, being in power.
Speaker 1 18:50
I think she knew I was going to do that, you know, that think she knew was coming, you know?
Wil Fisher 18:59
Yeah. And so I understand that you weren't feeling a connection to the religious aspect of spirituality. I'm curious if you found other access points or moments of connection to a different modality of spirituality.
Speaker 1 19:18
Oh, I mean, all the time, something walks into my life all the time that just enlightened me in some ways. When my principal dog Jackson came into my life, that was something coming into my life that was making me look at life differently again. You know, that those are the points when things change for me so unifying. It could be as easy as you know, I went out when I was in Paris for the year we had to pick a bird that we were and I picked the hummingbird and in my backyard and my garden and guess what flies into my backyard hummingbird you know, so there you are, you know, like, it's, those are the things that are the spiritual things for me. So yeah,
Wil Fisher 20:10
these beautiful synchronicities in our everyday lives, and finding the spirit weaving through these everyday moments rather than a feeling as some feel. And perhaps it resonates with you this disconnect to these stories from the past that maybe happened maybe didn't, and that don't feel relatable, right? It's about how do we find these moments, these meaningful moments in our everyday life and, and find ways that those moments can help us feel connected to something larger than ourselves, or help us feel supported in some way and help us feel like perhaps we are making these choices in a good way? Right, that these are my choices? These are my sovereign choices. And wow, it seems like the universe is happy with these choices. There's something flowing, that's that's, you know, happening in a good way.
Unknown Speaker 21:10
Through Yes, it's true.
Wil Fisher 21:11
I'm curious, going back to the Juanita more origins, I'm curious where the name came from, and anything else you want to share about how she came to be?
Speaker 1 21:24
Yeah, that's, that's pretty interesting. I mean, um, you know, it really mean just growing up as a queer kid. And like, literally, I have that first vision. And four years old, when I knew something was different about me. We were we, we had just visited, my dad had taken me and my sister I believe, to go visit a friend of his who had horses, and we were, my sister and I were in the backseat, my dad was driving home. And we pulled up at a stop sign. And this gentleman started crossing the street, and something about him, made me feel really different. And I wanted to, like, reach over and tell my sister, like, do you see that person? You know, but something stopped me from doing that something said, You can't do that. And then, of course, you know, as as things went on, you know, I mean, I look back now at the home videos of me growing up, and how could none of you know I was a queer look at me running around. And when I did finally come out to my siblings, and to my family. They were all they were all okay with it. I mean, my, my dad was like, whatever you know, and love you doesn't matter. I think my mom was a bit attached to her Catholic upbringing and had had some other feelings that she had to put aside. But I watched her put those aside really quickly, really, really quickly. And when I was living in San Francisco that grew up in East Bay, and I was in San Francisco as a teenager, I was getting on BART was coming here to San Francisco, and I was riding around and having sex and being a queer kid and getting back on BART and going home. And then going back to school and not saying anything that we Oh, yeah. But then eventually, you know, make some other friends at school that were also queer, we would come to the city together so that it didn't end up happening. But I do all that time. And even even when I moved to San Francisco, rad wasn't what I wanted to do. For me, the drug that I saw was really loud queens, and they were really aggressive. And they weren't, you know, they were a persistent. It was a different approach. And and what that's not how I like to be approached in general, right. So, so that's what I associated with drag. And I wasn't interested in it. In the late 80s, I decided to move to New York after a couple of visits and testing the waters. I do decide to decide to move there. It's a sweet story of my boyfriend who I met there. I think on the last trip before I made my final decision, went with the New York and went to boy bar, which was in the East Village and went to him went to check my code and the code check. And I just looked at that boy and the code check. I was like, Oh my God, he's so beautiful, you know? So check my code, and I ended up just standing there. So we coat check, and we start talking and we're chatting and chatting, chatting. And then he tells me you should go watch the drag show. It's gonna start in like five minutes. And you really should go up there. And I said, Okay, great. So I go up there. And I mean, I've probably been to a few drag shows, but distract show starts. And the first person to come out is Glenn Moore, who's Mr. David, who is my grandmother, who I did not know. And I literally stood in the audience and said to myself, This person is going to be part of your life, like this person somehow is going to be there. And not, not me saying that, to myself that I wanted to drag. It was another kind of way. I also felt like the drag show was the first time that I had really seen artistry and drag, dial in drag, like all these other things. Wow. I go back to go back to the code check. Tell, tell John, who's in there that that's just that was amazing. That was a great show. And I go, I'm here. I'm in New York one more night before I fly back to San Francisco, we go out to dinner with me. And he says no, because I can't have a boyfriend. I can't do it. And I looked at him and I go, Well, you're going to be my boyfriend someday. So let's go to dinner. But he said no. So I moved back to New York six months later and go back to that bar, in hopes of seeing going more and in hopes of seeing John. It's not the drag night. It's like some other kind of night and I'm sitting at the bar. I remember that I'm having a cosmopolitan. And someone tapped me on the shoulder. And I turned around, and it's John, the contract for a guy who says to Me, I am ready to go out to dinner with you. Okay, yeah. And we we started dating, we started dating. And he kept telling me about his good friend who was in LA, Mr. David, who, you know, was a Couturier, and was working on a project down there. And then I think six or eight months and said, Oh, he's coming back to New York. He's finishing this project. So let's go to the airport and pick him up, because I really want you to meet him. So I'm Mr. David. David, who is clamour who I don't know that yet. So. Yeah. And I think I think the first thing I said to him right out of the airport was Will you have some pants for me? Because I heard you're such a great guy. He looked at everything. He looked at everyone around us, like who is this person? We became, we became friends and in some sort of way. Glamour more Wi Fi. You know, I figured I was clever more. And I started going to performance and stuff. But I sort of became the first more boy, no, I was sort of the firstborn because I was the one carrying, gotten more stuff to the club and making sure she got out of there and making sure she got home and all that kind of stuff. I was on all those duties without even really thinking about it. Wow. Yeah, moved back to San Francisco. And John passes away that year that I moved back from Hades, and he passed away on gay pride Sunday. And that that day, David had called me and said, John passed away. I couldn't believe it. I was walking through civic center with all their pride flags, fine. It was really, really an odd, weird day. But David also said, I want to come out and visit so he planned to visit he came out for His coming out for three weeks, and he never left. And during those three weeks, it was going to be Halloween, and I said, Oh my god, since you're here, let's just put me in drag for the first and one and only time. Okay, so literally, he looked at me and said, You're gonna be hideous, you know, like, he's like, why don't he's like, why don't you just being my one friend that does it. But I did it and he and I was in the middle. He was in the middle of putting my makeup on. He's like, Oh, God, you're gonna be beautiful. And I was and I had a blast and this is early 90s. So were still really in the thick of the AIDS epidemic. And I had already really stopped going out what I wasn't interested in it. I wasn't super social in the queer scene and all of a sudden going out in drag gave me a new life to your so so that's real. I mean, I made him put me a drag the following night and it just never stopped. Wow.
Wil Fisher 29:58
All right, Goddess, thank you so much for sharing that story. That is epic. Yeah. That is
Unknown Speaker 30:05
so fabulous. story.
Wil Fisher 30:11
Yeah, I'm excited to check out glam or two, I want to look back at some of those images and learn about them. I don't know about time
Speaker 1 30:22
or Yeah, some amazing history for sure. I mean, I have amazing photos that I took l'amour and the boy bar beauties, which included Connie, Connie, Connie girl who's amazing in New York and beyond dra. And I mean, I really looked up to those girls at that time, especially after I started doing drag, it was like, that is the idea of what I want to do. Those girls were on that level really started rolling. And that was that was my ideal. Boy bar
Wil Fisher 30:59
was such a birthplace of so many incredible queens. You know, we could think of that as like the RuPaul drag race of the time, right? It was like, we're just like getting born from that place. And that's, that's one of the things if I had a time machine, I'd love to go back and go spend time at boy bar during its drag heyday.
Speaker 1 31:22
Yeah, so it was fun. Yeah. L'amour was also like one of the right there in the beginning, one of the founders when I performed, I think the first night. So a fabulously a good part of its history. So
Wil Fisher 31:38
one of the things that I love that you do that you spend so much time and energy on and make such a big impact on is your charity work? And has that also always been a part of your your work with drag?
Speaker 1 31:56
It has, like I had mentioned earlier, I think when you know within that first year, I had done a benefit for the tenderloin, a resource center. And I morphed that into besides other things I was doing all year long. I morphed that event into my annual pride party and sent and telling everyone and planning it as the My biggest fundraiser that I would organize during the year. I'm involved in lots of other things, of course, all year long. But that would be the big one. Yeah. So I mean, over the past 30 years, I've helped her with the community raise over a million dollars. For similar terms of Cisco's most impactful organizations. I mean, especially in the beginning, when I was trying to yearly for pride, trying to figure out who I wanted to support. There would be times when I would walk, I would go not in drag into a nonprofit office to just ask for pamphlets and stuff. And look around and I would be like, Oh, wow, like this, this place. Like, they don't even barely have any furniture like things. Like they need help, as opposed to another place that was probably publicly funded by the government or getting money from other places that had brand new furniture in it. And I was like, there. Okay. Move on. Yeah,
Wil Fisher 33:23
well, yeah, there's something. You know, speaking of synchronicity, I'm just present to this perhaps, synchronicity around John passing from AIDS on gay pride. And John being a big part of the catalyst that that brought Juanita out, you know, that connected you with with l'amour. And yeah, there's just something connected
Unknown Speaker 33:50
me to drag and you know,
Wil Fisher 33:54
for sure, and there's something so poetic and beautiful that then, you know, years, like months down the line, you are now creating these incredible fundraisers for these aids events and then happening on Pride. Like there's something really poetic about that. weaving together of events. Bosh,
Unknown Speaker 34:15
I've never even thought of all that as one big thing, but you're right.
Wil Fisher 34:21
Yeah, divinely orchestrated in some ways. And so yeah, I think that the the charity work that you do is so inspiring and also the activism work and yeah, I'm curious what, what that's like for you to to take such a powerful sand as an activist in the community.
Speaker 1 34:46
I you know, I really take it to heart and I don't take it lightly. It's an important position. I, of course, I love all organizing things. So I love working with the directors of the nonprofit to try to make what I'm working on for them to be great. And I've always sort of looked at it this way, if I could make it look really fun for the public that are going to come and donate whether they know it's a nonprofit event or not, because they want to be a part of the fun. So I think in the beginning, a lot of people didn't really even know that what I was doing was a nonprofit event. I think people still, I said, Somebody recently said to me, Oh, my God, Juanita, I didn't know that you help raise money for the bust of Harvey Milk that is in City Hall. And I said, Yeah, it did do that. It was so long ago that like I go, I think while we were doing it, no one really knew that was going to happen, you know? Yeah, there's been lots of times when I've done stuff that has felt so impactful to me. I've worked with trans trans youth programs, GMA Network, and donated money to them when pride and then like a month later, all of the trans youth, they sent me a video that literally I just lost it, it was just so sweet and so beautiful. So yeah, it comes back in lovely ways.
Wil Fisher 36:36
Yeah. Yeah. Beautiful. I mean, we think of charity work, and its association with religion sometimes, right, that folks, you know, are feeling a certain obligation to do this kind of work to, you know, be a good boy or girl in the eyes of God. And you're not coming from that place not coming from this religious place, obviously. Well,
Speaker 1 37:05
I mean, I mean, at this point in this conversation, I haven't I considered myself gone.
Wil Fisher 37:16
Lower back. Love it. What what does, what is the impact for you, you what motivates you? I mean, I imagine it's, you know, it feels good. But I just would love for you to share more, perhaps for those who have not done charity work or have never considered doing charity work? Well, what would be a reason to give back in the ways that you do?
Speaker 1 37:43
Yeah, I mean, I come from a generation that has fought to be out to be queer, fought for queer rights fought for, you know, health and within our, the, the AIDS epidemic. So that is part of my DNA, right. And we're again, seeing across America that we're still fighting for just to exist, which is just mind blowing, that, that I'm living through this where I felt like I've lived through this already. You know, so that motivation just yeah, it hasn't. It hasn't ended. And
Wil Fisher 38:37
yeah, in a conversation with with Don keel, Hefner, he spoke about this trend of activist elitism, I don't know, if it's called activist leader, it's, essentially it's this idea that, that the work towards progressive change has become less in the hands of the people, and more almost commodified, that people feel less empowered than they did in the past, where when people didn't like something they would take to the streets and have it be known that they don't like something and, and there was a different type of fight. Whereas today, it's almost like, Oh, you don't like a certain thing that's happening to community, Oh, I better go make a donation or, you know, go vote for the right person. And so one of the the the things to get curious about is how do we bring it back to the people how do we inspire the young folks or the new generation to to take that power back? Any thoughts on on how things have gone in that in that way?
Speaker 1 39:50
Well, I mean, you also got a we got to look at the fact that a lot more people are coming out Yeah, we had a nerve rage. So there's some things that we really struggled or fought for that they're there. They're not having to. Right. Yeah. So there are challenges now, our course are different than challenges we faced in the past. But hopefully they're looking at their history and taking how everybody else, you know, fought for things and going to move that forward. Hopefully, that's happening. So,
Wil Fisher 40:31
yeah, beautiful. And I like that, you know, it's not about us repeating the past or doing it the way that old other generations did it. But to be informed from from the history is such an important piece.
Unknown Speaker 40:45
Yeah. Oh, gosh, all the stuff we've lived through already.
Wil Fisher 40:53
Crazy to think about. And it's also crazy, that it's still a continuing fight, you know, that people are still trying to come for our rights, and that we have to stay stay diligent. So, yeah, I'm just curious if you, as you think about the LGBTQ folks as sort of a tribe, you know, as as a people, what do you think is some of our, our purpose as a tribe here? What do you think we bring to, to this journey of evolving human consciousness? What are some of your thoughts on on our role in that?
Speaker 1 41:39
Well, I mean, for, for me, my life in, in the queer community is surrounded by artists and activists, that's really what is in my life all the time. So I'm seeing and helping those things, of course, Blossom, you know, I'm a huge champion of artists, I want artists work to be seen to be I, I just truly believe that. If, if you're a little kid, and you're doing something artistic, like, that could be the thing you should always be doing. Especially if you're great at it. And you know, you figure out how to make it work for your for your life. I was a very creative, artistic kid. I found passion in food as a really young kid, I was always on a chair next to the stove. When my parents were cooking, I would go to my grandpa's or my aunt's and uncle's house, and they'd be like, you know, all y'all you kids go play outside. And we're like, I want to stay in the kitchen. I wanted to learn why they were putting that Why did you put that in that in that pot? You know, which, which really propelled me into becoming a chef, which I was cooked professionally. For years before I did drag. And I was I was lucky enough that my parents saw that I really had a passion for that. As when it was time for me to switch from high school into college. That was the big discussion. Like, do you want to go to culinary school? Like, is that true? No. And I said, Let me think about it. And I was already cooking. Some of my odd jobs in high school were already in kitchens. And I thought about it for a second. And it was like, my parents don't have money, like, you know, I can't, I don't want them to go into debt, send me to culinary school. So I said, I go, let's let's do this. Let's give me a year. Let me try to find my way in some kitchens. And within that year, I had done that I was working in great kitchens within a year. And without culinary school. And, you know, I was looking over the shoulder of someone else who had went to culinary school, turning right around and doing the same thing they just did. So so that really was my family had allowed me to explore that creative part of my life, which was great. And that allowed me to follow it. Which is good. So yeah. nourishing,
Wil Fisher 44:31
nourishing those artists nourishing those activists, those Oh yeah, you know, those changemakers you know, that that are so ripe in our queer community too. Yeah, yeah. And really the Wayfinders right, the folks who are blazing the trail ahead, you know, the Tigers forging the new trails. Such an important They're such important pieces to this human consciousness evolution. So I applaud you for for being one, and for being a champion of of that, that role in such powerful ways. Thank you. So yeah, as we wrap up any final words of wisdom, advice, thoughts that you'd like to share?
Speaker 1 45:27
Goodness, find joy in everything you do. Just, it's there. It's there somewhere. I mean, we're living in such a, such an impossible world at the moment. And it's, it takes a little extra digging to find joy, but it is there. Yes,
Wil Fisher 45:46
fine, Joy. I love that as the ending note, thank you so much, Juanita. It's been a total pleasure.
Speaker 1 45:53
Thank you. I enjoyed talking to you. And this, this made my day. Thank you.
Wil Fisher 45:59
Awesome. Well, that was super fun. Please go to the shownotes to check out the link to learn more about wanting more and to get in touch with me and to learn about my offerings by coaching, my personal retreats and more. Thank you so much for listening today. Oh, my God is Beloved's. What a joy it was to be with you today. Let's hang out again soon. Okay. And you can think of a friend who would benefit from hearing that. We share it with them. Sending so much love and light to you today and every day. Until next time, peace
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