Trixie Mattel and Katya Zamolodchikova took the world by storm with their Guide to Modern Womanhood, full of expert advice on beauty, homemaking, and relationships. Now they’re tackling an even bigger challenge—finding success in the workplace. In Working Girls: Trixie and Katya’s Guide to Professional Womanhood, Trixie and Katya share their tips, tricks, how-to’s, and no-no’s for slaying the career game. We asked the drag superstars to answer our Audible Questionnaire, a series of personality-revealing questions designed to give us a better sense of the person behind the name. Read on for their hilarious and insightful responses.
Audible: What is your favorite sound?
Trixie: My favorite sound is … well, it's not people crumbling bags in the hallway. This is really corny, but I really love fresh, fresh guitar strings when they're tuned up and it just sounds like six pieces of metal, like brrrng.
Katya: I’m on tour right now with Trixie performing our show, Trixie and Katya Live. My favorite sound at the moment is the sound of our curtain call, because it means it’s almost time to take off all of my drag and go to bed.
What is your least favorite sound?
Trixie: I hate when people text in short bursts a few words at a time, and it's like “whoop whoop whoop” or like “ding ding ding.” I'm like, “Send me one complete thought!”
Katya: I hate the sound of music where any man is singing. Why do men sing?
Do you work best among silence or noise?
Trixie: I am the most industrious with a little bit of ambiance, right? So, if I'm working on hair (let's say wigs), I love to put on Clueless or Jawbreaker or an audiobook and get in the zone. I listen to a lot of Stephen King while getting in drag, which I think makes a lot of sense.
Katya: I work best with background music. I have a playlist of songs that keep me energized and (somewhat) productive, mostly Russian pop music.
What's the one book, production, or speech you could re-listen to over and over again?
Trixie: I could listen to the Stephen King It audiobook really any time—I love it so much! And I could read Watchmen by Alan Moore a million times.
Katya: I love every episode of the podcast, Nymphowars. I have especially enjoyed the recent KNFW Terrestrial Radio episodes.
What book or “listen” has been most important or influential to your own path?
Trixie: Honestly, when I read Watchmen, it was like an exploration of morality … you know, beauty is subjective? Morality is also subjective—the human race is nothing if not a bunch of people who in their mind believe they're doing the right thing.
Katya: A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again by David Foster Wallace.
What is it in storytelling that you like most?
Trixie: I like creative ways to get us to look harder at ourselves than we would otherwise feel like doing.
Katya: I appreciate an iconic female main character.
What is it that you most dislike in storytelling?
Trixie: I hate being told what I love. Things that are slightly open ended or characters that are very gray, I like. Something where people get a completely different experience out of what they read.
Katya: I can’t stand predictability, especially when a story hinges on an overdone trope.
If you had to pick just one, would it be plot, character, or setting?
Trixie: I have to say character, because when you really fall for a character and the character feels real, you will read a book about them staring at the wall.
Katya: Character. When a character is good, you’d watch/read/listen to them do anything anywhere.
Who would you want to narrate your life, your life story, or your memoir?
Trixie: I think to narrate my memoir I would love Leslie Jordan. [Editors note: RIP. Among his many talents, Leslie Jordan was an incredible narrator.]
Katya: Jean Smart.
Do you like the sound of your voice?
Trixie: I'm so used to it now. I used to have a lot of issues with my voice sounding really feminine or sounding just like my mom—but then, I pretend to be a woman for a living ... so whatever!
Katya: Of course not.
Who do you create/write for?
Trixie: I create for my own enjoyment. I would say that in the beginning I was a creator who pretended that I created for myself, but really, I wanted people to like me. Now I can say I confidently make things for my own enjoyment.
Katya: I write/create for this woman I met once at the mall. She was folding sweaters at Ann Taylor Loft. I think her name was Laurie.
Whose praise of your work is most important?
Trixie: I would say that anybody I'm inspired by—them liking it is a big deal to me. Like, if it's an artist that I love and I find out they like something I did, it means a lot.
Katya: Finding out that Bjork was a fan of mine was a pretty big moment.
How do you define success?
Trixie: I would say that success is finding balance. But if you make enough money to live, you're inspired by what you do, and you have enough time to have a rich personal life, you've won. You've conquered everything.
Katya: I define success as being able to create work that is resonant with my fans without sacrificing my creative vision.
What do you consider your greatest achievement?
Trixie: I played Radio City Music Hall yesterday for a sold-out audience, and I would say that that is one of those moments. Even if someone knows nothing about me, that's now a defining experience in my life.
Katya: I am very proud of our show, Trixie and Katya Live, specifically the show in Wellington where we kept it so cold that I didn’t sweat a drop.
What is your perfect day?
Trixie: My perfect day is late summer or early winter, otherwise known as fall.
Katya: My perfect day is one where I wake up at my house, drink a glass of water with fresh lemon, eat a hearty breakfast, have a fierce workout, and then head to my studio, blast the music, and sew a dress that I inevitably hate and tear apart.
Do you have a guilty pleasure?
Trixie: I don't have guilty pleasure because they don't feel bad about loving things.
Katya: I don’t believe in the concept of guilty pleasures, but I own an absurd amount of scented candles. I like to line them up on my staircase and light them all.
What would people be surprised to know about you?
Trixie: People would be surprised to know that I'm obsessed with birds. I think people know that I like birds, but I have an earnest interest in reading nonfiction about birds.
Katya: Between Trixie’s and my podcast, YouTube shows, books, and my social media presence, it feels like everything there is to know about me is truly out there. I don’t think a ton of people know that I actually have a gorgeous mezzo-soprano singing voice that has been compared to Ella Fitzgerald and Barbra Streisand.
