This profile of Aidan Faminoff/Hazel is part of Street Meet, FLEETSTREET’s series, where we meet up with trailblazers and thought leaders to deliver unique insight and inspiration into issues we all care about.
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For Aidan Faminoff, a.k.a. Hazel, competition is just another day, whether it’s on the diving board (former Team Canada diver) or on TV as the breakout star of Canada’s Drag Race (voted Miss Congeniality on season six, thank you very much!), and a successful weekly drag show at The Junction in Vancouver. Faminoff also doesn’t hide from opportunity, writing an essay about being a gay athlete to come out publicly after already having done so privately and dove head first into a drag career with an audience. While on the Canadian tour of a drag, burlesque, dance show called Haze Illustrated, Faminoff talks with FLEETSTREET.
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FLEETSTREET: You seem like a natural competitor, from Canada’s national diving team to Drag Race. Are you? What do you get out of competing?
Aidan Faminoff: Competing has kind of been conditioned in me since I was a little kid, because that’s when I started diving. I watched my sister jump off the board and then I was like, “Oh, I need to do that.” So, it was at that young age I started competing.
And there’s the thrill of putting on your best. And especially with diving. You have five dives. So, for each dive, you have to put on your best. That feeling gets me so excited, and so when I transitioned from diving to drag, for me it’s the same thing. When I stepped on the stage for the very first time, I got that same feeling of, “oh my god, here we go! We’re on the back of the board. We’re about to take off!” It’s the same feeling, and I just was obsessed with it.
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FS: Don’t you get nervous like the rest of us?
AF: Listen, I’m a man in a wig and giant heels. Of course, I get nervous. I’m scared I’m going to stumble down that runway. But I’ve been doing this for four years now, so it comes naturally now. It’s like the anxiety and nervousness turns into a thrill. When I get on stage it’s like I just nailed a good dive.
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FS: What’s your taking on not coming in first?
AF: Did you watch Drag Race?! Well, that’s the thing though; the competition that I was a part of was also a reality TV show. There are many factors and, again, it was my first drag competition.
I learn from it and then move forward. Then you apply those skills that you learned and see how you can better yourself in the future. It’s an opportunity to grow. It’s an opportunity to be on a different platform. It helps you get to that next level. Of course, if you go farther and of course, if you do better, then there’s more notoriety to it. But, at the same time, it makes me work harder.
I’ve done this my whole life. You’ve got to have a healthy mindset after competing.
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FS: What does it feel like to retire? Are you truly ready for that part of your life to be over?
AF: When I went for the 2016 Olympics, I placed third at trials. After that, I knew I wasn’t going to the Olympics again. There was just the next generation of kids who were smaller, faster and all of that. So, my decision was to go get a full-ride scholarship.
I still dove those four years down in Florida State. But the thing is, when you’re an athlete your whole life, no one sets you up for what comes after. University does a bit for a career plan. But many other athletes don’t have a backup plan. They don’t know how to be integrated into society.
It does mess with you a little bit, but at the end of the day, I’m very thankful for my trajectory with drag. I feel it’s helped ground me in different ways.
There are articles that say I’m a retired gay diver. I’m 28, OK. I’m 28, y’all. I’m not retiring from life over here.
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FS: I read that the first time you were in drag, you threw a party and performed. What would you say to someone who’s reluctant to try new things?
AF: That was in Tallahassee, Florida – 30 minutes from the border of Georgia. It was incredible.
That’s my mentality, too. I’m the type of person who’s a go-getter, but I’m also realistic. Like if I can’t do something, then I’m not going to be like, “Oh, why can’t I do it?” There are other ways I can pivot or figure out another solution.
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You have to get over whatever you’re scared of and tackle it, because you only have one life to live – and the only thing that’s holding you back is yourself.
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FS: When you get ready to perform, are there any rituals from sport that you have taken with you into drag?
AF: It’s like I threw myself into water and now I throw myself onto concrete. So that’s the difference right there. I sometimes do that same warm-up before my drag sets. I had to look after my body for diving, and I definitely have to go look after it for drag. I make sure I’m stretched. I make sure I’m warmed up.
I start at the neck, then go to the arms, then go to the hips, and then do legs. Then I do leg kicks, and then a little bit of a run, and then stretch after.
It’s also the mindset as well. If I’m doing a new song or a new dive or at a competition, I would say to myself: “Don’t be a sad bitch!” I say this to myself right before a performance.
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FS: What else should we know about your show?
AF: I want the audience to see someone who’s worked really, really hard to achieve their goals in two fields. I show diving videos of me as a child all the way to me in college. I mix that with Drag Race clips as well. And then there are news articles that pop up as well. That’s my favourite part: to have that open-ended conversation.
Every person in sport has a different experience, but a lot don’t: crazy coaches coming after you mentally and messing you up as a child. They say that you’re not going to go anywhere and won’t be successful.
That’s how you coach?! Your coaching style is that you want the kids to be afraid of you rather than the dive? Later in life, that’s going to really bite you. This is my experience.
To be able to produce this level of tour all throughout Canada takes a lot of work, time, effort and money. So, it’s about being able to do it and putting my best foot forward in every city.
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FS: How do you physically prepare for the show?
I’m an avid class taker. I need to be told what to do. I need to be directed because if I go to a gym, you will catch me on my phone.
Jaybird Yoga is my favourite. I also go to Barry’s and spin. And there’s a place in Vancouver called House Concepts that I’ve just started. I really, really like those classes as well.
I get bored. I need to switch it up. I like to hit a workout once a day, and I also have a personal trainer that I meet with like twice a week. He gets me locked in to do weights and muscle training.
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Rapid-fire questions with Aidan Faminoff & Hazel:
Meal before a workout or performance: Something light. I’m not going to have a bowl of chilli. I like something light that hits all the food groups, you know, like chicken, veggies and some rice.
Favourite workout pants: Lululemon Surge Pants.
Supplements: Love me some vitamin C, vitamin D, creatine, protein powder and sometimes fish oil.
Exercise to love-hate: Cardio. Running on a treadmill or anything like that, staring into an abyss of just myself.
Fave workout songs: I’m obsessed with Flo right now. Those three girls are just giving me everything I need.
Workout style: Classes!