Born in California’s San Francisco Bay Area to mixed Irish and Japanese heritage, I moved to London in my early 20s. I immediately began performing in drag, quickly became a pillar of the East London queer scene, hosting cabaret shows and club nights. As the producer and host of The ShayShay Show, I platformed new work from emerging artists and helped bolster the careers of many prominent London performers. In 2019, I founded The Bitten Peach, a queer Pan-Asian artist collective, alongside Lilly SnatchDragon and Evelyn Carnate. Our mission is to mission is to diversify Asian representation, provide safe spaces, and empower the queer Asian community.

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I am the star of the Iris prize-nominated documentary ‘Peach Paradise’ (Netflix, 2022), which focuses on my work with The Bitten Peach and my Japanese-American ancestry. As a descendent of World War II Japanese Internment, I am dedicated to honouring that legacy, and regularly create work to shine light on this shamefully overlooked piece of history.

As a writer and director, I make explicitly queer work that champions trans joy. Working with The Vaults, I have created three original works that combine drag, cabaret, and panto into semi-immersive plays.

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I’ve taken part in The Yard Theatre’s Live Lab (2021), Soho Theatre Writers Lab (2022), Edinburgh TV Festival’s The Network (2022), and Criterion New Writing (upcoming 2023).