Salina EsTitties is Loud, Proud, and Latina

This SoCal diva has made her way into Drag Race fans’ hearts, oftentimes stealing the spotlight during this last season. Whereas some queens were focused on getting camera time, spewing out one-liners for the editors, or becoming viral memes, Salina was there to compete. Her sincerity leapt off the screen as we celebrated her highs, her lows, and her sorrows. A sober, gay, Latino, Weho fixture, she unabashedly challenges the norms in all those categories. From being homeless to winning the Golden Boot (all in good fun) on Drag Race, she promotes self-confidence, hard work, body positivity, and activism through example. This month she will take part in the Drag Isn’t Dangerous telethon, a monumental event in drag history, especially in the face of political oppression.

How did you recover from filming the season? What did you do when you first got home?

Not even kidding, I was just so in my feelings. I was so sad, I thought I did horrible. I thought my drag was horrible. But I called my friends, and they lifted me up. And then the first thing I did after the tears was a trip to Palm Springs. I was like, we need to get away. Let’s go lay by the pool. Let’s just not think about drag for a minute. And that’s what I did. I got a nice little tan. [Laughs]

There was sincerity to Salina’s exit. She wasn’t playing for the camera, she wasn’t trying to leave the funniest one-liner, she was genuine…a rarity in reality TV. This down-to-earth, real quality has made her a standout among the fan favorites.

Watching it back, I was like, wait, I’m completely myself. I’m being vulnerable. I’m being who I am, and that is something to celebrate. People can relate to that. So, there was nothing to be ashamed of or cry about watching it back. I had to really reroute my thinking and my feelings of what happened and be like, wait, everything’s fine. It happened the way it’s supposed to. There’s a bigger picture involved, and it came out great, you know?

What did she learn most about herself from doing the show?

What I learned most about myself is that I am enough. I’m fine. Things are okay. I don’t know why, but I have this thing where I feel like there’s always someone trying to get me. I feel like I always must watch my back. I don’t know if I’ve seen too many horror movies or what, but I have to just tell myself and what I’m learning is, no one’s coming after me, and I’m fine. Just keep doing you. And that’s enough.

What did she learn most about drag from doing the show?

I learned that my drag is fine. Being on the show, I was thinking like, oh no, it’s not good. They don’t get it. But the fans’ reactions and my Latino community have been reaching out saying, we see you, girl. We get it. And I’m like, okay, work. Y’all do get it. So, it feels incredibly beautiful to know that what I’m doing matters and is necessary right now.

When I went in, I didn’t want to be a cookie cutter. I could have given you beautiful gowns, but I was like, let’s push the envelope. It’s my one chance on Drag Race. There’ll never be another one after this. So, let’s go balls to the wall, throw a streetlamp on your head and call it a dick!

Salina owes her first drag bug bite to a landmark and important show right here in Los Angeles. The rest is EsTitties herstory.

I had watched Drag Race here and there, like in college when the first couple of seasons came out, but I didn’t really dive into drag or get a taste of it until I went to this show called Best in Drag here in Los Angeles – a big fundraiser for HIV/AIDS. Huge. I was newly sober at the time, and was invited to sit front row at a big charity event where everyone throws money on the stage and if the money can’t reach the stage, it falls on the front row. So here I am, 21 years old, newly sober, broke little gay boy looking at all this money on the ground, like what is going on? So, from the get-go, drag to me has always been campy, glamorous, hilarious, and for a worthy cause – that was my first exposure.

I graduated from this dance professional dance program in Hollywood after getting my BFA in musical theater and was out here trying to make it as a boy but, you know, I got little chichis as a boy, so I wasn’t getting booked for the male roles because they want body and abs and I didn’t have that. So, I put on a wig because a friend of mine was doing drag and she said, go do this competition, girl. I worked the competition, and used all my little skills. I weaponized my BFA, as they say, and the children were throwing money at me like they were throwing at Best in Drag. So, I was like, oh baby, I’m gonna make more money here than I am at my paycheck making smoothies. Let’s keep going.

Salina has celebrated 11 years of sobriety. Being sober in the LGBTQ community is not easy to balance, as she knows all too well.

In gay culture, especially gay boys, it can be all about doing drugs at the circuit party and that. As a gay person, you long for community and friendship and men and those boys. To “get in with those boys,” you have to play along with what they’re doing. And that’s how I felt when I was 18, 19, trying to find my way in Hollywood, running around West Hollywood, feeling like, where do I fit in? I don’t know where to go. Well, look at these guys over here who are hot, I want to be hot, let me do all this sniff, sniff, snort, snort, smoke, smoke. The party was over, but I kept going on my own, and I think that’s a common situation that happens to a lot of lost souls and people in general, we just don’t know where to go. It’s easier to check out and just do this and do that, and you find yourself alone one day. I was homeless with all my belongings in a Bed, Bath, and Beyond shopping cart at one point. That’s how low and bad it got for me. Thankfully, I met someone who had gone to an AA meeting, and they said, “Would you like to come with me? You sound like a broken record every time you talk to me. It’s the same sad story.” And I was like, well, let me try this. Then I got sober. My best friends are I are all sober… it’s kind of our mission to advocate that you don’t have to do this or that to have a good time. Look how much fun we have sober.

The recent attack on the values and qualities of our minority communities is not new to Salina who not only had to deal with the themes of masculine and feminine as a member of the machismo Latino community (he’s first generation on his mom’s side, second on his dad’s), but also had to deal with diversity issues within the gay community.

My dad put me in football, and I did karate for 13 years when I was younger. I was never put into dance class because Latinos are very macho – you’re going to be a cop, you’re going to do this, you’re going to do that. I had these cousins who were very masculine, and it was always kind of a competition with them too. I felt the pressure from my dad to step up to the plate as the masculine macho boy. Thankfully, my dad is so loving and caring that when I came out, he was so supportive and that’s when I found theater. And that’s when I started getting into being myself. Like, woo. It’s interesting because you go through life not realizing this internalized racism that we have as Latinos where my mom’s always like, look good. Why are your pants ripped? Why are you wearing that? My mom’s always like, make sure you look good for the white man out there, so we don’t look like poor Latinos – which is just something you grow up with. You don’t realize that that’s what’s happening.

When I moved to “white” West Hollywood, I realized quickly, oh, I’m not like the other boys here. I used to have so much internalized racism that I wouldn’t like to tan because I get brown very quickly. And I knew that doesn’t sell. People look at me a little differently. That is all part of my journey with my internalized racism. I did this shoot for Vida on Starz and the whole production staff is women, Latina women, and Latino cast. I got booked for this as Salina, who allows me to embrace my Latin culture. Everyone there on set was just so proud to be Latino, everyone was talking Spanglish and Spanish and English, and they were talking about things that I grew up with that I don’t hear about in Weho. My culture’s actually something to celebrate, nothing to be ashamed of.

I have a perception of what I’m supposed to be and how I’m supposed to act. But the truth is, I’m fine just as I am, and I get to embrace who I am in all parts of who I am. Gay, feminine, masculine, Latino, brown. I’m good as I am. Let me learn to embrace this and shed away the shame that I’ve grown up with. Salina allows me to do that 1000%. So, when I went to Drag Race, I wanted to showcase Latina culture the best I could based upon my experiences. And I feel like I did that. And to hear other people say that they see themselves in me means the world because maybe if I would’ve seen a queen like me when I was younger, I’d have a little less shame, you know?

On Sunday, May 7th, Salina will take part in Drag Isn’t Dangerous, a one-night-only telethon where all net proceeds go to relevant causes helping drag performers and trans people. Salina will join an all-star cast that includes other drag and LGBTQ luminaries that include Alaska, BeBe Zahara Benet, Bob The Drag Queen, Brandon Stansell, Darienne Lake, Desmond Is Amazing, Divina De Campo, Eureka O’Hara, Frankie Grande, Ginger Minj, Jackie Beat, Jiggly Caliente, Jinkx Monsoon, Jujubee, Justin Martindale, Katya, Kerri Colby, Laganja Estranja, Manila Luzon, Miz Cracker, Monét X Change, Nina West, Peppermint, Sherry Vine, Trinity The Tuck and Trixie Mattel, with more names being added daily. Though being part of the drag community made her an activist by proxy, it’s our recent political administrations that have inspired her to take arms.

I’m someone who was never deep into politics. When I was growing up, I didn’t know anything about the President, politics, or anything. My parents were just trying to hustle and make money so they could pay rent, they were not teaching me these things. And I wasn’t necessarily learning anything in school that’s teaching about this. I was just trying to listen to my Beyonce, you know what I mean? So, I was never a political girl. It wasn’t until the Obama times when I was like, oh, this is important, and I should be paying attention. Then when Trump happened, it was like, oh girl, it’s time to wake up and start acting up and start getting into what this means, and realizing how important my vote is.

When Biden was elected, I thought, “yay, Trump’s out of office, I can go back to living my life.” I don’t have to worry about politics anymore is how I felt. Then with the drag ban happening, at first, I was like you know what? It’s just another chingadera that’s happening in the world, I don’t really have to worry. Aura Mayari lives in Tennessee, and I started seeing her post and I was like, oh wait, no, this is serious. Wait, wait, wait, no, no, this is serious. Personally, it affected me because I’m a drag queen and this is my career. I could go to jail for doing what I’m doing. Hello? No, ma’am. Let’s get to work! So, I really woke up when I started realizing how dangerous this all is.

According to Salina, it’s not just the LGBTQ community that needs to come together and fight political oppression, it’s the straight community that comes to our drag shows, that celebrates their bachelorette parties in our clubs, who ask the gays to go to brunch with them.

Since the beginning of time, the LGBTQ+ community has been trying to be trying to get our allies on board. And they say they are, but then when it comes down to the nitty-gritty, where are they? Are they marching with us, are they doing this with us? Because, at the end of the day, if they’re coming for our rights, they’re gonna come for women’s rights. It’ll go back to the olden days when only rich white men had a say in rights. So, they come for us? That’s how everything begins for them to start coming for everyone else. So, straights, we’re all in this together at the end of the day.

In addition to her activism, what does Salina want her legacy to be?

Selena Quintanilla was asked this question in a popular MTV interview and her answer was: “That I was sweet and that I was kind,” and I want to say that’s my answer. But I’ve done things that aren’t sweet and aren’t kind, very recently, so, my legacy that I want to leave is that – baby, at the end of the day, I’m human and I did my best!

And her message to her fans?

Oh my God, I can’t wait to see them all. I can’t wait for them to own their body, love themselves, and love others because, at the end of the day, that’s what I’m trying to do. And if you have a slip-up, baby, it’s okay. You jump back on the pony and you keep on riding!

For information on the Drag Isn’t Dangerous telethon, head to: dragisntdangerous.com

Follow Salina EsTitties on IG: @EsTitties

Check out our chat with Salina on our companion podcast, US of Gay, as we chat about her body positivity journey, creating our own brand outside of Drag Race, and taking accountability for your actions.