Kristi Maldonado, a drag king who began performing in 2002 as Caesar Hart, got her start at Trax in Kent, WA.

Initially, Kristi worried about public acceptance and the perception of drag culture; drag kings were uncommon in what appeared to be a queen-dominated world. When she arrived in Aberdeen, Kristi’s involvement in the community became more pronounced: she began promoting monthly drag shows that fostered a sense of connection and functioned as an outlet for LGBTQ visibility in the area.

Kristi knew that the community needed something like this, both as a whole and as individuals within it. Her goal to provide a positive masculine role model stems from her experience of loving those in her community, strangers or otherwise, and her desire to uplift others like her. As she reflects, “I either do this right now, or I’m going to have to live like this for the rest of my life. Who wants to do that? Not me.”