Priyanka

s our cover star Shea Couleé once put it, this era of RuPaul’s Drag Race will forever be known as the “Melanin Dynasty”. Following the win of Jaida Essence Hall on season 12 and Shea’s long-awaited induction into the Hall of Fame, the first season of the franchise’s Canadian spin-off made history back in September with contestant - WHAT’S HER NAME?! - Priyanka. After ten weeks of stomping the runway, re-introducing Celine Dion’s dance-pop cover of I Drove All Night to audiences and failing to invoke the spirit of late TV psychic Miss Cleo, the performer - birth name Mark Suknanan - sashayed away with $100,000 in her bank account and two honorific titles to her name: Canada’s First Drag Superstar and Drag Race’s first ever Indo-Caribbean champion. Three queens of colour conquering the world’s biggest stage for charisma, uniqueness, nerve and talent - the ‘Olympics of Drag’, as they say - encourages “anybody out there, no matter what your skin colour is, that it’s okay to take the risk; to be a little bit broke to make your dreams come true,” Priyanka defiantly states over Zoom. “It’s okay to struggle, because if