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00:00Hey, my hot, crusty cornbread.
00:02Welcome to another episode of What You're Packin'.
00:10I am here with Miami's own Juicy Love Dion.
00:14Hi, C-C-C-C-C.
00:15Hi.
00:16Hi, Michelle. How are you doing?
00:18I'm wonderful. How are you?
00:19I'm amazing.
00:20Let's discuss your journey. I've got a lot to unpack with you.
00:23Absolutely.
00:24First of all, congrats on making it to the final four.
00:28Mm-hmm. It was honestly like a dream come true to even like get that far and like make it
00:33all the way there.
00:33You know, I've watched Morphine's journey and to see her get so close.
00:36And then to also be there was like, you know, I can't be anything but proud of what I did.
00:42I was trying to understand the relationship and Athena told me.
00:45So Athena doesn't want to say it out loud, but she's grandma.
00:48She is grandma.
00:49She tells me I can't use a G word in public.
00:51Yeah.
00:51My girl, come on, be proud of it.
00:53Yeah, grand is grand. You're the grandmother.
00:56Yeah.
00:57Morphine is technically your drag mother.
00:59Mm-hmm.
01:00And you two work at the same bar in Miami.
01:03Is that how you met?
01:04We met actually in high school.
01:06No.
01:06I was a freshman and she was a senior and we were also in the same dance studio.
01:09Even in those times, she was already Morphine Love.
01:11And then I went to one of her shows.
01:12At that show is when I met Athena.
01:15And Athena was like, do you want a job?
01:16Like, oh my God, you're amazing.
01:18We'll throw a wig on you and send you out there.
01:19And the rest was history.
01:21So you hadn't been doing drag when you met Athena?
01:23No, not yet.
01:23She plucked you and she was like, girl, no way.
01:26And then Morphine scooped in and was like, you're going to be my daughter, no one else's.
01:29There was like a whole little drama when I told Athena what actually happened.
01:33She was so pissed.
01:34She was like, I could have had you all mine.
01:36Oh my goodness.
01:38Yeah.
01:38So what was it like when you walked into the workroom and you saw your grandmother there?
01:41Seeing her there, it was very comforting to like, okay, I already know someone here.
01:45And like, I won't have that like awkward, like, oh, like how do I find my footing?
01:49And Mia Starr, who's my auntie.
01:52So I had both of them there.
01:54I felt pretty spoiled to have my friends with me.
01:57I didn't know of you.
01:58So when you came out, it was the first time I saw you and I immediately fell in love with
02:02you.
02:03Could you feel how much I loved you?
02:05Oh yeah.
02:05Your smile was like the nicest thing out there.
02:09I was like, Michelle's smiling.
02:10I'm good.
02:11I'm okay.
02:11Love, loved you from the moment I saw you.
02:13I think you are so beautiful in drag.
02:17How long have you been doing drag?
02:19Six good years now.
02:21So I started like a senior in high school, 2019, and then, you know, COVID happened and I really like
02:26sat down, worked on my makeup.
02:28And like, I've been working full time since I graduated.
02:31So that was my next question.
02:33Who taught you how to do makeup?
02:34So did you learn it from YouTube?
02:35Morphine.
02:36I mean, Morphine's YouTube videos also, but the minute I graduated high school, I had a weekly gig.
02:41I was already working at our house with Athena.
02:43I just sat next to Morphine every day, watched how she did her makeup, and then I did it on
02:48myself.
02:48You're really good at it.
02:50Do your parents know what you do and support what you do?
02:54Yes.
02:54So my mom is like my biggest cheerleader.
02:56I feel like she's always wanted a daughter.
02:57I got the best of both worlds.
02:59Do you have siblings?
02:59I do.
03:00I have an older brother.
03:01And then on my dad's side, I have a younger brother and a stepsister who I love so dearly.
03:05My dad, I stopped talking to him right before I did drag, and he was like a little homophobic.
03:09So I was like, once I started drag, I was like, we're never talking again.
03:12Like, this is it.
03:13But then I think he saw what I did and how the level I was doing it at, and he
03:16got respect for it.
03:17He missed his son, I feel, and he had to hear it from the whole family and be like, you
03:23need to talk to him.
03:24You need to reach out.
03:25You need to mend that relationship.
03:27So we finally did.
03:28And he really, you know, he comes from that machismo, that type of, like, Cuban background.
03:34So for him to, like, see me in drag and, like, still accept me and to respect it more than
03:40anything, I was just...
03:40Were you born in the States?
03:41I was born in the States.
03:42I was born in Miami.
03:43Have you ever been able to go to Cuba?
03:44Yeah.
03:44One time when I was, like, five years old, but, you know.
03:47You don't remember it.
03:47Don't remember it.
03:48But I do want to go back one day and, like, hopefully perform at the Tropicana.
03:51Oh, my God.
03:52Amazing.
03:53That would be a dream.
03:53It really would be wonderful.
03:55They're dancing in the streets and the food and the people.
03:58I mean, Miami still has such a big presence of, like, Cuba that I feel like I'm in Cuba without
04:03even visiting it.
04:04You know what I mean?
04:05Whenever people ask me, like, where do you live anywhere else in America?
04:07I'm like, no.
04:08Really?
04:09I'm in Miami.
04:09I'm in another Latin American city.
04:11I'm with my people, you know.
04:12I'm walking around speaking Spanish to everybody.
04:14And you're going to stay in Hialeah.
04:15And I'll stay in Hialeah.
04:16I'm very comfortable.
04:17I love that!
04:18Yeah, I'm very proud Hialeah-ian over here.
04:21It's a city of progress.
04:22And, you know, we're progressing.
04:24You're still dancing.
04:25Now, do you still take classes?
04:27Do you still train?
04:28I was taking a lot of, like, really intense training sessions.
04:31But then I got my knee injury.
04:33And ever since then, I, like, took a little break.
04:35Did you have surgery?
04:36Yeah, I had surgery.
04:37Yeah.
04:38Meniscus.
04:40Same.
04:41I've never seen, on the record, a higher high kick than you do.
04:45It's your skill set.
04:47Thank you so much.
04:48It is beautiful.
04:49You know how to use your body.
04:51Your lip syncing is a weapon.
04:55You are an assassin.
04:57And you know it.
04:58Yeah.
04:58Because you know every word.
05:00You know every beat.
05:01You know when to move your head.
05:03You know when to move your body.
05:05You know when you need to do a back walk over into a fall split.
05:09You know it all.
05:11I love watching you lip sync.
05:14Do you love lip syncing?
05:15I love lip syncing.
05:16Because dancing has always been something I love.
05:18But once I, like, found the lip syncing aspect of it, that it's the whole performance incorporating
05:22the whole body and the face and the emotion and the, like, trying to make people laugh,
05:28trying to make people smile.
05:29It's my favorite thing in the world, honestly.
05:30I'm going to come to Miami and we're going to go salsa dancing.
05:32Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.
05:33I would love that.
05:34How fun.
05:35Okay, we're going to do a night of that.
05:36So, you get into the competition.
05:38Was it everything you hoped it would be juicy?
05:41It was.
05:42I mean, I felt like I was going to struggle.
05:45I knew a little bit that I was going to struggle, but I didn't realize how much I would have
05:49to,
05:50like, look inside and face things within myself that, like, I had to really, like, overcome.
05:55It changed me completely as a person.
05:57In what way?
05:58It was one time on the runway where we was like, I'm not getting a sense of who you are.
06:02I don't think you know who you are.
06:03Who are you?
06:04I literally was like, she saw it.
06:07She saw it.
06:07She saw right through me.
06:08And I was like, oh, my God, she's a witch.
06:10Oh, yeah.
06:11Oh, yeah.
06:12Literally.
06:13So, when that happened, I remember, like, having to go back and be like, yeah, I mean,
06:17I was trying to present this version of myself that was perfect and didn't have any of these
06:22flaws or, like, all this turmoil that I had been sitting on and put on the back burner.
06:26And so, when she asked me that question, I had to face it and then overcome it in real time
06:30and super quickly.
06:31And I tried my best.
06:32It's still a process that I'm going through.
06:34And you're 24.
06:35I know.
06:36Yeah, it's a process.
06:38Your life is just beginning.
06:41So, as you grow, you're only going to fall more into who you are as not only a drag queen
06:46and a performer, but as a human.
06:49And it's going to be the most rewarding, wonderful thing you're going to experience if you listen
06:54to the universe's stage directions.
06:56You're a star.
06:57There's no doubt about it.
06:58I think you are so talented.
07:02Don't become jaded.
07:04Don't become bitter.
07:06Know where you came from.
07:07Hialeah.
07:08And know where you're going, which is the universe.
07:11Absolutely.
07:11Let's talk about these gorgeous looks.
07:14That pink one.
07:15First of all, I know that Italian designer, Roshart.
07:19Roshart.
07:20His name is Francesco Battaglia.
07:22Okay.
07:22Drag name Kelly Rocha because he used to do drag.
07:25And his design name is Roshart Design.
07:27Well, his designs are amazing.
07:29Those panels, watching him cut them all out and sew them took a whole day on its own.
07:35Seeing them move, especially the ones around the head, it was really beautiful.
07:41It was like some gorgeous fashion ballet.
07:43It was really, really beautiful.
07:44I felt like Glinda, the alien version of Glinda with Goodwitch.
07:47Yeah, it was absolutely gorgeous.
07:49The middle one for your chosen animal.
07:51With a pangolin.
07:52I always thought it was a really cool, interesting animal.
07:54Also, like the only scaly mammal on earth.
07:56And I wanted to do something that was very unique.
07:58You haven't met me, Henny.
07:59I know, right?
08:00Me with no lotion, girl.
08:03But I wanted to do something that was very unique and can stand on its own as something special.
08:08And I just threw the idea out at him.
08:10And he came back with this giant cage.
08:12I was like, if you could do that, I'm so down.
08:14Did you go over there?
08:15Yeah, absolutely.
08:16How many times?
08:17Twice.
08:17So you had to work to pay for the plane ticket.
08:23I love it.
08:24His family treats us so nice, cooking us dinner every day.
08:27And very Italian.
08:28They all speak Italian, no English.
08:30So I'm just there, like, picking up little words and learning.
08:33Wow.
08:34And then, of course, the vagina dress behind me.
08:36Yes, exactly.
08:37Did he do all three of them?
08:39He did all three of them.
08:40He did my entire package except for the Eleganza look.
08:42What made you go with one designer?
08:44You know, in Miami, there's not a lot of opportunities, I feel, for designers I can trust to put together
08:49good work.
08:49But I told him, I was like, you're going to do my whole package one day.
08:52And he said, absolutely, just let me know.
08:54And he said that he could take up the challenge.
08:56So I wanted a good, consistent level of work through it all.
09:00And he promised me that.
09:02He gave me just that.
09:02Did you find him on Instagram?
09:04Yeah, I found him on Instagram.
09:05And then we met in Mykonos, like, two years ago.
09:07Wow.
09:07And he made me a look for that.
09:09And when he made me that look, it was a giant tulle, like, betta fish-looking outfit.
09:14See, another fish.
09:15It's your thing.
09:15I love the fish.
09:16Tilapia, too.
09:18Lola.
09:19Lola, of course.
09:20I love it.
09:21You get all the way to the end.
09:23You're down to the final four.
09:24Yes.
09:24And Nene Coco just gets you by that much.
09:27I know.
09:28But I'm a huge fan of Nene's.
09:29I knew she was going to be trouble going into this.
09:31I've been a fan of hers on Instagram for a while.
09:34And I was like, she is one to look out for.
09:36Well, she can do the tricks, too.
09:38Exactly.
09:39Different to you.
09:40Yeah.
09:40No, but I gagged.
09:41I was like, oh, she.
09:42And it was clean, too.
09:43So I was like, she comes from training.
09:45Yes.
09:46Not Maya, I'm on the page flipping with her cousins outside.
09:48Oh, we love her.
09:50I love Maya.
09:50Our queen of flips.
09:52Oh, I love it.
09:53Well, Juicy, this has been such an incredible experience.
09:57I can't tell you how much I love you.
09:59The work you have done and continue to do, you should be extremely proud of.
10:03Thank you so much.
10:04I really, I really do appreciate that.
10:05And I hope to follow in your footsteps one day, too, and do a dancing competition.
10:09Oh, you'll win.
10:10Like, should they come dancing?
10:10I want to do Dancing with the Stars or something.
10:12You will win.
10:12Oh, my God.
10:13I need it to happen.
10:15Absolutely.
10:15We will manifest it.
10:16Absolutely.
10:17Absolutely.
10:17You're so talented.
10:18I can't wait to see all that you do.
10:20Thank you, my love.
10:21Thank you, Juicy.
10:21And thank you all for joining me for another episode of Whatcha Packin'?
10:24We'll see you next time.
10:26Bye.
10:26I see the sun shining bright.
10:29Ain't a cloud in the sky.
10:31Yeah, it's a good day.
10:31It was kind of stuck.
10:33Yeah, me too.
10:34It's kind of stuck.
10:35Yeah.
10:35And I was doing the dancing show in London.
10:37And I could not straighten it and I could not bend it.
10:40So I did that whole thing on a torn meniscus.
10:42No way.
10:4212 weeks.
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