Canton drag queen Kardi Redd Diamond: 'We are superhero beings from another planet.'

Editor's note: This is one of an occasional series of stories focusing on Black entertainers in Stark County.

CANTON − Kardi Redd Diamond is happiest when she's performing as a drag queen.

Lights beaming. Spectators applauding. Music pumping. It's her place, away from the grind and stresses of life, away from the judgment and bigotry sometimes cast at her and other drag artists.

"To be honest, I'm physically there, and I hear everything and I definitely feed off a crowd's energy and the screaming and the love and the support, but honestly, I'm not there," she said. "Drag for me, entertainment for me, is an escape from reality.

"... In my own head, I don't hear nobody, I don't see anybody. All I hear is that song, me feeling it, performing it and getting my high from it."

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Being on stage is Kardi's childhood dream come true. She used to lip-sync in front of a bedroom mirror pretending to be Beyonce or Alicia Keys.

Now she lives that reality during her residency at Studio West 117 in Lakewood, including when she performed as Rihanna at Muze Gastropub on Super Bowl Sunday. And when strutting before enthusiastic and appreciative audiences like those packed around a sidewalk turned makeshift catwalk during the inaugural Stark Pride Festival last summer at Centennial Plaza in downtown Canton.

"I've literally been all over the state and back three or four times," Kardi said of performing in Ohio.

Kardi is also a rapper and hip-hop music peformer, sometimes incorporating her songs into drag performances.

Music has been released on streaming platforms, including the song, "On Me" featuring Anthony Covatta and the 2022 single, "The Barbie Freestyle." Kardi also was a guest on an alternate version of Northeast Ohio-based rapper Ethan Soza's song, "Strawberry."

Kardi: 'I started drag at the age of 23 and it saved my life.'

"I started drag at the age of 23, and it saved my life," Kardi said. "I had seen somebody on stage, and I was like, 'Wow, so I can really ... do exactly what I've been doing my whole life behind closed doors and in a shower.'

"My mom has always told me that I should always do something that makes me happy," she added. "If you have to get up in the morning, and you're not happy about what you're doing, then you really shouldn't be doing it, and you should be putting your focus towards what your dream is, what your goal is, what you plan on doing for the rest of your life, and being an entertainer and being an artist is what I wanted to do."

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Here are five more things to know about Kardi based on portions of an interview edited for brevity:

1. Kardi wants to inspire, support LGBTQIA youth

"I wasn't fully accepted in my family," Kardi said of her youth. "I did a lot of this by myself alone locked in my room — a lot of tears, a lot of self-reflection, a lot of digging and trying to find who I am. I came out at 13 years old, so I was unapologetic about who I was very, very early, and I kind of like the fact that I went through that as a kid, because it made me so much stronger about who I am."

Kardi offered encouragement to LGBTQIA youth who feel lonely and abandoned, and "don't feel like they have anybody.

"They do have somebody, they have themselves," Kardi said. "And there's no stronger love than a love you have for yourself. How can you really experience real love if you don't love yourself first, and that's a blessing in itself."

2. Grand opening of residency was Kardi's favorite performance

"Right next to (Stark Pride), it was probably like the largest stage setup," said Kardi, who is also the entertainment director at Studio West 117, where she has hosted "RuPaul's Drag Race" viewing parties at Muze Gastropub. "It was so pretty. We had lights ... (and) it was huge. There were hundreds of people, and I got to host the whole event, and it just felt really good.

"It brought that moment for me full circle, because the one thing I wanted out of my career was I've always wanted to be a resident somewhere. I always wanted to be a resident showgirl at a home where I work all the time, and build my brand, build my following and have a family."

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3. Drag queens work hard and are 'very, very underpaid'

"There's this stigma in the drag community, where a lot of people who are not part of it or don't experience it or don't live the life of a showman or showgirl, they think it's just like the easiest thing, and they think we're dancing around in wigs, and that's not what it is.

"It's a full-time job; it is expensive. You ultimately become another bill added to the bills that you have on your daily life.

"It's very, very difficult, and ... I think it needs to be said (that) lot of places that want to hire drag performers, showgirls or showmen don't understand how much money and how much investment it takes to be me essentially. And we're ... very, very underpaid; and I think that is a pattern and a stigma (that) needs to cease."

4. Hardest thing about being a drag queen

"When I first started, I wanted to essentially be that girl. ... I want to travel everywhere. I want to meet all these people. I want to be successful in my art. I want to be a successful entertainer. I want to hit big stages. I wanted to do this ... but because my mind was only looking at what was glamorous about it, I didn't think about the negativity that comes with being a public figure in the entertainment industry. A lot of people don't like to see people do good.

"So they will do whatever they can to ... tarnish that and end it or get rid of it, or whatever you want to call it ... but what I will say is what's meant for you is meant for you.

"It doesn't matter what anybody has to say; they can't stop a blessing; you can't stop a blessing that's meant for you. Nobody can do that, nobody has that power. So I'd say my advice to that difficult thing is just keep going and let it fuel you."

5. Drag queens are 'some of the bravest people in the world'

"I like to think we are superhero beings from another planet," Kardi said, laughing. "We are extraterrestrial. I think we are definitely out of the ordinary, which makes us special, and we essentially get to be whoever ... we want to be, and we are some of the bravest people in the world ... and we're living our truth. I think that makes our art special — it makes us different from any other form of art to me."

Reach Ed at 330-580-8315 and ebalint@gannett.com

On Twitter @ebalintREP

This article originally appeared on The Repository: Kardi Redd Diamond: Drag queens are 'superhero beings'