Drag performer D'Lisha von Jankynsmurt was born a couple years ago on the 30th birthday of her real-life alter ego, Osiris Khepera—via Buddhism.
"I had been tumbling the idea around in my head, but was afraid [to try drag] for years," Khepera said. "I have been practicing Buddhism, which has really opened up something in my life, allowed me to find a whole different source of confidence, and helped me want to reveal my truest self.
"At [age] 30, I just thought I could do it; I got the confidence needed."
So Khepera threw a birthday party, and she was a guest of honor.
"Through Buddhism, I gained the confidence to become D'Lisha," Khepera said.
D'Lisha has shone throughout the city every since, including June 30, when she appeared in the Chicago Pride Parade.
"The past two years [as D'Lisha] have been great," said Khepera, who works closely with designer Jason DaVell for her looks.
Khepera, 32, lives in Hyde Park, and is an actor/entertainer, local tour guide and poet who also teaches poetry.
"I grew up in a house full of women," Khepera said. "I have two older sisters and mom, while my dad had five other sisters, and there's one other who I've picked up along the way. So I have eight sisters.
"As a kid, I went shopping with my mom, and she was a classy lady. I often helped her choose dresses at the store, even as a kid. I learned fashion from her, and learned makeup from one of my sisters."
His mom, Carol Nichols, died in 2008, but she lives through D'Lisha.
"When I get in drag, I look like [my mom]," he said. "D'Lisha probably is my way of honoring her. My mother inspired me in theater; she took me to shows as a kid. I have so many memories of being in the theater with her."
Khepera's entertaining world also includes The Fag-tionary, his one-man show. "A friend called and said she wanted to bring back good poetry sets, and wanted me to do an hour—and to be as gay as I want to be," he said. "That's how The Fag-tionary was born.
"The Fag-tionary was literally me taking a collection of poetry that I had written, putting it in some sort of order, and putting on a show."
One of Khepera's most memorable performances ever was this spring as part of the Second City Outreach & Diversity, for its R.E.A.C.H. show, the Risky Eclectic Artists Comedy Hour, held at Piper's Alley.
"The reason this experience with R.E.A.C.H. has been so amazing is, well, it's been the first time that I knew my work directly affected somebody," he said.
After the March show, D'Lisha was approached by a twentysomething African-American male who was so appreciative of D'Lisha's words of encouragement and advice that night.
"It really touched me," Khepera said. "Isn't that everyone's dream—to touch at least one person's life? That is incredibly humbling."
Ironically, Khepera considered appearing that night as himself, not D'Lisha—until organizers said D'Lisha was promoted and Khepera was told, "There's somebody who needs to hear you tonight, from this drag queen."
"This whole R.E.A.C.H. experience as D'Lisha has been amazing because I am finding this character that is not just a comical atypical drag queen," Khepera said. "D'Lisha is becoming a drag storyteller, and that is her function, to tell these stories, especially these queer stories that are not getting out any other way."
Khepera said he always is amazed and entertained by the reactions D'Lisha receives. "She's a lot of fun, and it's always fun to see people's reactions to D'Lisha," he said.
Khepera started doing poetry in Chicago in the late 1990s and has been on the local circuit ever since. He was trained in theater at Northern Illinois University.
Khepera has performed in the past with the Bailiwick Chicago Theatre Company and elsewhere. He also has hosted local shows.
"This is what I do; this is my life; I love it; I love performing, being on stage, being out in front of people," Khepera said. "It's not that I crave the attention, but rather, it's reaching out to people."
Just as he does as a tour guide for the Chicago Trolley & Double Decker Company, which he said is a "fun" job.
"I'm on stage for eight hours, essentially," he said. "I have a microphone in my hand, on the top of the double-decker bus, and am talking, joking and laughing for eight hours straight, telling stories about the city, which definitely is honing my story-telling skills.
"Sure, they are just stories about the city, about the city's history—but I have to present them in a way that is interesting."
D'Lisha has never made an appearance on the bus—during working hours, he said, laughing. She has made an appearance at company functions, but has not been on top of bus. "Then again, who wants to be riding on top of a bus, going 25 miles per hour with your eyelashes blowing in the wind? That's no fun," he said.
Khepera is driven in the tour guide role through his long interest in architecture.
