Katya doesn’t want you to be a drag queen.
Over 1,200 American University students signed up, but only a few hundred made it past the line that snaked around Grossman Hall to see the drag superstar speak at the Washington College of Law on Monday, Feb. 23.
Many wanted to know one thing: How can I be just like Katya?
“Don’t,” Yekaterina Petrovna Zamolodchikova, better known as Katya, said in an interview with The Eagle. “You need more sanitation workers, you need more paralegals, paramedics, paragliders.”
Known for her sharp humor and hot takes, Katya spoke to students about losing and finding herself in her twenties, her multifaceted career and her animosity for United States Attorney General Pam Bondi, among other state leaders. The event, in collaboration with Pride at AU, the Center for Student Belonging and the Kennedy Political Union, debuted the Spirit and Traditions Board’s 2026 Spirit of Change Week.
Emily Moro, STB’s director, and Gabe Michelangeo, the president of Pride at AU, hosted the talk and student Q&A session after.
Before and during the event, Katya spoke about her one year at Boston University before transferring to the Massachusetts College of Art and Design to get her degree in fine arts. She called her liberal arts education a total scam to the cheers of the liberal arts students in the audience, as Moro reminded Katya where she was speaking.
But after years of biking to work for $7 an hour and making even less at drag performances around the city, Katya said she’s finally reached success for what she actually went to school for.
“I’m doing exactly the kind of weird shit I was doing at art school in my performance art classes,” Katya said. “And I’m making money.”
Katya rose to fame during the seventh season of “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” winning the Miss Congeniality Award and later appearing in “Drag Race All Stars” season two. With her fellow season seven drag icon and close confidant, Trixie Mattel, the two have hosted numerous shows, including their current podcast “The Bald and The Beautiful.”
Although Trixie didn’t join Katya for the talk, she wasn’t absent, as Katya couldn’t let the night go by without honoring her partner in podcasting.
“Trixie keeps me tethered to the natural world,” Katya said.
Students who attended the event mentioned the duo’s chemistry as a major reason for the pair’s strong fandom.
Fiona Harkins, a senior in the College of Arts and Sciences, said she binges their podcast anytime she is sick or sad.
“I literally couldn’t believe for my life that she would be here,” Gabriella McKain, another CAS senior, said. “I’d said, ‘I will do anything to make it here, I will miss anything to be here.’”
In addition to the cultural commentary she’s known for, Katya also gave students advice, some of whom arrived as early as two hours before the event’s start at 7 p.m. to secure their seats.
While students waited in line for two hours, Katya was preparing her outfit, hair, makeup and shoes that she bedazzled herself.
“You know, we’re Jills of all trades,” Katya said. “It’s fierce.”
For those wanting to get into comedy, Katya warned against stand-up, unless you’re like Maria Bamford. For those seeking to maximize their twenties, Katya said to have more sex. For those looking for an entry point into the trade of drag performance, and who won’t take no for an answer, Katya advised that money isn’t everything, but humor definitely is.
It’s this humor that put Katya on the map, but she told The Eagle that it doesn’t come naturally. Good jokes require an angle and a character you curate over time, Katya said.
While not her entire humor, many of Katya’s jokes have a political tilt that students said they’re drawn to.
“I love sensible women and I think Katya is definitely a sensible woman,” Patrick Bohmbach, a freshman in the School of Public Affairs, said. “She talks about things beyond just the scope of drag and I wish more people knew that.”
One of the most adored comments of the night came from Katya’s remarks on Artificial Intelligence, noting her disdain for it.
“AI Slop is not art,” Katya proclaimed to a chorus of hoots and hollers of students at one of the nation’s leading universities in AI integration within education. This integration has met growing criticism about AI’s environmental impact and reliance on technology.
“Society has developed and left human beings in the dirt,” she added.
Katya made sure to bring up a frequent mention on her podcast, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, to which the audience erupted in jeers.
“The people in this room are gonna be defeating Pam Bondi,” Katya said.
She later added the Attorney General would be her choice of co-star if she were to star in the new hit show, “Heated Rivalry.” Katya also mentioned U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham and U.S. Ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, while listing potential co-stars.
Despite her humorous persona, Katya shared with The Eagle that it can be overwhelming to feel the weight of Armageddon while cracking jokes about it.
“I just have to remind myself that it’s okay if my mission is to make people laugh or feel good,” Katya said.
Grossman Hall was filled with laughter on Monday evening as students expressed how important it was to have the queer icon come to campus.
“I love drag, I love comedy, I love Katya, I love gay people,” Myla Pirmann, a junior in the School of Communication, said. “Shout out gay people and shout out lesbians too because, you know, Katya is a big supporter of lesbians I heard.”
During the student Q&A, Katya emphasized the importance of the transgender community on drag’s legacy, the politics of fame and the importance of instituting a nationwide requirement for bangs when she becomes president.
“Morality is action,” Katya said.
And despite her critiques of government actors, Katya said she couldn’t leave American University without showing some patriotism.
Her last hoorah of the event showcased an original rendition of the national anthem in front of the sea of students, standing with their hands on their hearts to sing the familiar, “O’er the land of the free …”
Katya directed a student to hoist their pride flag in the air as the audience joined together and the queen led everyone in her parting words.
“And the home … of the gay.”
This article was edited by Payton Anderson and Walker Whalen. Copy editing done by Avery Grossman, Paige Caron, Mattie Lupo and Ava Stuzin.
