Jazzmint, whose real name is Michael Grasso, started doing drag shows about eight months ago when he met his current boyfriend Michael Duschl, who is also a local drag queen.
Music has been a vital part of Jazzmint’s life. He took private voice lessons when he was young and learned singing Italian operas. He participated in school choir and Acappella group the first year and a half of his time at Penn State but quitted because he found it not enjoyable anymore. He discovers something new when he starts doing drag shows - it brings out his “true self”.
Jazzmint was the name of a Barbie doll he got when he was a kid. “It was so hyper sexualized in some ways, and yet so sexually devoid,” he said. As he explores his drag identity, he realizes that what he wants to do is rebelling against what this Barbie doll represented. “To me, doing drags are not about female illusion or pretending to be a women for a night, but put on another identity when I look into the mirror regardless society norms and my insecurity and being able to love myself,” he said.