Alyssa Edwards

I'm kind of living a Bruce Wayne life and then morphing into Batman, but I'm glad now Batman comes out during the day. That's kind of like how drag was: we were called upon at night to make people smile and laugh and clap.

I had to find the courage to share not only myself but my art with the world. I faced fear, and I went for it. I wasn't a failure, and I'm very proud of myself.

I think that people are looking beyond the wig. I think they are saying, This isn't just a costume; there's a person behind this. If this costume, this character, this person has this kind courage? Why don't we share that?

I am a business owner. I'm a teacher. I think Justin's actually kind of plain, kind of nerdy. But when I morph into Alyssa, I'm like this... Well, this creature, everything that Justin couldn't be.

During the day, I'm a business owner. I'm a teacher and a mentor.

I started doing drag because I needed a creative outlet for myself.

Nobody gets a free pass in life, and that's awesomely true for a drag queen or anyone else in the LGBT community. But I like to say, 'Don't be bitter, get better.'

I've always been the rock of my family.

My brothers and sisters started having children at a very early age, and I was just there all alone at one point, like, 'What do I do?' And I thought the only thing I can do is create mine, make my family, and I did that.

I remember going to the first ever DragCon, and I know this sounds crazy, but I've never experienced a ComicCon or anything like that of this nature. So it was a full carnival of extravaganza. I was a little bit more prepared the second year because I was excited to see everything.

I remember when I started performing, I thought, 'Why is this something that we do after hours, underground?' I was waiting on the world to change and the idea of this art to become mainstream, and I think that's what 'RuPaul's Drag Race' has really accomplished in such an eloquent way.

I was waiting for the world to change. I'm no longer waiting; I'm part of that movement. I think our role as performers and entertainers is so much bigger.