Aradia V is a 26-year-old Queer High femme who has been living in Chicago for the past year and a half. She currently works as a patient services specialist at Howard Brown Health Center. In the past year she has co-founded the Hellcat Hussies, a ‘queer.fat.femme.’ burlesque troupe that raises awareness of size acceptance and femme expression through neoburlesque. (As Aradia puts it, ‘we put the ‘ass’ back in sass.’) She is also the co-producer of the Mobtown Moxie Revue, a queer variety show that recently went on tour in the Pacific Northwest, visiting cities such as Vancouver, British Columbia; Portland, Ore.; and Seattle and Olympia, Wash. Since they formed in March of 2004, Aradia and the Hellcat Hussies have been featured in more than 30 shows, including benefits for $3Bill, QForce and the Windy City Blenders. They also participated in the 2004 Dyke march, EstroJam, The Sissy Butch Brothers: Gurlesque Burlesque, Berlin’s Women Obsession night and Gender Fusions’ ‘A Divine Extravaganza of Transmutation’ for Columbia College/Q Force. Most recently, they performed at the Queering Femininity Conference in Seattle in late May.
DID YOU KNOW? She is a Dianic Priestess (a witch), used to be a dog trainer, and, along with Annie Terrell (the other co-founder of the the Hussies and the Revue), sews most of the costumes for the Hellcat Hussies.