Hi I’m Anna. My stage name as a drag king is Andy Kist
And what I know now is it’s more important to be
yourself than please others
I grew up in Helensburgh which is a small town just
outside of Glasgow
I was quite badly bullied for being different by people in my school
Growing up I grew up watching horror movies
One of my earliest memories was lying in a cardboard box
pretending to be Dracula
I have an older sister and a lot of the time if I didn’t
get the grades
if I didn’t get the marks it was why can’t you be
more like your sister?
If I did weird things it’s why can’t you do that like your sister?
Why do you have to be weird?
A really low moment for me when I was being bullied was
just after my grandma passed away
I was completely distraught
She was my best friend
She was one of the only people I felt I could truly be 100 percent myself with
She always had a smile on her face and telling me that I was
loved and that she loved me for me
And I didn’t have to be anything but me
After she passed away, I shut down. I was completely void of any emotion
My parents had told the school what had happened
and that I was going to be in in case I needed to be taken out of class or
if I wanted to go home
And I remember one girl turned around and she said that
She called me a freak because I couldn’t cry over my grandma dying
And I felt like such a horrible person for it
and it made me want to
it just made me want to die
I moved to Brighton after I left college I studied animal care
and I was very fortunate. I got a job at an animal rescue centre
and I was living with some great friends
who were just as weird and freaky as me which was great
And one of the things that we got into was a programme
called Drag Race
It was amazing to see all these different performers being themselves
both with makeup on and out of the makeup and hearing their
backstories about being bullied
About being rejected and then finding acceptance through drag
It really had an impact on me. It made me feel like maybe it’s
okay for me to be weird and maybe it’s okay for me to try be myself more
So two in the morning I was feeling very low and a bit depressed and
I thought I’ll give it a shot so I got the makeup out and I just played
around for two hours painting on a face
And I thought this looks quite good, this feels quite good
I quite like this
The turning point for me was when I was performing as Andy
I remember seeing one person in the audience looking at me
like I was filth
And that I didn’t belong there and it clicked, it clicked for me
that I don’t care what you think
You look at me like I’m filth I know I’m not filth
If you don’t like it you can go out the door
You don’t have to stay and watch this you don’t have to see me perform
Because nothing’s going to stop me from doing that and nothing’s going
to stop me from having fun and being myself on this stage
just because you don’t like it
That’s when it clicked that I don’t have to please everyone
I can be myself
Because there are people that do like me for me and
don’t want me to change and they’re the ones I should be focusing on
Not the ones that do want me to change