This is the first of a series of Beauty Beyond Binaries interviews where contributing editor Janet Mock sits with cultural figures to discuss their relationship to beauty culture and their journey to being confident in how they present in the world. She also gets a look at their routines and snatches a few tips and product recommendations along the way.

Peppermint entered the Allure offices in One World Trade Center wearing a long red coat that trailed slightly behind her with a matching red lip and a shoulder-grazing midnight blue bob. Ever the showgirl, Peppermint’s look resembled Madonna’s ensemble in her “Nothing Really Matters” video.

The Delaware native, who began performing drag in downtown Manhattan nightclubs 20 years ago, is conscious of how she complicates what it means to be a trans woman, a drag queen, and a trailblazer on RuPaul’s Drag Race. Peppermint made it all the way to the finale on the hit Vh1 series, which snagged eight Emmy nominations, then sashayed away as the uber-intellectual bald beauty Sasha Velour was crowned the show’s ninth winner in June.

Peppermint, who prefers to be called by her stage name and to keep her chosen name close (for now), is only the second openly trans contestant to compete on Drag Race (though many queens revealed their trans identity after sashaying away), and shared with me how “afraid” she was initially to audition for the reality series.

“We hadn't seen a celebrated example of a trans woman on the show prior,” Peppermint told me. “Monika Beverly Hillz historically came out on the show, and she was gone the next episode…I felt like I needed to hide my transness and kind of downplay a lot of that [during my audition].”

As soon as we sit down, Peppermint takes off her wig and places it in her handbag, revealing shorn coils that she dyes blonde at home using her preferred Clairol lightening powder and 40 volume developer. “I'm feeling golden,” she says, rubbing her palm across the top of her head.

It is this realness mixed with her sweet demeanor and fierce lip-syncs that carried Peppermint to the Drag Race finale, enabling her to reach heights on the show that no other trans woman has been able to reach. This includes trans alums like Kylie Sonique (Season 2), Carmen Carrera (Season 3), Stacy Layne Matthews (Season 3), Kenya Michaels (Season 4), Jiggly Caliente (Season 4), Monika Beverly Hillz (Season 5), and Gia Gunn (Season 6).