Today we’d like to introduce you to Zackarina .
Hi Zackarina, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start, maybe you can share some of your backstories with our readers.
As a young queer person, I’ve always been interested in drag. When I was in high school and still very in the closet, I watched Rupaul’s Drag Race with so much excitement and amazement. The queens just looked so liberated, happy, and not to mention fabulous! I told myself that one day, I would become a drag queen. Years passed, and I completed my undergraduate and graduate biology degrees from North Carolina State University. I thought I was headed off to medical school to be a doctor, or so I thought. I created my drag persona, Dr. Zackarina, in my mind intending to be one of the world’s first physician-drag queens, but when I started to think about it, medicine wasn’t exactly what I loved.
Instead, through lots of therapy and reflection (and journaling!), I realized that public health was truly my calling, and I wanted to find a way to combine public health with social justice and activism to make a difference for LGBTQ+ and other marginalized communities in the United States. But what would be my angle? How can I make public health activism both interesting and engaging? This is where the drag comes in. My story truly takes a village that got me to where I am, starting with one of my mentors, Katie Belusa. I shared that I was thinking of doing drag and maybe trying to marry it with some public health work. At this point, I had already begun laying the groundwork on my personal business FZJ Wellness, which specializes in individual/group coaching and institutional wellbeing consulting, so she told me to go for it! Why not? When we think about public health, one of the biggest aspects is community outreach, education, and programming for populations to learn more about their health, the resources available to them, and how interconnected all aspects of our wellness are.
I submitted a grant to the Park Scholarships Enrichment Grants opportunity and received financial support to start the transformation. Great! But now what? I had no idea where to start. So, as a frequent visitor to drag shows and brunches in the Raleigh area, I became acquainted with Kayla LaShay (@thekaylalashay), who agreed to be my drag mother, which is a mentor in the drag community, and teach me all the ways of drag. This meant going through what we called “Drag 101 Bootcamp,” which took me about 3 months. Finally, I graduated from drag boot camp at the top of my class (1 out of 1) and felt ready to start my social media accounts and journey into drag-based activism. I take inspiration from queens like Pattiegonia (@pattiegonia), who combines environmental activism with drag to build community and work to diversify the outdoors.
My goal as a drag queen is to be a public health activist and have fun. I am working to dedicate my social media and platforms to raising awareness of public health issues, sharing important resources to support people in living healthy, thriving lives, and advocating for legislative and cultural change. To remove institutional barriers that prevent historically disenfranchised communities from receiving the care they need. This exists in many forms, like safe sex education, harm reduction practices, creating sober spaces for people to interact, collaborating with nonprofits and community organizations, helping host health fairs, giving talks at conferences and institutions, and so much more. Anything that can be deemed as “public health” is fair game.
And then there’s the having fun side. Drag is just so much fun. There’s this amazing feeling when you get in full drag (which I call the “wig effect”) where your confidence skyrockets. All my fear and hesitation slip out the window, and I want to act goofy. Maybe that means hosting a lipsync drag show and doing the worm in my performance, participating in a stand-up comedy show, or hosting bingo, trivia, karaoke, or anything that will bring people together and create community. We know we are stronger together, and there’s community pride, so why not do it in heels?
Dr. Zackarina is only just beginning. My goal is to become a famous drag queen and an influential leader in the field of public health. As I continue to spread awareness, educate communities, and implement innovative programming to create change in our nation, I hope my local Raleigh, NC, community will stand by my side.
How can you support me? That’s a great question! Follow me on social media. Like, share, and subscribe to my content to help spread the important messages I create. Come to my shows! Support my drag art and other local queens’ art, too (and make sure you tip!).
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I thought I was going to be a physician for the longest time. I was hellbent on it. The dream was family medicine with medically underserved communities. But (1) I got rejected from 15 medical schools, which makes it kind of hard to attend medical school, and (2) I realized that’s not the only way to create change for public health! Nothing is a smooth road, and if someone tells you it is, they’re a liar.
Once I opened my eyes to the idea that I can make a difference differently, I could lean into public health advocacy more. When thinking about what you want to do, don’t focus on who you want to be; rather, what problems do you want to solve? You’ll quickly realize that there’s more than one way to solve that problem (and you’ll most likely need all of those different approaches to solve it, too), and you can find what you love, are passionate about, and are good at to solve it.
Another big challenge is content creation. I have more respect for Charlie D’Amelio and other influencers on the internet because this stuff is hard. Drag isn’t my job; if anything, it’s a hobby. I work a full-time job in the field of public health focusing on harm reduction for substance misuse, so this becomes a second priority often. But realizing that I don’t need to be doing everything under the sun has helped me create healthy boundaries that don’t burn me out along the way.
Finally, it’s difficult and slow to gain an audience as an entertainer, activist, or public figure, no matter the angle. It’s a slow climb with lots of posts that go with few likes, TikToks that feel like they’re never seen, and initiatives that don’t take the world by storm. That’s okay! I don’t need to “save the world” this quickly, and the world is already being saved by so many other amazing organizations, leaders, and activists. Rather than reinvent the wheel, I work on partnering with others to support their efforts rather than repeat them independently.
It also means building a name for myself and a portfolio to partner with more and more notable queens, organizations, and leaders to reach broader audiences and make a larger impact. Sometimes it means working a “gig” for free or doing charity shows where I’m not earning much. It’s a slow build but forming meaningful partnerships and relationships is all a part of the beautiful journey.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
At its core, drag is queer liberation through art and performance. People often love to characterize drag queens because there are some categories they fall into campy queens, comedy queens, pageant queens, dance queens, social media queens, etc. I find myself falling more into the camp/comedy categories with hints of social media in there. My drag is just a reflection of myself that I take and exaggerate. I don’t try to become another person, I try to be my most authentic self, and since it’s drag and everything’s bigger, I try to be 150% of my authentic self.
In the age of RuPaul’s Drag Race, we see a larger and larger push for queens to be versatile and stretch across these categories. I definitely have versatility, but here’s the deal on versatility: having a large breath of skills does not mean doing everything. It means you find what you’re good at in each category and play to your strengths. For example, am I a dancing diva? No. I’m not going to hit a death drop and split because I fear that I wouldn’t be able to get back up. But that doesn’t mean I won’t try to put on a dancing performance! It means I play to my strengths:
– Dancing like a white auntie at the family barbecue.
– Doing the worm like a 7th grader.
– TikTok dances.
And with all that, I can still turn a show out without having to be someone I’m not. I love fun costumes. I sew a lot of my clothing and design my hair to match the performances, and I love trying out different makeup looks. Am I the best at all of it? Not. But do I have fun learning about myself and growing in my skills? Absolutely yes. My Instagram and other social media accounts are where I have lots of fun posting my different campy looks, so be sure to check them out!
The coolest thing about releasing my creative side (as someone who was so stem-focused throughout their academic career) is learning about myself in ways a lab report could never have taught me. To own things that might not have been the best but to recognize the value in trying them, reflect on how I can improve, and give myself grace that I’m a beginner and I am always growing.
I’ve learned what it means to feel confident in my skin and be my most authentic self, to be brave and take a risk even if it leads to a flop. Art is so important. What is the point of living if not to create? Some famous philosophers said that, not me. So, even if you’re not creative, give it a shot. Do something! Trust me, my first makeup attempts look like a child got into their mother’s makeup drawer, but we try again, get better and have fun. We need to work on that side of our brain, and we need to create art. If you’re looking for a sign to try the thing you’ve always wanted to do: here it is! Do it! And if that thing is a drag, please feel free to reach out to me via social media or email, and I’ll always be down to have some drag children!
Is there anything else you’d like to share with our readers?
Change starts from the ground up. It is supporting grassroots organizations, providing mutual aid for our neighbors, and supporting local activists and creatives like me, Dr. Zackarina. Support doesn’t always have to be monetary; sometimes it’s a follow, sharing what you learned with someone, and sometimes voting in your local elections. Whatever way it is, support those trying to make the world a better place.
Pricing:
- Pricing for bookings varies based on the performance, show, etc.!
- I get to set my own prices and use a sliding scale if working with organizations that might not have as much financial support. Always ask and we can work together!
- Events I can host: drag shows, drag brunch, trivia, bingo, karaoke, birthday’s, club nights, game nights, Dungeons and Dragons, stand-up comedy, improv shows, and anything else!
- Collaborations for activism: speaking at rallies, protesting with your group, speaking at conferences, teaching Mental Health First Aid, training in LGBTQ+ topics, etc.
- In-person or online! Let’s make collaborations super accessible!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://linktr.ee/dr.zackarina
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dr.zackarina/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrZackarina
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@dr.zackarina_
