At the young age of nine, Beyonce, a Bengaluru-based drag queen, knew she was different.

“I didn’t know what I was feeling. I liked dressing up and felt comfortable around girls. I liked the femininity within me. That’s all I knew at that time,” she says.

As she grew up, it was clear to her that she was not a boy. Hailing from a small town in Tamil Nadu, she did not have any exposure to the LGBTQ+ community.

After school, she eventually moved to Bengaluru. “I finally started to feel like myself. I formed good friendships that have lasted till today.”

She worked as a cabin crew for a few years and then took up a job with an international makeup brand in 2013.

In 2015, she came across a drag show and was instantly intrigued. “I loved the fact that men dressed up and performed without any inhibitions. I was instantly attracted to that culture.”

In 2018, she too decided to become a drag queen and gave herself the name Beyonce.

She says, “I absolutely love Beyonce. I would perform a lot of her songs. People in the audience would call me Beyonce. That’s how I changed my name.”

On social media, she follows no one other than Beyonce, to avoid being discovered by her family.

“My family loves me. I’m just looking for the right time to open up to them.”

In 2022, Beyonce won the Ms Rainbow Pride of India, held by the Hey (Human Empowerment with You) Foundation.

“I can be whoever I want, a guy by day and a queen by night. I am comfortable this way,” says Beyonce.