Kristi Waters brings her glamor to the streets of New York City in this recent photo shoot. Credit: Mateo Oscar

San Antonio drag icon Kristi Waters has been showered with love and support since sharing news about her stage three cancer diagnosis earlier this month.

“I’ll be stepping away from performing for some time to focus on treatment and my recovery,” Waters posted on social media on June 17. “I’m determined to fight with everything I’ve got and come back stronger, healthier and more grateful than ever to do what I love.”

Amid the swift outpouring was a post from a local drag production company stating, “360 Queen Entertainment is sending all our love, strength and support to our incredible friend Kristi Waters as she takes on stage three cancer with the same power, grace, and fire she’s always brought to everything she does. … She’s been a guiding voice, a fierce presence and a source of endless love for this community.”

A Corpus Christi native who moved to San Antonio in “2015-ish,” Waters worked as an elementary school teacher before dedicating herself to drag full-time. Living up to an admirable work ethic she attributes to her parents, the 38-year-old now boasts a 19-year career that goes beyond the expectations of drag. In addition to an exhaustive performance schedule, Waters has developed one-woman comedy shows such as I Promise I’m Funny, acted in campy plays and served as general manager of a buzzy rooftop bar. Currently, Waters is multitasking as the star performer, entertainment director and DJ at Let’s Be Honest, where she’ll continue working through Pride month.

Impressively, Waters’ vital role in the community has brought her a level of mainstream recognition which most drag performers could only dream of. In 2022, she was tapped as Grand Marshal for Visit San Antonio’s inaugural Pride River Parade. The following year, Mayor Ron Nirenberg presented Waters with an official commendation applauding her efforts within the LGBTQ+ community. And in 2024, Waters was crowned Countess of the River Walk based on scholarship funds she raised benefiting Alamo Colleges Hospitality Management students. Her popularity is also routinely evidenced in our annual Best of San Antonio readers poll, in which she’s perennially named Best Drag Performer.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, her leadership and kindness made her the drag mother of choice for local performer Aruba Waters and San Antonio-born Drag Race superstar Jorgeous — the latter of whom is on the stacked lineup for Waters’ upcoming “Slay You Later” benefit show on July 5 at Woodlawn Pointe.

“It’s not a farewell show,” Waters emphasized about the event, which will be complemented by other community fundraisers, including a benefit hosted by Artisan Distillery & Craft Bar (10 p.m. Thursday, June 26) and a “Dancing for Kristi” cardio dance at Let’s Be Honest (7 p.m., Thursday, July 24).

“I feel like the entire community and city have wrapped their arms around me,” Waters shared in a follow-up post on social media. “Thank you all so much for the love and support! Happy Pride! Be kind!”

We recently caught up with Waters to chat about her impressive career and ways her many friends and fans can show their support during her journey.

Let’s rewind a bit before we get into the matter at hand. Did your teaching career overlap with you becoming a drag performer?

I was still kind of doing drag at the time [but] I quit for a little bit to focus on teaching. Then I quit teaching to do drag full-time.

Did you enjoy being a teacher?

I guess in the beginning, yeah. But towards the end, I was just done.

“I feel like the entire community and city have wrapped their arms around me,” Waters said in a social media post. “Thank you all so much for the love and support! Happy Pride! Be kind!” Credit: Kevin Ryan Conlon

You’ve proven yourself as a comedian with your one-woman shows. Do you ever collaborate with writers or comedians — or is that all you?

The ones that I’ve done in the past, I kind of just threw them together by myself. I’ll just pick a playlist, and go off the music to [build] the show.

We’ve enjoyed your performances as Blanche Devereaux in the Golden Girls parody Thank You for Being a Friend.

We were supposed to do one this year, but there was too much going on. Those shows are based on scripts from specific episodes — so we just recreate the episode [live onstage].

Did you specifically go after the role of Blanche?

Before we ever did the show, we were randomly at Woodlawn Pointe one night and someone said we should do the Golden Girls as a skit for one of the drag shows we were doing there. And I said, “Well, I guess I’ll play the slutty one.”

You’ve been pretty busy the last couple years. Can you give us a snapshot of what you’ve been up to?

Now that I’m at Let’s Be Honest, I’ve been doing a lot more events and shows and traveling a little bit more. And in the past couple of months, I’ve been doing a lot of work with [local brokerage firm] the Real Estate Dolls. I’ve been doing their videos and helping them with editing and stuff. And then everything else was kind of happening in the background. I guess I was just kind of putting up with the pain and still working.

How and when did you receive your cancer diagnosis?

I had surgery in May, and that’s when they found a mass. And then I got the diagnosis about two weeks ago. I’ve been performing the whole time — through everything. And I’ve just been pushing through and doing as much as I can. But now it’s time to take it seriously and get it fixed.

Do you know how long your treatment will take and what it entails?

They said a minimum of six weeks. So I’ll be out for six weeks, and it could be more. I just don’t know how I’ll react to the chemo and radiation.

How can people help?

So I’m still working for the next week at Let’s Be Honest. We have the Saturday and Sunday drag brunches and my Saturday night shows. And then I’m planning a “Slay You Later” show at Woodlawn Pointe. It’s not a farewell show — it’ll be kind of like a party. And right now I also work Sunday nights at Pink Shark — I’ll be working there for Pride. And then I have a Pride Wrap Party at the Kimpton Hotel on the last Sunday of the month.

Beyond folks coming out to show support in person — and hopefully tipping you generously — is there a crowdfunding campaign?

Yes, my friend Jamie Zapata started a GoFundMe. And I have my CashApp and Venmo details listed in my Instagram bio link.

I also meant to ask you about your strategy for winning Best of San Antonio? How do you rally the troops?

Mainly just by posting Stories on social media.

You’re great at marketing yourself, did you study marketing at all?

No, I just grew up with a strong mindset from my parents: If you want something, you have to work hard for it. I owe my work ethic to my parents. I would rather be working than doing anything else. It’s gonna be tough not being able to perform for so long — I truly will miss it.

I hope you’ll at least sing in the shower.

(Laughs.) Lip-syncing!

“I owe my work ethic to my parents,” Waters told the Current. “I would rather be working than doing anything else.” Credit: Scarcliff

Crowdfunding Campaign

Search for “Support Kristi Waters Fight Against Cancer” on gofundme.com.

Pride Wrap Party

Hosted by Kristi Waters with performances by Miss Kendoll, Kylie Gorgeous Dlux and Nilaya Mathews. $10-$50 at eventbrite.com, 6-8 p.m. (VIP meet-and-greet at 5 p.m.) Sunday, June 29, Tenfold Rooftop, Kimpton Santo Hotel, 431 S. Alamo St., (210) 222-1000, santohotelsanantonioriverwalk.com.

‘Slay You Later’ All Star Benefit Show

Hosted by Nadine Hughes with performances by Jorgeous, Chola Magnolia, Foxxy Blue Snacks, Jasper St. James, Salem, Shayla Shimmy and many more. $10 donation at the door (reserve advance VIP tables by texting the number below), 9 p.m. Saturday, July 5, Woodlawn Pointe, 702 Donaldson Ave., (210) 213-5127, woodlawnpointecenter.org.

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This article appears in Jun 12-25, 2025.