Meet Amber St James | Drag Performer, Activist, Educator, Advocate

We had the good fortune of connecting with Amber St James and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Amber, is there something that you feel is most responsible for your success?
If I were to some up the most important factor behind my success in one word the only word that feels right to me would be FREEDOM. I think that the success of my brand is in the fact that what I represent is the embodiment of allowing ourselves the freedom and permission to be our most free and authentic selves. At the root of my brand ,lives justice and joy and freedom and action. Be it in my makeup and its cultural influences, my presentation and the ways in which I challenge gender norms through my beard, or my performances in the way I incorporate activism, education, advocacy and entertainment, I am always pushing for justice, joy and action. I believe that people see me as an inspiring opportunity model, of what life can be and what it could offer when we give ourselves the permission to exist unapologetically and freely.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I like to think that there is not much that sets me apart from other artist because we are all one in my eyes. We are all doing the work of awakening and inspiring the masses, and in that we are all one in the same. Now I will say that the ways in which I go about doing that liberation work is a bit different than most folks within my field of work. I love the seamless ways in which I can marry high energy entertainment and activism, all in an effort of being a catalyst to start a necessary dialogue. This is something that still continues to excite me, is knowing that just from encountering me peoples lives and ideals can be changed and challenged for the good. I got started in the world of drag roughly 8 years ago in passing as it was on the tv in my grandmothers house and at the time i didn’t understand it. At that point I was maybe in like elementary/middle school and while I may not have understood drag (more specifically Rupauls Drag Race, which is what was on the TV) I knew that what I saw looked free and exciting and that I wanted that freedom I was seeing. Flash forward to my freshman year of college and I had the opportunity finally get into the world of drag and to me the opportunity to finally experience that joy and freedom I had seen so many years ago. That married with also becoming more involved in my schooling and learning more about my history inspired me to start to incorporate more of myself in drag and to take those moment of performance and use them as vehicles of activism and action. Being a black performer in a field that tends to be dominated by non-black performers can sometimes pose a challenge when it comes to cultural understandings for some of my performances. However I believe that through that I am able to create a space for dialogue and understanding and broadened the perspectives and minds of the masses. Throughout my many years I have learned a number of things however I think what has helped me most throughout my journey is learning to trust in the paths laid before my the people who came before me and know that as long as I lead with justice and joy i will never go astray.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
As someone who is involved in night life both on the production side and the performance side I would say that my suggestion is definitely taking a trip down to the famous Hillcrest Gayboorhood. It has so many amazing and fun queer businesses and night life events to enjoy.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I want to give the biggest shoutout to not only my amazing drag family, The Haus of St. James, who has been such a transformative support system for me, but also give a huge shoutout to my community for always uplifting, encouraging, and inspiring me to continue the fight. I would also be remised if I didn’t give a huge shoutout to the San Diego State University Pride Center for being the space that helped me foster my activism and love of community building. I wouldn’t be who I am without all the amazing support and love from the folks that have always supported me and the people who gave come before me.

Website: https://professorjames13.wixsite.com/hausofstjames

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mxsstjames/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/AmberStJames

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/amber.stjames.7