Canada’s Drag Race Season 6 Exit Interview: Saltina Shaker Reflects on Drag, Identity & Growth

Saltina Shaker is an Ottawa-based drag artist and digital creator known for her striking visuals, intentional artistry, and fearless self-expression. A frontrunner on Canada’s Drag Race Season 6, she blends drag, spirituality, and a science background to create work that’s both visually bold and deeply personal.

 

TEM (The Extra Mile:)  Did you feel there was maybe like an expectation of being a frontrunner, or do you think it just kind of put a bigger target on your back?

Saltina: You know what? I thought there was an expectation, but more so on who I am as a person. You know, and so we’ve seen, you know, the unfortunate culture that… You know, being an influencer or a content creator can unfortunately, like, have on people, and I knew that wasn’t me, but my main kind of, like, goal with social media was to show that I’m a three-dimensional person, you know, and I have goals, I have aspirations, I have, you know, ways to carry myself, and I have drag.

TEM: Do you think the version of Saltina people built in their heads kind of matched to who you were in the workroom?

Saltina:  Um, so, yes, actually, yes. The people who’ve seen me perform before, the people who’ve seen me in Ottawa, um, my, uh, my partner and I, um, his name’s Eric, uh, her name’s Sunshine, um, we, we have a events production company together called Glitter Shaker Events, and, um, I forget the exact metric. So, But there’s something like 10,000 audience members in the past two years, you know, and that’s a lot of people knowing who you are and seeing your art and stuff like that. And I knew that eventually who I am will show to everybody. But just knowing that I have all these beautiful people behind me, as well as my fans that already, you know, follow me and know who I am on social media. I knew that they would love whatever I did. So I didn’t have an issue with that. was more so like, you know, just wanting to show who I really am, you know.

TEM: And for the audiences that didn’t get to know who you were prior to Drag Race, tell us a little bit about how Santina kind of came to place and how your drag journey kind of began.

Saltina: Right, yeah. So in 2019, this was pre-COVID. I was the vice-presidential. of Philanthropic Affairs for my university. So, you know, have you ever heard of like Shinarama and stuff like that? It’s like a fundraiser for cystic fibrosis. It happens yearly. And that was the charity that we use for Frosh Week and stuff like that. So I was in charge of a lot of like philanthropic initiatives. And for one of the events, I was like, you know what, I want to do a drag show. And this is 2019. it was still like, drag was up and coming and it was really, really favored. But it was also not in spaces that it usually is now, you know, where it’s like a commonly now. So I decided to do that. And one of my friends, name’s Adriana Exposé, I hired her. I hired Shady Lady. These are all Ottawa names. Perhaps you’ll see them on future seasons. But I remember booking them. And I was like, this is fantastic. From the organizational side of things, from the logistical side, it was such a fun thing to do. And then… The more I got into the scene, the more I was like, I have all these ideas, like, you know, I’m seeing my friends perform, and I’m like, oh, I would have done that, or I would have done this, I didn’t tell them that, but I was like, I was like, that would be a perfect idea for me to do with my own creativity and stuff. So I entered like this little contest, and it was at Mercury Lounge, it’s now called Berlin in Ottawa, but I won that like amateur night. So I was able to come back, and then I was like, I’m not doing drag again, no, it’s fine. And then I went to, I actually went to Halifax, and I bought my, to visit my best friend, bought my first wig, and I was like, here she is. The rest is history, yeah, yeah, yeah, and then COVID happened, and that’s when I was like, you know what, I’m gonna practice my makeup, and I’m gonna go online. And then that took off, which was really, really cool.

TEM: Was there anything that, like, we didn’t get to see on the show that you wish that we got to see more of?

Saltina: Honestly, no. It was a great first introduction for people who didn’t know who I am. It’s a great further introduction for people who already have, you know. Now, all I ask is the people who are interested to continue on, because there’s going to be so many, so many cool things, you know, so many cool things. I have a lot of aspirations, so I’m excited to bring people along.

TEM: You talk a lot about, I think, as well as intentionality and meditation, and correct me if I’m wrong, I believe you do ayahuasca, right?

Saltina: I did. I went to an ayahuasca retreat in October 2024.

TEM:  Did you use, would you say, like, any of that kind of helped mental practices, like, during drag race to kind of stay grounded when you’re in, like, a high-stake environment?

Saltina: Well, the funny thing is, they say not to me. I any big decisions after ayahuasca, and in my head I was like, this isn’t that big of a decision. I don’t think it’s like, you know, that’s the delusion. But I was like, you know, I’m going to do it. I figured out more of myself because when you’re in the medicine, you’re really able to be like, I think the strength is that you remember things when you’re in the medicine, and that’s the biggest fear for a lot of us is to remember who we are. But I think that once you have a little taste of it, even if it’s just like a straw full of your true authentic self, you know exactly what to do. So going to Drag Race, all the tools that I learned, all the tools that I relearned, that I stopped doing because it was perceived as a certain way, you know, would make me feel small or bullied when people would call it out. I’m able to embrace that now. And that’s the strongest thing. No one can ever take that away from me.

TEM: So let’s talk a little bit more about the show. What was your favorite runway look and why?

Saltina: My favorite runway look, I’m not including my entrance, but I’m going to include my dragon look, the big yellow and black dragon. For me, Saltina can edit herself in any universe, but the fun gag with that is that everyone knows that she’s putting herself there. You know what I mean? But it’s not to be something that she’s not, it’s simply because she’s excited to try something new. You know what I mean? But for the for the dragon look, it’s so quintessential how I view myself as like a sci-fi kind of like, you know, dark comedy sort of villain, you know, like that’s, I just, I just love that juxtaposition and it’s so much fun to play with.

TEM: What was your favorite challenge?

Saltina: Ooh, my favorite challenge was either game or the lip sync tournament. Yeah.  It was, it was so much fun. I got to do the pussycat dolls, which is what I perform regularly. I love, I love, love, love being like , but also like a little scary. Like you don’t, you know, you don’t know what, uh, you know, you’re, you’re attracted to her. You, um, you want to be close to her, but you don’t want to be too close because you never know what she’ll do. Like, I love that.

TEM: there anyone in the cast that surprised you the most?

Saltina: Um, I want to say Sammy, but I wasn’t surprised that she did so well because she knows who she is. You know, Sammy is someone who knows who she is and she she’s she’s really good with that. But I would say the person that surprised me most was PM, just simply because of the the the beautiful dancing. Like as as as a who loves juxtapositions, being having that style of drag while being so like delicately curated as a dancer.

TEM:  I know you come from like a science background. So if let’s say If Saltina was like a scientific concept, what would she be?

Saltina: Ooh, I think, um, have you ever seen, uh, the mineral, uh, bismuth? It’s actually the mineral that makes, um, pepto-bismol, uh, pink. Um, I think, I think it’s pink. I don’t know. I don’t know if it makes it that color, but it is in the, the actual, uh, medicine itself, I believe. And it’s this, it’s such a cool structure. It looks like if, um, if you had a puddle of gasoline and light were to hit the gasoline, you know, how it turns into a whole bunch of different, like, darker, um, rainbows of colors. And it’s all structured so that there are so many, um, like, 2D faces on each other. And it’s, I want you to look it up after. I will. I love geology. So, like, I would, I would say a, I would love to do, like, a bismuth look. That would be really fun.

TEM: what can we expect kind of next for you that you’re allowed to share? Like, what can the audiences expect?

Saltina:  Well, okay, I explained this a little bit before, but rest. I need to rest. You know, like, I need to rest. I need a month. I need a month. need January. And I’m, I’m, you know, back to the, back to the races. But I think when it, when it comes to rest, that’s when most of my ideas, like really kind of like ferment. And I’m able to like, you know, weed out the ones that make less sense. Weed out the ones that are not for right now.Focus on the ones that are exciting me the most. You know, my curse is that I never give myself enough time. So that’s finally what I’m going to do, you know, and. Yeah. this? But in order to do that, I need to rest. But after that rest, you know, I’m a writer, so I want to write my book. I went to high school in a creative arts program for creative writing. So that was my art for that four years. Every single day I wrote. was so much fun. And, you know, get back to the gym, see my family and friends, start my YouTube channel, continue with social media, continue, you know, designing some nice outfits to wear.

TEM: So we’re all about going the extra mile. So what does the extra mile mean to you?

Saltina: The extra mile to me means doing the thing that you’re afraid of. Yeah, no matter how small, no matter how small, no matter how big, I would say start small because you have. A little bit more control with what the outcomes may be, you know, but if you’re, you know, too afraid to start that, I want to say, you know, painting that you’ve always wanted to do, are those bigger things that you want to do later in your life, are you going to have the same barrier with them, or are you going to tackle something a little bit smaller, more manageable now, to give you the skills to be able to do that later?

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