Posted Date: March 25, 2021

Episode Description: Pablo Valenzuela, Chilean teacher and drag queen, shares his experience and that of his community living during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Guest Biography

Pablo Valenzuela is a 31-year-old English teacher and drag performer based in Santiago, Chile. His passion for education and eagerness for change have driven him to split his time between working with teenagers at school and navigating the adult nightlife in hopes of effecting social change in his country. Pablo considers himself an educator first and foremost, and both his teaching and drag career fall into that same category. Working in schools has allowed him to have an impact on the lives of the future generations. Through his teaching practices, he has helped shape and broaden teenagers’ minds and be critical of and reflective about their circumstances in order to evaluate how they can become agents of change to create a more just and equitable society.

As his drag persona, Pablo has faced a different challenge: being able to change older people’s, both gay and straight, mindsets. In a conservative country as Chile, the queer community and the drag scene have always been looked at with disdain and prejudice, even by its own members. Performing at nightclubs and being the hostess at massive parties gave him an opportunity to speak on these issues and have face-to-face conversations with party-goers who saw their beliefs challenged by his presence. Every smoking break was an opportunity to change minds one person at a time, one club a night.

Connect with Pablo on social media:

@ptvalenz on Twitter and Instagram

Drag accounts:

@likkavonk on Twitter

@likka.vonkandell on Instagram

@houseoflocas on Instagram