Drag queen, musician and activist, Shea Couleé has held an immense platform in pop culture and Chicago’s drag scene, as well as Chicago’s Black Drag Council after having an unforgettable performance streak on season nine of RuPaul’s Drag Race and winning season five All Stars.
Couleé was born in Indiana and is the youngest of five children. Later, they moved to Plainfield, IL. and she attended Columbia College Chicago in 2011 for a degree in costume design. The following summer, Couleé was inspired by Chicago’s diverse drag scene and started experimenting with drag performances and nightlife. She has flourished in her creative endeavors since by consistently using the art of drag and costuming as a medium for larger storytelling for her performances. Since her early roots in drag, Couleé has auditioned to be cast in RuPaul five times for every year since they started performing. Moreover, Couleé had the most challenge wins out of any queen in season nine. She was the first contestant to win three challenges on season nine, including consecutive ones, and was the third ever performer to win four main challenges during her season after Sharon Needles and Alaska.
After her iconic presence on RuPaul, Couleé was named by New York Magazine as one of the top 100 most influential drag queens in America in the June 2019 spread. She was also formally inducted into the Drag Race Hall of Fame alongside the winners of RuPaul’s All Stars. Couleé has formed her own drag house, “Mansion Couleé,” where she has three drag daughters: Kenzie Couleé, Bambi-Banks Couleé and Khloe Couleé. During the rise of social media channels and reality TV featuring drag as an expressive art form, Couleé wrote, produced and starred in her 2017 film Lipstick City where she explores her range as the drag persona of a high end fashion model. She used this film to showcase the talent of the Chicago drag community at large by collaborating with performers like Kim Chi. Moreover, this short film created an opportunity for members of Chicago’s drag community to collaborate on a work that conveys various backgrounds, talents and personalities. Following the release of Lipstick City, Couleé has worked alongside many celebrities that raised her recognition beyond Chicago’s drag community. Couleé interviewed The Vixen about racism in America for the UK's Black History Month edition of Gay Times. In 2018, she performed in The Vixen’s Black Girl Magic Production to raise the platform for Black drag queens.
More recently, Couleé was added to the Drag Race’s “Haters Roast: The Shady Tour” comedy show alongside Drag Race alumni in 2019. She also directed and headlined a one-woman show in 2019 called “Coulee with A C” that explored the performer’s early roots and upbringings in drag and the Chicago scene. Her drag makeup looks have been featured in high editorial fashion magazines like Cosmopolitan and Vogue. Since February before the pandemic hit, Couleé started her IGTV series for “Advocates” where she spreads messages of inclusion, positivity, self love and living authentically through drag performances. She has said that, “It’s important for me to share Black stories because I don’t feel that positive Black stories get shared enough. I feel like in 2020, celebrating my Blackness is just being unapologetic in my Blackness.”
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, Couleé is one of the many drag queens that has expanded her social media presence that allows her art form to flourish outside of reality TV and the Chicago drag scene. She hosted “Chicago is a Digital Drag Festival” in June that featured Detox, Dorian Electra, Lucy Stoole and Bambi-Banks Couleé. In October, Couleé was featured on the cover of Out Magazine and was named a “whole revolution” in BET. The queen was also a featured performer on Rihanna's Savage X Fenty Show Vol. 2. She currently collaborates with Valentino, Marc Jacobs and had a recent achievement with a cover and feature on Gay Times. In addition to her political activism, Couleé has endorsed Senator Warren, and encouraged their followers to vote in the elections. She also spoke out against Donald Trump and called him out for his racist and offensive policies that target trans individuals.
Most notably, she used the time in quarantine addressing the Black Trans Lives Matter movement in the midst of the George Floyd and Breonna Taylor protests. She has actively spoken out about the racism and transphobia that occurs in gay nightclubs in Boystown and how they exclude Black performers. As one of the most recognized leaders and voices in Chicago drag, Couleé spoke out against these injustices in the Chicago Black Drag Town Hall in June that sparked a bigger conversation on racial inequality in Boystown. She has said in multiple interviews that it is vital in their career and platform to inspire people--especially given Chicago’s diverse backgrounds and history. By focusing on venues such as Roscoe’s Tavern and Berlin Nightclub--which promoted performer T Rex--along with a list of accusations detailing abuse and discrimination against Black queens, Chicago became the guide on how to instigate open and accountable conversations that surround issues such as race and equality. Couleé also called out the blacklisting tactics used against Black queens. This action later inspired an NYC Nightlife Inclusion that was signed by numerous queens that hailed Chicago’s Town Hall as inspiration for them to start this conversation again for inclusion and safety for Black drag performers. Over the summer, Couleé has spoken at the Drag March for Change and expressed the importance of the Black Lives Matter movement in relation to drag.
Shea Couleé has been more outspoken about racial inequality and inclusion since RuPaul, and has grown as a strong influence over Chicago’s drag scene. In an interview with Seattle Gay Scene, Couleé said, “I would say the influence I would like to have on the queer community would be to inspire people—specifically queer POC—to feel comfortable in themselves and their identities, to understand that they're special, they're amazing, and that anything you want or dream about, you deserve it."
Sources:
https://www.bet.com/style/living/2020/02/11/shea-coulee-is-a-revolutionary-advocate.html
http://seattlegayscene.com/2017/07/shes-coming-to-slay-interview-with-shea-coulee/
https://blockclubchicago.org/2020/06/22/t-rex-leader-in-chicago-drag-scene-dropped-by-roscoes-and-berlin-amid-allegations-of-racism/
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