Sasha Velour won season nine of "RuPaul's Drag Race" on VH1 and Logo, and she's unique: Velour, the stage name of Sasha Steinberg, was a Fulbright scholar and has a master's degree, and takes an intellectual approach to drag.

"The truth is I do take drag really seriously, and I think that there's kind of a place for that, to see it as this political and historical art form," Velour (@sasha_velour) tells Here & Now's Jeremy Hobson.

Interview Highlights

On her intellectual approach to drag performance

"The truth is I do take drag really seriously, and I think that there's kind of a place for that — to see it as this political and historical art form, and to want to continue pushing it in new directions. And also honor the old directions as well. So I'm sort of like a drag intellectual/drag queen."

"I went to Vassar College for undergraduate and studied literature and queer theory, and all of the above. And then I took a Fulbright scholarship in Russia. And that's really where my direction shifted a little bit, because I became really interested in what kind of work actually helps to change things for queer people. And I became really fascinated with drag because it's such an accessible and joyful art form. I wanted to create beautiful images in drag that would not just inspire queer people who need to see some beauty and need to experience some joy, but also would engage people politically."

On the story behind why she doesn't wear a wig

"Right when I was starting to experiment with drag, my mom was diagnosed with cancer, and during her chemo treatment she lost all of her hair. And for her, the idea of being a fem with no hair was really difficult. But I really actually appreciated that she didn't wear wigs at the time, that she didn't wear hats or scarves, she just let her beautiful, bald head air out, and she found ways to make it beautiful with earrings and with fashion. And I loved that so much I wanted to pay tribute to that with my own drag."