Transcription
Govinda - Interviewer:
So it's a really awesome project. We're also using it not only to tell the story of the Blue Ridge area pride community, because we've had this history here for so long and it's just not documented anywhere. This is the way that we're trying to get those stories and that history of this area is by talking to people like yourself who have lived here and have participated in building up the community as it is today.
Fay:
Wonderful.
Govinda - Interviewer:
Yeah.
Fay:
I'm honored. Thank you.
Govinda - Interviewer:
Yeah. Well, I talked to ... I did an interview with Ida Carolina and she mentioned that you were a big wig, literally, in the area.
Fay:
Aw.
Govinda - Interviewer:
... and to reach out to you. Then another important thing that they're doing with the archive is needs mapping. So basically we'll talk about any kind of programs or places or people who were really helpful to you in your lifetime 00:01:00here and what kind of needs you have that are being met, that aren't being met well. What things could be useful for you? We're going to use that information to try and build new programing and get funding for different things in the area. So it's a really awesome thing that you're going to help us out with that information today.
Fay:
Wonderful, wonderful.
Govinda - Interviewer:
You're just telling the story of you and that's how we'll get all that information. That really helps us out.
Fay:
Oh Lord, the story of me.
Govinda - Interviewer:
All right, so let me find my ... There's a little scripted bit that I read at the beginning and then we'll start. You'll just tell me about yourself and how you grew up and how you came to be here.
Fay:
All right.
Govinda - Interviewer:
If you will tell me your name and your pronouns, and the year and where you were born.
Fay:
I am my stage name, my government, what am I ...
00:02:00
Govinda - Interviewer:
Whatever you're comfortable with.
Fay:
I'm Faytriana Brown offstage.
Govinda - Interviewer:
Okay.
Fay:
Onstage, I'm the legendary Ms. Faytriana Evans.
Govinda - Interviewer:
That's it. The legend.
Fay:
Of legends. I was born December 23, 1981. I grew up in Virginia.
Govinda - Interviewer:
Virginia.
Fay:
Virginia, honey.
Govinda - Interviewer:
Wow.
Fay:
Mother is Sharon Brown, father is James Howard Brown. They call him Ricky.
Govinda - Interviewer:
Okay.
Fay:
What else did you need?
Govinda - Interviewer:
What are your pronouns? What pronouns do you use?
Fay:
I use she, her, Ms, anything female.
Govinda - Interviewer:
Excellent. All right, my dear. Well thank you for that. That's kind of the 00:03:00important bits that we need at the beginning, and now I'll do my little bit. Today's date is October 8th. My name is Govinda Wagner. I'm talking with Ms. Faye Evans. Their preferred pronouns are she, her. How long have you been living in Asheville? I guess, are you up in Johnson City now?
Fay:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Govinda - Interviewer:
Okay, how long have you been in Johnson City?
Fay:
Permanently, I've been here since 2008, but I had been working in the Asheville community and the Tennessee community since '97. So it's been a while.
Govinda - Interviewer:
Yeah, it's a long history in the area. That's really cool. Did you move here from Virginia or were there some other stops along the way?
Fay:
I moved here straight from Virginia. I was still in high school when I moved here.
00:04:00
Govinda - Interviewer:
Okay. What high school did you go to?
Fay:
I went to Marion Senior High School in Marion, Virginia. Go Scarlet Hurricanes.
Govinda - Interviewer:
Okay. Very cool. What brought you to the Asheville area?
Fay:
The shows. My drag mother is Jacqueline St. James. At 15 years old, I was feeling a little lost. I knew that I was part of the LGBT community, but I did not know that I was transgender. I was searching for more and my friend Jerry Elswick in Marion, Virginia, he has a salon, Ultimate Image. His partner at the time, Buster, they were coming to New Beginnings. I was like, I want to go. They 00:05:00were like, well honey, if you had a fake ID you could go. So I, being the genius that I am, I took off and went to my cousin Chris. I said, can I borrow your ID? He was like, no problem, because I knew his birthday, social security number. I knew the whole bit.
Fay:
So I told my sister, my older sister, my idol Riqina ... I told her, I was like, if I look like a girl, they won't clock the ID. So will you do my makeup. So not knowing anything about drag or anything like that, we put a wig on and she did my little makeup, my little day face, they call it. I went to New Beginnings and got in. Chris was over 21, so I get marked over 21. That's how everyone thinks I'm classical elite. Not yet. Then when I made it in, it was like I had found my 00:06:00tribe, honey. I was like, this is where I'm supposed to be at.
Fay:
Jacqueline had took me to Asheville with her because she was booked. The atmosphere in Asheville is like no other I've ever experienced. It was open arms and welcoming and encouraging. The brother and sisterhood of it all, it was just amazing. Then I got on the show Scandals, and the rest is history.
Govinda - Interviewer:
Wow. That was at 15?
Fay:
Yeah.
Govinda - Interviewer:
Busted into New Beginnings.
Fay:
Yeah, I got into New Beginnings at 15.
Govinda - Interviewer:
Then drag too I guess for your first time. Is that what you would consider the first time you were in drag?
Fay:
That was the first time that I stepped out in drag. They gave me the nickname Fish because I looked like a girl. They didn't know that I was a drag queen or 00:07:00anything like that. They thought I was a girl coming out. I was like, well no honey. I was like, I'm a boy.
Govinda - Interviewer:
That's amazing. So what was it like ... You grew up in Virginia and you mentioned a bit that you knew you were LGBT, although maybe you didn't quite know the terminology then. What is it that helped you kind of figure that kind of stuff out do you think?
Fay:
Well, growing up with my grandmother, I never knew what she meant by it. She always said don't worry about what anybody has to say about you in life. Keep your nose in your books and go to school for the both of us, because she never made it past 5th grade. I was like, yes ma'am. I knew that I was different. I knew that I liked boys, but there was something else in me. So living in Marion, 00:08:00I lived right by the public library. So I went every day and I read every book in there on sexuality.
Govinda - Interviewer:
Wow.
Fay:
I closed the last book and I was like, I'm transgender. I knew I felt like a girl. I knew that I wanted to be a girl. I identify with a girl. When someone treated a girl bad, it would make me so mad. After I had read upon it, I had looked in a mirror and I told myself you're going to have to put your armor on because it's going to get tough. If this is who you are, you're going to have to have Teflon skin, sweet heart. You're going to have to deflect everything that comes at you, stand your ground, don't let anyone put you down, don't let anyone run over top of you. You're nobody's doormat.
Fay:
From that point on, that's how I lived. In school and everything else, my 00:09:00guidance counselor to this day comes and sees my shows. Yeah, she told me, "Everything you said you were in school," she said, "You're so much more." I just knew that I had to be more than just another number, so to say, or another statistic, or another gay boy. I just knew I had to make my mark and, to make my mark, I had to make it through it.
Govinda - Interviewer:
That's incredible and really, really wonderful. So when you found some community here, it sounds like you knew Jacqueline already. How did you meet your drag mom?
Fay:
That first night that I had went into New Beginnings, I was in awe. I was amazed and everybody was laughing, dancing, having a good time, not a care in the 00:10:00world. I was like, are you serious, this is how they live? Wow. I was like, okay, I want to live in this forever. Then I heard that famous overture, "Ladies and gentlemen, please be seated. The show is about to begin." I said, what is going on? My friends pulled me off the dance floor and the show started.
Fay:
My first show was Cybal Channel, Jacqueline St. James, Maxi Houston and Carmen Michaels.
Govinda - Interviewer:
Carmen Michaels.
Fay:
I stood there with my jaw on the floor. Cybal Channel came out and she did "No More I Love Yous" by Annie Lennox. She had this butterfly costume on and she did this pedestal turn, and I about fainted. I had tears running down my cheeks. I didn't know why I was crying. I was like, I want to be her. My friends are like, 00:11:00you know those are drag queens and stuff like that. I was like, okay what does that mean? Those are guys that ...
Fay:
I was like, you are lying to me. I said I have to do this. Then, after Cybal had left the stage, Jacqueline St. James had hit the floor. I wanted to be Cybal, but I wanted to be Jackie with that attitude. She came down, on her forehead, her eyebrow cocked to her hairline. Honey, she just commands the attention of everybody in the room. I was like, oh my goodness, how do they have such confidence? How do they just come out and do this?
Fay:
Then Maxi Houston came out. She's a large queen, but the joy that read when she was on stage, it couldn't be beat. I never knew that happiness that she exuded, but I knew I wanted a piece of it. So after the show, Carmen Michaels came out and did Janice Joplin. Just until recently I found out that it wasn't Jack Daniels she killed on stage. It was sweet tea, but she had a whole bottle of 00:12:00Jack Daniels and she downed the whole bottle. I thought she was God. I said, yes ma'am.
Fay:
After the show, everybody introduced me to Jacqueline. I was pulled into the room in a circle and Jackie was just like, "Hey Fish," and just accepted me. Gave me a hug. She was like, you're mine. I was like, yes ma'am. From then on, I watched her, I studied her, I listened to her, I learned from her. When my mother, at the time ... me and my mother were having problems. Jacqueline stepped in and she molded me, she guided me, she scolded me, she praised me like a mother should. I couldn't imagine my life without Jacqueline.
00:13:00
Govinda - Interviewer:
That's incredible. That's such a beautiful, beautiful thing. I'm so happy to be sharing this conversation with you. That's so cool to hear about.
Fay:
It was a ride, honey.
Govinda - Interviewer:
Oh, I know. I've met Jacqueline and a couple of these people too at different shows now, and I think that's awesome. I've seen you perform as well with the amazing, amazing talents.
Fay:
Thank you.
Govinda - Interviewer:
Talking with all the legends. So you were finishing high school in the 90s in rural Appalachian here. What can you tell me about that? What was that experience like?
Fay:
I had a lovely time.
Govinda - Interviewer:
Really?
Fay:
I was okay with myself, so what everyone else had to say, it didn't matter to 00:14:00me. I was cheerleader. I twirled flag in the band.
Govinda - Interviewer:
Oh, awesome.
Fay:
I was a competitive gymnast for 11 years. I was a dancer for 15 years. So I'd wear my high heeled boots to school. I'd get my hair done. Magic Nails was my savior. I'd get my nails done. I was just being me. There was a show on MTV called My So Called Life, and Ricky on there, that was me in school. That was my story. I wrestled in school. I played sports. I went undefeated my 8th grade to senior year.
Govinda - Interviewer:
Wow.
Fay:
Well, you give me every school sign me up.
Govinda - Interviewer:
Boots and taking names.
00:15:00
Fay:
I just told myself it doesn't matter what people say. My grandmother running my ears and I was like, it's not what you're called, it's what you answer to. When people see that it didn't effect me and it didn't bother me, and I would just give it right back to them, everybody embraced me. It was crazy in school. I had to go before the school board because there was issues with me being in the men's locker room or the men's bathroom. I was like, let's cut this short because I've got to get back to class. Send me to the girl's bathroom or locker room and let's be done with this.
Govinda - Interviewer:
Wow.
Fay:
So they did.
Govinda - Interviewer:
Wow. That's great. I guess progressive of them for the time.
Fay:
Yeah. Then I still get messages from people I went to school with and stuff like that. Some of the guys that I went to school with was like ... I don't remember it, but one guy told me ... He's like, "You don't remember the fight we got into 00:16:00behind the middle school, back of the middle school at the track?" I was like, "No." He was picking on somebody. He said my neck got to swiveling and I started telling him to leave people alone. He said, before he knew it, I had jumped on him. Coach had to pull me off of him. He said, "Ever since them I have so much respect for you."
Fay:
I was like, well, I just don't like people being messed with. Leave people alone. Stop being a bully. That's it. School was ... I wish I could go back to the halls of my high school. It was the best years of my life really.
Govinda - Interviewer:
Well, I'm glad. I'm glad that you had the positive experience there. Did they have ... A lot of people in my generation started having gay/straight alliances or gender and sexuality groups. Did you have anything, like a support group in 00:17:00your youth or growing up?
Fay:
No. I had none of that. In school, we had the multicultural awareness club, but we touched base on different issues and stuff like that. Nothing specifically for the LGBT youth and stuff like that. Nothing like that.
Govinda - Interviewer:
I see. You were finding all that stuff out in the library, which is really cool. Does anything you read ... Is there anything you read back then sticking out to you? Did you read about anybody or any specific historic events that you read about that really stuck with you and inspired you?
Fay:
I would read about the history and stuff like that. I read about Stonewall and stuff like that. I would watch ... On TV, they would do footage on the gay pride 00:18:00and stuff like that. I used to sneak and watch the Rupaul Show and stuff like that.
Govinda - Interviewer:
Okay. That's all 80s and 90s, yeah.
Fay:
Then when they would do pride of New York and stuff like that, I would be watching it on TV. I just wanted to be a part of it. That's a little bit how my mom came to find out, because we had issues. Honey, we had issues. She came home and I was watching it. She was just like, look at this. She's like, what is the rainbow and stuff like that, just out of nowhere. I was just explaining the rainbow and what it represents, and how it represents anybody who is down to love whoever. She just side eyed me. I was like, oh god, did I say too much.
00:19:00
Fay:
I've always been stuff like that, but I just knew that I had to find a new me. I couldn't look to anybody else for that security or that comfort. It had to start first with me.
Govinda - Interviewer:
Were you accepted in your family, or what was it like coming out to them? Did you come out to them?
Fay:
I marched the drum corp. I marched DCI. It was like the gay boy heaven, honey. My friends, they gave me a rainbow necklace to wear when I was at camp and stuff. I was listening to my Dance Now CDs, or what was it? Those Jock Jam CDs and stuff ... I think it was LaBouche or somebody I was listening to and getting ready to go to camp. I had my necklace on just in the mirror with myself and forgot I had it on. So my ride was there and I ran downstairs to get my check 00:20:00from mom and stuff like that. I had it on and she was like, "Why do you got that rainbow necklace on. You want everybody to think that you're gay?" I was like, "Yeah, bye."
Fay:
She came chasing me. She was like, "James, we're going to have a talk when you get home." "Okay mom, bye."
Govinda - Interviewer:
Bye. Yes, I want everyone to think I'm gay.
Fay:
Yes. Then I was just like, "Please don't tell dad. Please don't tell dad." She's like, "I won't." She told dad. But it was like my mom, she felt like it was her fault. We went through it and stuff like that because she had her cousin ... her best friend was gay and ended up contracting AIDs and stuff like that. That's when it, back then, was the big scare and stuff like that. Mom didn't want me to 00:21:00become that or become sick or anything like that. She felt it was her fault and she didn't know how to handle it. So we kind of bumped heads a lot. Her not knowing that I was going through an identity crisis, and she thought that I was just looking for attention and stuff like that and it wasn't that. I was looking for love.
Fay:
It's scary growing up when you don't identify with he but you have to live that. So we kind of went through it and I ended up in juvi. I ended up sleeping at a park. She threw my stuff out of the house. It was hell, but I was okay with is. I knew that somehow, someway I knew that everything would be okay. That's how my guidance counselor came to love me and come to my shows is I would sleep in the 00:22:00park and get dressed in the bathroom. I was falling asleep in class and stuff like that, so she pulled me in the office. She was like, "This is not you. What's going on?" I told her, the chairs fell. She was like, "Do you need help?" I was like, "No, I don't need anything. I'm okay. Everything is going to be fine."
Fay:
She was like, "You're such an amazing spirit," and stuff like that. I was like, "I'm just me." I was like, "Me and my mom, we'll be all right. I just got to get through this." I will and I did. Now my mom is my best friend. She calls me her daughter. She brags on me and shows my pictures to everybody. My mom, she's my rock.
Govinda - Interviewer:
Aw, I'm really glad you got some reconnection there. That doesn't always happen.
Fay:
Yeah. I tell her that too. She went to my Aunt JuJu. I call her my aunt, my aunt 00:23:00Julia. She passed away. She went to my Aunt Julia and she was like, "What do I do?" My Aunt Julia is like, "What do you mean what do you do. That's your child. You love him. You embrace him. It's a scary time for him as well. You love no different. Just listen to him. Just be there for him and stuff like that." That's how we became ... instead of talking at each other, we would talk to each other and listen to each other.
Fay:
Them mom kind of ... When I won tri city, she was like, "I think I'm ready." I was like, "For what?" She was like, "To see you in your element." She came to New Beginnings. I wore my crown and dedicated a song to her. She just cried. She says, "I never knew that you were so beautiful." I'll never forget that. I was like, "Mom, I'm beautiful because you loved me. Because of your love, I'm this beautiful."
Govinda - Interviewer:
I'm going to cry. So great.
00:24:00
Fay:
But DJ Bob came out of the DJ booth and slow danced, and danced with my mom. They embraced and stuff like that. Even in school, all my friends to this day call mom Momma Brown and stuff. They could go to my mom and talk to her about personal issues. My momma had a candy dish with condoms in it. She always talked to us about practicing safe sex. If you're going to be sexually active, you have to practice safe sex. Don't do this, don't do ... My mom was that kind of mom. We were open book type family. We didn't sugar coat nothing. My mom would give it to us raw as hell. She still does.
Fay:
My mom, she's a firecracker. She's not the firecracker. She's I don't even know. She's feisty. My friends and stuff, she embraces my friends that come home with me now. She loves all the LGBT, all the kids. She loves, loves, loves them.
00:25:00
Govinda - Interviewer:
That's really awesome. She lives in Johnson City also?
Fay:
She lives in White Hill, Virginia.
Govinda - Interviewer:
Okay. I'm glad you get to visit with her and you have such a nice connection with her now. That's really amazing.
Fay:
Yeah, I was telling her about the interview and she's so proud. She was like, "Honey, you can use anything about your past and stuff like that." She was like, "That's part of you. That's what made you you." She's like, "I can't wait." I was like, "Well, thank you mom."
Govinda - Interviewer:
That's really awesome to have that support.
Fay:
Yeah.
Govinda - Interviewer:
So when you moved to Johnson City, you got in with Ms. Jacqueline St. James. What was it like in your early career? How did you start performing? What were you inspired by then?
Fay:
I knew I wanted to do shows and stuff. I watched the girls in Asheville. I 00:26:00watched the girls in Johnson City. I watched the girls everywhere really. I was like, how do I get on the show. So they said talent shows. Being in theater, being a dancer, being a gymnast and stuff like that, the stage is my life. I was like, this is something different. I remember I looked crazy, but my talent was so much more. So I did Deborah Cox "Nobody's Supposed to be Here." Back then, like I said, I was a gymnast and stuff. So I was like, I have to do something that is going to single me out. It has to be something that I lay down. I have to make a moment or do something that's going to put my stamp on it.
Fay:
So I got out there and I incorporated my dance background and my gymnastics 00:27:00background all into my show and wowed them. I won my first talent show ever. The first talent show I entered I won.
Govinda - Interviewer:
Okay.
Fay:
They were just like, wow. So the next time they said, "Could you be the special guest on Friday?" I'm like, "Already?" I'm like, "Sure." Todd O'Hara, that's my first child is Todd O'Hara. Well, Bubbles O'Hara. Oh Lord, he would kill if he heard I said Bubbles. But Bubble O'Hara is my first child. He could sew his behind off at 12, 13 years old. His sewing skills are unbelievable.
Govinda - Interviewer:
Wow.
Fay:
So he made all my costumes. I got him in the club when he was 15. He started sewing for Jacqueline and everybody. After that first talent show, he's just 00:28:00like, it went so fast and I was just caught up in everything, and I became this girl to beat, this powerhouse in the drag world. I was just like, what do you mean? I'm juts out there having fun. I didn't know anything about the competition part of it, the aspects of ... the pageant stuff. I thought it was just another talent show and shows, but Jacqueline was like, "You have everything at your fingertips and you just don't even know it." She's like, "You are so talented and everything." She was like, "We're going to do something with it."
Fay:
She prepared me for the pageant world, competition and stuff like that. Her guidance, she taught me right from wrong, but she let me make my own mistakes. She's like, you're going to have to learn life can't be taught. Experience is 00:29:00the best teacher. She would scold me when I would do bad, and I would look to her for answers sometimes when I was confused and stuff like that. She taught me how to carry myself. She taught me what not to do and who to get in with or who not to get involved with, what crowds to avoid and stuff like that. It was ... I'm about to get emotional. It was everything.
Fay:
I'm Faytriana because of her. I want to be her daughter. I used to go up to her and I'd grab her chest and I'd shake them. I was like, "I want them so bad." She was like, "Girl, I'm going to tell you like this. If you want them, go get them."
Govinda - Interviewer:
There you go.
Fay:
She was like, "Girl, you are a girl. You are a woman with or without." I was 00:30:00like, "Oh no, I have to have them." So Jackie is the reason why I'm living my truth. I am she, I am her.
Govinda - Interviewer:
That's awesome that you had that support there. Then also with her guidance, you're out here smashing titles and winning crowns. What was the pageant circle like. Tell me about some of your titles now.
Fay:
Oh Lord. Ms. New Beginnings, Ms. Tri Cities, Western North Carolina, US of A, Tennessee USA, Tennessee US of A at Large. Tennessee International Plus.
Govinda - Interviewer:
Okay.
Fay:
Just to name a few. When I stepped off into the drag world ... Scandals, doing the show, Artie and TJ ... that's a aurora borealis, honey. They seen something 00:31:00in me that I didn't, but everybody else did. I was like ... Coming to Asheville, I got polished because, to be on the show at Scandal, you have to have fresh tights, you have to have body, you had to have nails, you had to be together. When I stepped off into the pageant world and I when I won my first title, I was like, oh wow. Okay. So then it was a whirlwind from there. The show's I was booked, booked, booked, booked, booked.
Fay:
Then I didn't know anything about the USA system. I did Western North Carolina USA and I went with Roxie, I went with China and Celeste, Hollywood, Angelica. I went with all those girls to North Carolina USA. I didn't know anything about 00:32:00the interview part of it. I went in there looking like Tiger Hoods. I had kakis and a polo on. Everybody else is dressed for the interview. I was just like, uh oh, what have I gotten into. Then the whole week we were there for the pageant, I was just like, this is another world, this is another level of competition.
Fay:
So I got out there and did my talent and stuff like that. They were like, she danced to that whole mix of Dive in the Pool. That flipping and tricks, and all this and all that. So I was like ... I made my name. I made my mark. I didn't make final night, but I made my mark. Then I studied up on the systems. I don't think there's anybody that knows the systems like me.
Govinda - Interviewer:
Wow.
Fay:
I studied the system, study, study, study, study, study. This is like many 00:33:00athletes, like any boxer, any football team, any basketball team. You watch your opponents. You do your homework. I would watch and study up on every heavy hitter in the industries. In all the USA or America, all the pageants, I would do my homework. I was like, okay, she's a heavy hitter in this, so I have to bring it like this and that category. But she serves in this, so I have to not hold back and hit the gas pedal on her. When I did Tennessee USA at large, my promoter at the time was a snake and I didn't know it.
Fay:
So he shaded me and, at Tennessee USA, I should have known then, but I didn't. 00:34:00He didn't bring my gown. I never wore my Coco Vega. I don't even know where it's at now. I paid all this money. My Coco Vega didn't show. My dancers came from Asheville, but they came with another queen. They didn't bring my props. They didn't bring anything. They were dancing for her, not me.
Govinda - Interviewer:
Wow.
Fay:
I was like, She was current reigning Ms. USA. I went to her crying. I was like, "Please tell me you have a gown." I went through her gowns and tried them on and stuff like that. This black and fusia gown just fit me like a glove, and I said this is the one. I had a costume that wasn't quite finished yet, but it was strong. So I just had my bathrobe on and I asked one of Andrea's kids, my 00:35:00nephew. I was like, "Do you know the part in Waiting to Exhale when John leaves Bernie?" He was like, "Like the back of my hand." I gave him the CD and I was like, "Please learn this and please dress like ..." He was like, "Auntie, I got you."
Fay:
So I went out there and I sat at the table and went through the talent. When it got to the part, "Fire" by Dulche. Fire, fire, here's a lesson you will learn. When it got to that, something ignited in me and everything that I feeling, I felt like I was being betrayed and I was so hurt. I let it out on the dance floor. I don't remember the second part of my talent. I just remember standing in front of a judges panel, and there was a judge that was looking down and wasn't writing anything. She was just tapping her pen and was looking down. I 00:36:00bucked ... Bucking is dancing hard, honey.
Govinda - Interviewer:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Fay:
I bucked and I bucked and I bucked. I'm my head, I was telling her I'm not moving until you look up. I'm not going anywhere until you look up. She looked up at me and she nodded her head, and I took of spinning. I remember doing my back handspring down into a split and the kids beating the walls down. Then the end of my talent. I was standing there and I felt like I was vibrating. The tears were running down my cheeks. I remember crying, and I just heard Layla and them on the microphone saying, "By herself, she danced this house in to a tisey," I heard Layla say and I walked off stage and I remember just having to come out of the zone that I was in.
Fay:
I couldn't' hear anybody that was talking to me. I could taste iron in my mouth. 00:37:00I had a heartbeat in my ears. It gives me cold chills now thinking about it and I won.
Govinda - Interviewer:
Wow.
Fay:
I won, and it just took me to a place. I was just like, you are kidding me. I remember there was a drag forum. It's CarryFairfield.com. Anything you want to know about the pageants or any girls in the pageant competition, that was the forum to read. Somebody had said in the USA section, who's the girls to watch out for this year. They were like ... they said somebody. Then they were like, there's China from Asheville, North Carolina. She's always a strong contender. Then there's this new girl, Faytriana Evans from Johnson City, Tennessee Cybal Channel and Jacqueline St. James stomping ground. She can't be stopped.
Govinda - Interviewer:
Ooh.
Fay:
When I read that and I read the comments on Faytriana, I was like, "Bitch, you 00:38:00were at the top of the ... [truncated due to length]
