To say that Yara Sofia is a fan favorite in the stratosphere of RuPaul’s Drag Race dolls would be an understatement. From Season 3 to two separate All Stars runs, Sofia electrified the competition each and every time she appeared. While she has left the All Stars 6 competition, this Las Vegas-based performer has plenty planned for Sin City and beyond. We caught up to chat about both of her All Stars run, that final lip sync, and what she has planned next.
Michael Cook: This is your third time appearing on an installation of RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars and you were as madcap and as sickeningly talented as ever. Is is ever surreal that whenever you return, the fans still love to see you back?
Yara Sofia: Yes, third time is the charm (laughs)! You know, it is weird because I hate to see myself on television, but I like doing it. I am like an actress, it is weird to watch myself and hear myself, but I do love it.
MC: What was it like returning this time for All Stars 6? Things are definitely different from your last return for All Stars 1.
YS: It is very different, especially with so much social media. Social media now is “it”! Before when I was on Drag Race, we didn’t have Instagram or Snapchat, we only had Twitter. Instagram was actually only just starting. It is more scary now, but definitely more rewarding. It depends; you are more exposed now. It can be scary with all of the trolls, but at the same time, you have a lot of fans everywhere, and everyone is right there giving their opinions. It can be sweet and sour, but I love it. So far it has been great.
MC: This time around, you showed such a growth and you really have elevated both your drag and who you are as a performer. Looking back at your first appearance on Season 1; is it almost like looking at a different person?
YS: Yeah. Like I said, everything has evolved. Even makeup lines, we didn’t have a lot of makeup. The first time I was there, they asked us to avoid white shadow or really white colors, the cameras were different then. Now the cameras are so much better, so those cameras can almost see through you (laughs)! It’s better cameras, makeup is so much more accessible, there are so many shades. You elevate yourself and see what is good for you and your skin. We have more technology now also; I love it, it is so much better and I really like it.
MC: Your first season of All Stars is notorious for the twist of being teamed up with your fellow competitors. For All Stars 6, you were asked to vote off your fellow competitors, which is another definite twist. What did that feel like?
YS: Oh yeah, voting people off is the worst. It is the worst, because you just have to listen to yourself and do your own thing. This season, you have the weight of voting people out. Sometimes I just felt like I would do “eenie meanie minie mo”, I dont want to feel the pressure, it is a lot.
During All Stars 1, I liked teams and I like Alexis Mateo, but I hated that we did not know before the show, and then everything had to be cohesive. Now, if we had known would be in teams with this person before we got there, wait for it. We are going to bring the house down boots. We just brought a lot of stuff for just myself, we did not know about teams; when we got there it was like everything I had was just for me. Now we have to be cohesive, so that was a problem. When I came back this time, voting people off is the worst. When you win the lip sync, it is a lot of pressure to choose who you are going to vote off.
MC: The Lip Sync Assassin during your elimination episode was your best friend Jessica Wild. What was it like to essentially be sent home by your best friend outside of the competition?
YS: I dont know, it was so crazy. It is not just my Drag Race sister, she is my best friend. If I die today, you could do an entire book with her about me; that bitch is my best friend. To have her send me home, it was really something; I was pissed. I guess the cards just aligned that way though; it was a lot.
MC: What do you think you want to do now that you can start performing for crowds and traveling?
YS: I am going to be doing a one woman show. I am in Las Vegas now, so I have a lot of work here, I am going to work on some productions here in Vegas. So you have to stay tuned…
MC: What lesson do you think you have taken from the last year and a half that you will implement as we move forward?
YS: I am not a hugger, and I am a hugger now, so that helped in a positive way. Also, I see people more going to the shows. I would watch someone online or on YouTube, and now I see people actually going to the shows, they dont want to miss stuff. They want to experience it live and with people around them. The quarantine made that better; people now want to go to places and be surrounded by people because we were locked up for a year. I look at it that way that it helped in a positive way.
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