This Southern-born Jersey comedy glam girl already technically won a challenge before the competition even began… could Desireé Moonshine be the next champion of Crystal Envy’s Diamond Race? [Cover photo: Clavel]
Thotyssey: Dezi, hello! Thanks for chatting with us today, I know it’s a busy time! So we’re venturing into the Spooky Season, but you had a summer well spent even before Diamond Race, doing stuff like Tom’s River Pride!
Desireé Moonshine: Barnegat’s second annual Pride as well! Doing work in Ocean County is really important to me, because there really aren’t a lot of queer resources around here.
Will you miss the summer, or are you more of a pumpkin spice gworl?
As much as I enjoy Halloween time and the color changes in nature, I am such a summer girl. I’m a Leo, so I think it’s almost ingrained in my body to thrive with longer days and warmer temperatures. That, and summer is the busiest time for drag on the Jersey Shore! As exhausting as it can be, I really feel I’ve always felt most energized during the warmer months. I swear this year I felt a physical change on the very first day of summer. But maybe it’s just the Vitamin D deficiency, lol.
Is Ocean County where you grew up?
So I’m actually from a really small community in Virginia… a small peninsula off the coast of Maryland that’s not even on most maps. It’s called the Eastern Shore of Virginia… Accomack County specifically. Fun fact, Abe Lincoln actually mentions it in the Gettysburg Address. I didn’t move to Jersey until I was 18.
She’s got history in her roots! How did you come to discover, and ultimately do, drag?
I grew up doing theatre, and tons of sports: football, basketball, swim team, seven years of street hockey… and eventually my favorite, competitive cheer. I was always on a stage or in front of a crowd, and loved the feeling of entertaining and being cheered on.
I knew I wanted to do drag at a young age, probably about 12 years old. I remember seeing Rocky Horror and Kinky Boots, and just being so obsessed with the entire idea. At 14, my high school hosted a “womanless pageant” to raise money for the football team. It was a bunch of senior football players doing drag for a joke of course, wearing grandma mumus, or “stripper” clothes. And then me: shaved legs, painted nails, wig, heels, a black lace dress… all given to me from my dearly departed Auntie Maria, who was my mom’s best friend. Without her support, Desireé wouldn’t exist today. I’ll always give that credit to her.
Did competing in the Fresh Face pageant also play an important role in Dezi’s drag development?
Oh, for sure! I met my closest friends because of Fresh Face: Mimi Sashimi and that year’s winner Aladdin Firm. We’ve been best friends ever since Fresh Face, and we all constantly give support to each other; I talk to them every day. The hardest part of starting drag is probably finding drag friends; bitches be catty, lol, but Fresh Face made that easy.
How might you describe your drag today?
I think I’m still growing and figuring out my aesthetic show by show. I love a lil’ bodysuit, love a little cocktail dress, but I also make a fierce gown! I think a lot of queens take inspiration from similar places, but I’ve learned not to be so cookie cutter, and not to be afraid to show off some of my southern roots. Performance-wise, I’ve always been so drawn to the stunts and shenanigans. Cartwheels, splits, dips… but I know there’s a power in stillness that I still haven’t fully perfected. Overall, my goal is to give variety.
Diamond Race is an epic multi-week drag competition at Paradise, hosted by RuPaul’s Drag Race alum Crystal Envy and largely inspired by that franchise! What made you want to try out for that?
I’ve known Crystal since I started drag on a more professional level over four years ago, and she’s always been a supporter and someone I consider a friend. When she announced Season 1, I knew I wasn’t at a place in my life to be able to participate. But I straight up told her, “girl, I will see you for Season 2”
Performing in Asbury Park and surrounding areas for almost five years, everybody kind of expected me to apply. I had just come back from taking almost a full year off from drag, still had a very full beard, and I had dozens of people asking if I was applying. And one thing I know about drag is, you gotta give the people what they want!
You’ve already showcased a lot of design and performance skills in the first two weeks of Diamond Race. You did a Dolly Parton number for the first week talent show, which perhaps makes you the last Jersey queen to do a Dolly number in the icon’s lifetime! Had she been a longtime idol of yours?
I think Dolly was an idol for so many people. But being a queer southerner, Dolly held an extra special place in my heart. I grew up listening to her, and I was a wreck all day when she passed. I loved her music; she has a song for every feeling, and every situation. But even if you didn’t like Dolly’s music, it was impossible not to like her as a person. I think Dolly might go down historically as the most iconic queer icon ever.
It’s quite possible! Also in the first week of Diamond Race, your promo code sold the most live show tickets. As a reward for that, you obtained a “potion” that will enable you to either knock a bitch out of the Top 3 or save a bitch from the bottom! Can you speak to how your marketing skills got you to this place?
I think I’m the closest thing to an Asbury Park representative this season, even though I don’t live nearby. I’ve built my drag career in Asbury, so I expected to have most of the hometown vote, but I did make sure to to push sales privately. I’d campaign in person at tea dance, ask friends to buy tickets, hell I even worked a bachelorette party on Long Beach Island after Week 1 and convinced them to come, and they bought season passes even after I had already won the award. I knew there would be an importance to selling the most tickets, so I pushed hard for season passes.
Do you think the moment when it’s time to use this potion will present itself naturally, or are you already scheming a stunt, lol?
I won’t say too much on using the award, but I’ll just say… I have my eye on some hoes, and it would be very unfortunate should some of them find themselves in the Bottom 3 to a lip sync song that I don’t think they’d be confident in, lol!
We loved your denim Britney look for Week 2’s runway, and the cute maid looks you designed for the group challenge that teamed you with Tiffany Uma Mascara and Xaya-T! Is it fun / challenging to design for a prompt? Also, how did you like rehearsing and brainstorming with those girls?
I really love being creative and getting to step out of my typical wheelhouse. It can be challenging, but Tiffany and Xaya made it so easy. We all bounced ideas around and worked so so well together. Within a day or two we had the whole concept and wardrobe planned, and I’ll give credit where it’s deserved: Tiffany provided a lot of ideas.
What were your thoughts on Crystal and the judges’ intriguing critique that the efforts of one unnamed girl in your “No Scrubs” group number kept you from the bottom?
Crystal’s comment was obviously about Tiffany, and I get it. She’s fierce competition, and a fierce performer. But Xaya and I are actually the ones that fully choreographed the number. Tiffany wasn’t able to meet with us before the day of for any rehearsals, so she learned it maybe two hours before. I don’t think Xaya and I are exactly “bucking” girls or the worlds greatest dancers, lol. But if you watch closely, she and I are in perfect sync the whole time. Tiffany has a little more groove than Xaya and I, which works a little better with “No Scrubs.” I’m really proud of all of us, because for two of us that song definitely wouldn’t be a first choice. However I can promise you… we weren’t as close to the bottom and she made it sound, lol!
Week 3 (September 16th) is the “Gemusical” take on Broadway’s Chicago! Are you excited or nervous? Also, do you have an all time favorite Chicago cast member?
I’m so excited. Chicago is my absolute favorite musical of all time, and I got the role I wanted. Just call me Roxiereé Hartshine. If we’re going based off the movie, I think it would be really hard not to say Queen Latifah is That Bitch… but I really love Velma’s character, and Catherine Zeta Jones just does it so well.
Then on the 23rd, you’re returning to Paradise as part of the cast of “ They Came From Denton High,” the E. Licksher led drag tribute to the prior mentioned Rocky Horror! You must be very excited to be a part of this, especially as a way to honor the great Tim Curry whom we lost on the same day as Dolly.
I am! I’ve been doing the Rocky Horror show with E. Licksher for years now, and I’m part of the original cast when she first put it on. I actually had a huge part in producing it with her that first time, and I’m so thankful to still be a part of it as it’s grown. Tim Curry is another icon for the community that we’re so fortunate to have had on our side, and I hope we do him proud.
And you’ll be revisiting Dolly a few days after.
I’m part of a Dolly tribute show where a portion of the proceeds are being donated to the Imagination Library on September 25th at 3BR Distillery in Keyport NJ, with Franchesca LaRose and my good, good Judy, Elizabeth New Jersey.
Anything else in September?
On the 26th I’m doing drag bingo for Barnegat Pride with my sister Mimi! Overall, that’s a busy, but very fun week for me!
Looking ahead to November, both you and Xaya-T will compete in Fresh Face All Stars, while Diamond Race is still happening! It seems wild and stressful to prepare two such big packages at once… but then again, Sasha Curvy did both last year and took home two crowns! How do you feel about returning to Fresh Face as a more developed performer?
I’m so excited to return for All Stars! I do feel like I have a little bit of an advantage, because I’m part of the 2022 cast of Fresh Face, with everybody else competing in their original season or in years that followed. I can’t wait to show off how much I’ve changed and grown. If there was any takeaway from Week 1 of Diamond Race, it’s that I know how to serve before and after, baby. So I know I’m gonna show an exponential growth, and I hope to bring home all the crowns… maybe even a few from my dentist!
Any closing words?
If you like what you see, throw a dollar at it! Drag is a hobby and a profession that costs a lot of money! Good drag ain’t cheap, and cheap drag ain’t good… so support your performers as best you can! The economy is scary for many right now. So if you can’t support financially coming to a show, then following on social media, or even a kind comment all go a long way.
And here comes my traditional closing question: what’s your favorite item in your drag bag, cosmetic or otherwise?
I’d have to say my Prosaide medical adhesive cream. A lot of girls will use a plain ol’ Elmer’s glue stick to glue down their eyebrows… but baby, there is a big ol’ sweaty southern man under all this, so mama’s gotta break out the big guns! And I’d be lost without my cordless portable blow dryer as well for the same reason, haha!
Thanks, Desireé!
Check Thotyssey’s calendar for Desireé Moonshine’s upcoming appearances, and follow her on Instagram.
Thotyssey 