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Kenya J. Sanchez

@xokenyajsanchez

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Hyde Park CHICAGO 📍
Host. Entertainer. Model. Diva ♎️
Palace Queen at @lipschicago
FNL Diva @roscoestavern
#homegirlofhalsted
Black Lives Matter ✊🏿

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It’s 365 days in a year, but today is my favorite.
So blessed for another orbit around the sun ☀️.
Happy Birthday to a baddie 🎈🎉🎊🤸🏿‍♂️❤️

📸: @fcollierstudio
💅: @trulyrudyy
🥻: @bravomisael1
💇🏾‍♀️: @yourfavoritefabric

Assistanted by @dvyne_valentino by @xokenyajsanchez

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2 years ago

✨♎️ANOTHER YEAR. ANOTHER LEVEL. ANOTHER REMINDER THAT THE HOUSE STILL BELONGS TO KENYA. 👑🏾💋

Today isn’t just my birthday—it’s a CELEBRATION OF THE PERSON I’VE BECOME, THE ICON I’VE ALWAYS KNOWN I WAS AND THE BAD BITCH I CONTINUE TO EVOLVE INTO. 🥂🏾✨

I’ve survived. I’ve grown. I’ve loved. I’ve lost. I’ve reinvented myself. I’ve walked into rooms that weren’t built for me and somehow left with the whole damn building. 💅🏾

And let me make one thing VERY clear this year…

KENYA IS EATING.
Not nibbling.
Not tasting.
EATING. 🍽️💋🔥

The looks? FED.
The talent? FED.
The confidence? FED.
The ambition? FED.
The audacity? I HAD SECONDS. 😂💅🏾

The face is giving. The spirit is lifted. The energy is undeniable. I’m stepping into this new year looking blessed, feeling powerful, and moving like I already know the blessing has my name on it. ✨💋

I’m entering this next chapter with bigger dreams, louder laughter, deeper love, sharper boundaries, and absolutely ZERO INTEREST IN PLAYING SMALL.

This is only the beginning. God is placing me exactly where I’m meant to be—in the right position, at the right time, and in the perfect place to thrive. Call it placement, purpose, or divine positioning, but know this: I’M NOT HERE BY ACCIDENT, AND I’M ABOUT TO MAKE THE MOST OF EVERY BLESSING. 🙏🏾👑

So raise your glasses to me. 🥂🏾
To another trip around the sun.
To every version of Kenya that got me here.
To the person who kept betting on themselves
To the icon who knows exactly what she brings to the table…
AND THEN EATS THE WHOLE DAMN TABLE. 👑🔥

Happy Birthday to ME.
Still loud. Still fabulous. Still pretty. Still a problem.
Still blessed. Still booked by purpose. Still just getting started.
And apparently… STILL HUNGRY. 😈💋

: IT’S KEN SEASON. 👑🔥

#KenSeason #KenSzn #TheHouseIsOpen #HomegirlofHalstad #stillthatbitch by @xokenyajsanchez

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20 days ago

@xokenyajsanchez - we need more of you performing @jaephens Afterbody please and thank you🔥 #dragqueensofinstagram #dragqueen

Thank you #fivenightclub 💕 taken in FIVE Nightclub by @xokenyajsanchez

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21 days ago

Happy B’Day Chicago! Thank you to everyone who came out to celebrate 👑🐝 with us tonight! The ONLY place to be EVERY FRIDAY NIGHT is under the lights at Roscoe’s 🚨Friday ✨Night ✨Lights🚨 Another amazing night with our cast - Allura The Doll, Angelíca Grace, Anya K Thunderkat, Batty Davis, Kenya J Sanchez, Keri Traid, Kimberly Summer, Sasha Love, Secret Queen, Serena Fiierce, and Spjörk! We’ll see you next Friday & EVERY Friday under the lights at Roscoe’s! taken in Roscoe's Tavern by @xokenyajsanchez

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a month ago

Too glam to give a damn. 💋🖤✨

💇🏾‍♀️: @wiginfinite
💅🏾: @theebelladiamond
📸 : @adamouahmane

#KenyaJSanchez #DragArt #EditorialBeauty #BlackQueerExcellence #homegirlofhalsted by @xokenyajsanchez

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2 months ago

And if you knew how badly we struggled making this 15 second X-Men reel… fine I’ll post that one tomorrow.

#XMen #XMen97 #drag #Chicagodrag #Marvel

Jean Grey @itskimberlysummer
Magik @mesmer.summer
Cyclops @yoastro__
Gambit @xocarrington_
Oya @xokenyajsanchez
Storm @theonlyanyaknees
Mystique @youwantzamora
Dazzler @thespjork

From X-Brunch @roscoestavern
Videos @the_mialiani @shawnmhazen taken in Roscoe's Tavern by @xokenyajsanchez

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2 months ago

Today I had the chance to visit the Barack Obama Presidential Center in Woodlawn, and I’m still processing how special it felt.

To have something this monumental less than two miles from where I live is incredible. Walking through the exhibits, reading people’s testimonials, and learning about stories of gun violence, healthcare, LGBTQ+ advocacy, and the everyday people whose voices helped shape history was deeply moving. I smiled, I laughed, I cried… and yes, I even stopped to enjoy some great food while taking it all in. It wasn’t just a visit. It was an experience.

The Obama Presidential Center is more than a museum. It’s a place built to inspire the next generation through history, storytelling, community spaces, and programs that encourage civic engagement and leadership. Seeing President Barack Obama’s journey honored in the very city that helped shape him filled me with so much pride.

Representation matters. It matters that Black and Brown children can walk through those doors and see that someone who looked like them became President of the United States. It reminds every young person that their dreams aren’t too big, that their voice has value, and that they, too, can change the world.

I feel incredibly grateful to be alive at the same time as this piece of history and to have the opportunity to experience it for myself. Thank you to everyone who made this vision a reality. Especially Shada Love

Everything about today was beautiful, meaningful, and unforgettable.

I already can’t wait to go back. ❤️ by @xokenyajsanchez

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3 months ago

💚🩷🩵KewchieGirlz turning it for FridayNightLights at @roscoestavern
@xokenyajsanchez
#chicago #dragqueen #entertainer #serenafiierce #kenyajsanchez taken in Roscoe's by @xokenyajsanchez

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5 months ago

Tiny feet, giant hearts, and flamingos serving runway poses all afternoon 🦩💖 Spending the day at the @henryvilaszoo was such a beautiful reminder of what community can look like when people come together with joy, love, and purpose. So grateful I get to use my talents to create spaces where people can laugh, connect, celebrate, and just be 🌈✨

Seeing families, friends, couples, and chosen family all enjoying the moment together filled my heart in the sweetest way. Pride season is so much more than parties and parades. It’s visibility, safety, celebration, resistance, and a reminder that our communities deserve to take up space loudly and lovingly.

Huge thank you to all of the sponsors and organizers who made today happen. Thank you too @blbreeze for inviting me & @theecassmarie , @deedeepurr and @daemongai for being true rockstars in the dressing room. Your support and talents truly creates moments that matter and memories people carry home with them.

Also, flamingos are iconic. That’s it. That’s the post. 🦩💕

👚: @bravomisael1
📸: @kreweofbridge taken in Henry Vilas Zoo by @xokenyajsanchez

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5 months ago

Day 15: Kenya J. Sanchez (@xokenyajsanchez)

When it comes to Black Chicago drag, one name consistently rises to the top: Kenya J. Sanchez. Unapologetically herself, Kenya’s artistry is a bold celebration of Black queer identity. Her performances are not only exciting and unexpected, but layered with emotion and vulnerability — the kind that comes from someone deeply invested in their craft.

Kenya has used drag as a platform for advocacy, honoring victims of police brutality during her finale at Roscoe’s All Stars, traveling to Springfield, IL to speak with legislators about issues affecting Black gay men, and working with the Lighthouse Foundation to support our community. Her pride in being Black and her commitment to uplifting others is unmistakable.

Her accomplishments reflect that impact. From a partnership with Ventra and a feature on Beyoncé’s website, to headlining Chicago PrideFest and sharing the stage with Lil Nas X, Kenya’s career continues to expand. She also brought her story to new audiences worldwide as a breakout star on Season 2 of The Collectives.

Offstage, Kenya is a loyal friend, fierce supporter, and devoted house mother. She stands as both a leader and a beacon of Black excellence in Chicago nightlife.

You can catch Kenya every Friday at Roscoe’s for Friday Night Lights and Wednesday through Sunday at Lips Chicago. Follow her at @xokenyajsanchez to stay connected. taken in North Halsted Street by @xokenyajsanchez

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8 months ago

I get it. Black folks are tired. We’ve carried the weight of every major freedom movement in this country. We’ve bled. We’ve died. And we’ve been betrayed. We’ve shown up, over and over, only to be met with anti-blackness in return. But this ain’t about who likes us. It’s about who’s next!

What ICE is doing to migrants isn’t just an immigration issue. It’s white supremacist violence at its core. It’s separating families. It’s state violence. It’s stalking and snatching people from homes and workplaces and making them disappear. It’s caging children. And for Black folks in America, this should all feel deeply familiar. The white supremacist machine of state violence doesn’t make distinctions based on citizenship status.

What ICE is doing to Latinx, West Indian, and African migrants is part of the same machinery that has policed and abused Black American bodies for centuries. We know what it means to have our families torn about by the state. We know what it means to be told that we don’t belong in the land we built. We know exactly what it’s like to be criminalized simply for existing, to be dehumanized by everyday language, media propaganda, policies, and bureaucrats in uniform.

Black folks know what it means to live under surveillance, to be chased, cuffed, caged, and disappeared. We are the descendants of people who had to run. From plantations. From the Fugitive Slave Act and slave catchers. From the KKK and lynch mobs. Even if you were born right here in America, with ancestors going all the way back to slave ships, that border violence still echoes through Black lives.

The ol’ “I got my papers, I’m safe” is a delusion. That little blue passport won’t stop you from getting profiled, harassed, arrested, or shot by a cop who sees your Black skin before your citizenship status or hears your command of English. Just ask the countless Black immigrants already deported, or the U.S.-born Black folks ICE illegally detained anyway.

“Black Americans have a long history of being subjected to heavy surveillance and aggressive policing.” – Jonathan Jean-Baptiste by @xokenyajsanchez

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8 months ago

November reminded me to fold my worries into paper planes and turn them into flying f*cks! Life is Good. 😎 by @xokenyajsanchez

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10 months ago