Oakland, CA — Countless careers have been built on social media and for some influencers, social platforms are carefully curated feeds serving as their portfolios. Artists can portray themselves however they want with no limitations, allowing people to truly be themselves, unapologetically. With this freedom, queer people have been able to grow and gain exposure in a way they've never been able to before.
As more queer influencers continue to bless our feeds, it can be difficult to keep up with them, so we've gathered five of our favorites for you.
@imp_kid
Imagine a 1920’s film star as a 1960’s beauty queen mixed with a 1990’s club kid fantasy. That’s Imp Kid. This Chicago queen’s drag goes way beyond turning brightly-colored looks; she uses her platform to document her gender transition as well as speak on the issues affecting queer people like police violence. She represents how multifaceted today’s drag artists are, in a field where they’re often boiled down to pretty faces.
@fatfemme
Fatima Jamal rose to fame with her ongoing documentary project "No Fats, No Femmes", chronicling life as a black plus-size trans woman. She’s become a fixture of New York City’s ballroom scene and gone from walking the balls to walking fashion week runways for the likes of Gypsy Sport and Telfar, with a stop on FX’s "Pose" along the way. Continuing her takeover of the fashion world, Jamal recently posed on the cover of Dust with none other than Kate Moss and was also featured in Sephora’s We Belong To Something Beautiful campaign — proving that there’s no stopping this femme.
@mazurbate
Growing up wanting to be a part of the fashion world, Matthew Mazur worked DJ gigs around NYC before getting his shot — being discovered by Jeremy Scott of Moschino. Working NYFW after-parties for Moschino, he met and started styling K-Pop’s baddest female, CL. When he’s not dripping fashion’s latest it-girl, Kim Petras, in vintage designs — he's opening for her on her Broken Tour. The DJ-designer-stylist extraordinaire is running NYC's party scene.
@aaron___philip
Following her historic signing with Elite as their first disabled transgender model, Aaron Phillip is living a teen dream. In the span of a week, she made her runway debut, landed a spread in Out Magazine dressed in Gucci and wore a Marc Jacobs fairy fantasy gown to her prom. She starred in Miley Cyrus’s "Mother’s Daughter" music video. The 18-year-old’s career started on Twitter, where she was able to build a following on her own terms. With a drive like hers, I can tell big things are coming for this girl.
@trishthedragazine
You can’t go more than five minutes down your timeline without seeing a makeup tutorial, a mukbang, or a cooking video. So why not mix them all together and throw a wig on top? That's Trish: The Drag-a-zine. Started by San Francisco drag queens Cash Monet and Mama Celeste, the channel puts a crazy drag queen twist on the random things we love on social media. Drag queens don’t just exist in the club! They’re entertainers of all forms, and Trish shows that.