Tag: <span>Honey Mahogany</span>

While we itch for Season 7 of RuPaul’s Drag Race we will never forget one of our favorite queens of all seasons, Honey Mahogany. A lot of what we love about Honey is her beauty, we won’t lie. But beneath the beauty is a wonderful person who has an extremely interesting story. We asked her to spend some time to speak with us and it’s been a long time coming, but we finally got some time with her.

Honey admitted, her personality, being a really sweet and caring person, didn’t work so well for her on Season 5 of RuPaul’s Drag Race. We agreed, it seemed that “nice girls” have a more difficult time lasting on the race, versus the more “cut-throat” queens, who by nature are much more competitive. No matter, Honey remains loved and adored by her fans and anyone who meets her.

After her appearance on RuPaul’s Drag Race, Honey came home to San Francisco where she’d just released “It’s Honey,” a catchy dance tune on iTunes. But she also said keeping her brand going was a little different because she kept her day job as a social worker and her weekly show at the Midnight Sun, Mahogany Mondays. So she hasn’t really kept in the spotlight the same way as some other queens have. She did let out an EP earlier this year called, “Honey Love,” which included hits like “Take Him From Me,” “Shoulda Known Better,” and a cover of Nina Simone’s “Feelin’ Good.” Honey released a number of music videos.

Her singing began when she was young, she said she always remembered singing in school choirs and getting serious training in college, she had a singing minor in college but says she hasn’t really had vocal lessons or regular schedule/maintenance on her vocal side in around eight to ten years. She’s done things like singing the national anthem at local football games and baseball games (out of drag) but she may end up doing something in drag if asked, where better than San Francisco?

We talked about her dating life, she’s currently single, but not necessarily looking. She credits this to her busy schedule and doesn’t mind for now. She knows she’s got a thousand things going on and likes being single, figuring out who she is and what she wants. She did recall a relationship she had with someone prior to “The Race” who she dated after meeting him while she was dressed in drag. He doesn’t live here in the States, so that definitely added difficulty, she did say he would be the type of guy who she’d love to be end up with. But she does know she’s had people date her because she was on a TV show. Once she figured it out she said, “I can have fun with this” she said, “as long as I know what it is.”

Honey being from San Francisco stated on the show when being criticized by the judges, “San Francisco is not about the look.” Which she admits to saying, but also said there was more to it. San Francisco drag is known for its drag actors like Peaches Christ and Heklina who don’t necessarily conform to “the look,” but doesn’t mean they can’t pull off “the look.” However, as has been said by many Drag Race queens, there are hours of standing in front of the judges in real live that are later narrowed down to minutes on the television.

Honey loves that she grew up in the San Francisco scene because of the diversity she’s been raised with. What drew her to drag was “it was rebellious and a way to say something and counter-cultural without the need to be pretty, I just happen to be pretty.” She said it was funny because viewers of RuPaul’s Drag Race didn’t seem to like her when it first aired and when they’ve gone back and seen it again they started complimenting her on her looks.

We moved on to talking about her family and their support or lack of understanding of her homosexuality and drag art. She said, “for her [mother] gay people should be part of the culture instead of a counter-culture, she doesn’t understand why there should be a pride or a parade or a separate area where we have to live.” Which she said her mother and she will never see eye to eye about. We went on to discuss the desire for the gay community to have its own area. Obviously not like segregation, “I do believe we have a unique culture that has come out of adversity. I feel that one of the side affects of greater acceptance and greater integration with the larger community is that we lose some of that. I feel like that’s a tragedy because we’ve created so much art and wonderful things as a result of our pain but also as a result of this unique lived experience part of which has come to fruition from the gay communities, I just don’t want to lose that. I don’t want to lose that space where I feel safe and proud. I don’t want to lose that feeling that there’s a space and a culture that I know.”

She said the loss of her father in the past year has made her take a good look at the direction she’s gone in her career and she said she’s prepping for a “Honey 2.0″in the upcoming year. Included in the revamp, a dance EP with mixes of the songs from Honey Love for an upbeat sound that we can’t wait for!  She’s also working on an event called “FCKD for Valentine’s Day” with VivvyAnne ForeverMore. This show will be a game show that will have a dating format and will include prizes and giveaways. She also will be dedicating her time to performing full-time as she will be done with her daytime gig at the end of this year.

We thank Honey for the time she spent with us and look forward to all she has coming. Keep en eye on Honey on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter for all the latest. But we’ll be sure to share with you what’s going on with the beautiful Honey Mahogany. Be sure to check out Honey every Monday at The Midnight Sun in San Francisco where you can catch her singing live with some of the best performers in the city and some of her RuSisters drop by as well!