Written by Maggie Herrera. Photo courtesy of Sallie Just Sallie.
Born-and-raised Savannahian Sallie Just Sallie has taken the local drag community by storm for her comic performances, beautiful makeup and costume and lovely personality. She has become synonymous with Savannah’s iconic drag culture, making everyone’s experience with her and Club One unforgettable.
The Savannah drag community, though recently accepting Sallie Just Sallie among some of the most impactful figures of the queer community in the city, has become synonymous with accepting everyone as they are and opening their performances and entertainment to all walks of life.
Crowned Ms. Savannah Pride 2022 and ConnectSavannah’s Best Drag Queen, Sallie Just Sallie is known for her weekly drag performances in Club One’s basement bar, and occasionally hosting Monday night’s Drag Bingo events.
Sitting down with Sallie, she talks about the impact drag had on her life, how she came into the culture and how she brings her fantastic looks together.
When transforming into the “super-ego,” confident and outgoing Sallie doesn’t see herself as a different person.
“It’s a different air when moving through the world. I don’t know if it’s a completely different person or if I just see myself differently. I don’t run up and talk to people with the same confidence. But Sallie can go up to anybody. Sallie is huge. It’s like a Shaquille O’Neill meet-and-greet,” she says.
Though Sallie realized her sexuality at a rather young age, she hadn’t had the opportunity to find an outlet or passion to fully express her true self. That is until she dipped a toe into acting. She described her first experience with drag as “slammed together.”
“I originally went to college for culinary, but I never really had a passion,” she says. “I was in college for three days and switched my major to acting because in front of a camera and on stage, you come alive.”
When taking a theater dance class, Sallie was assigned to perform as Angel, a drag queen character in the college’s rendition of “Rent.” At first, she was hesitant because she never saw herself as Angel but resonated more with Collins, a tall, openly out, black gay man in a movie. “To have this character who looks like me, kinda acts like me, always resonated with me,” she says.
At this point, Sallie had never done drag, nor had knowledge of the culture. “I started to do research, and I came across this movie, and the title did not age well, but it was called ‘Ticked off Tr*nnies with Knives.’”
The 2010 film follows a group of transgender women who exact revenge on a group of men who assault them and murder two of their friends. Sallie says this movie resonated with her. “There are elements of the movie that are serious and terrifying, and it’s bringing you into this nightlife,” she says. “But it’s also uplifting because they talk about how drag queens are beacons of our society.”
When Sallie did the Angel number, she realized how much she enjoyed expressing her feminine side. “It was a fun experience. I looked busted, but it was fun. I liked the openness of that. I never really felt connected to the community because I was still coming to terms with my sexuality, so when I stepped out and was like, ‘I’m expressing my femininity in a way I haven’t’ and it was refreshing.”
A friend from the Gay-Straight Alliance reached out to Sallie shortly after, asking her if she wanted to be a part of a drag show. She accepted, and from then on she never looked back.
“I remember that feeling, that moment of just stepping out and having just worked so hard on doing numbers and working my butt off to get the gown and the hair and the makeup,” she says. “I decided that’s what I wanted to do.”
Though it was overwhelming, and she joked about her first looks as a drag queen, she felt her most confident on the stage– in heels, flamboyant gowns, makeup and hair.
“The moment my $14 Amazon wig was on my head, you couldn’t tell me anything,” she says.
Sallie explains that her drag has evolved into something specific to her. “I don’t aspire to be like any queen.”
She is an active drag queen with Club One, performing every weekend at the club. There, you can see her perform gimmicks and lip-syncing performances, or her bold comic commentary during Monday’s Drag Bingo. Grabbing a seat to see the super-ego that is Sallie Just Sallie is something you won’t want to miss.
