'RuPaul's Drag Race' alum Yuhua Hamasaki on embracing her Chinese heritage through drag

Yuhua Hamasaki opens up about creating her drag persona through trial and error and how she's been able to find community through the New York City drag scene.

Video Transcript

YUHUA HAMASAKI: I think that anybody can do drag. Five, six years ago, people were saying, Oh, well only cis gay men can do drag. But in this day and age, people are more open minded about who can do drag, because I think that discussion has been had. Representation really matters.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

Hey, everyone. My name is Yuhua Hamasaki. She/her in and out of drag. And I'm in New York City. When I first started doing drag, there was nobody to mentor me honestly. I felt like there were really no way to learn how to do makeup for me specifically, because everybody else was a different race. And of course, the contouring the highlighting and the makeup is a little bit different.

So I started digging back into the films that I watch as a kid, soap operas that I watched as a kid, and there were all very traditional Asian aesthetics. So I started doing the bigger eyebrows, the more dramatic red eye shadows, a lot of Asian attire to my drag.

Hello, Pieces Bar. Welcome to Drag Race Friday's here. Woo.

[APPLAUSE]

I want you to raise a pipe in the air and take a big toast to Friday night here in the West Village, because this is a landmark for LGBTQIA plus people, OK? Cheers. Interacting with me, I want the audience to feel prideful of who they are, show that kindness still exists, compassion still exist. And I just want to push the boundaries to be living in a better world.

- Pieces Bar, let's hear it for your hostess. Make some noise for Yuhua Hamasaki.

[APPLAUSE]

[MUSIC FADES]