Miyonnee: Hi, this is Miyonnee Hickman with MO Ho Justice and I’m doing—for the Ballroom Portrait Series, and can you please give me your name and your pronouns, please?

Meko Ebony: I am the Up-and-Coming Icon Meko Ebony. My pronouns are them and they.

Miyonnee: Okay, and how long have you been in Ballroom and what’s your category or categories?

Meko Ebony: I’ve been in Ballroom for 25 years now. My category when I first started was Big Boy Performance and Big Boy Runway, and a flame initiated inside of me that made me want to be a commentator. The first ball I attended, I knew that I wanted to be a commentator when I saw the commentating in seeing the balls. So I started commentating like in 2001—

Miyonnee: Mm-hmm.

Meko Ebony: —as well.

Miyonnee: Okay okay, and what community do you come from, like where does Meko come from?

Meko Ebony: Well, I—when you say what community I come from, like, the LG—within the LGBT community?

Miyonnee: No, like—like where do you come from, like where were you raised, you know like—you know typically what we would say is “what hood you from?” [Laughs] You know? But I gotta be professional, like what community do you come from ... you know, like where did Meko come from, where was Meko raised?

Meko Ebony: Okay. Meko comes from the heart of North City St. Louis. I was raised on the Northside of St. Louis all my life, I have grew up in the North City area.

Miyonnee: Okay perfect! And so what is your Cinderella story? How did you get to the ball?

Meko Ebony: Oh! So my Cinderella story is ... I was a freshman at Lincoln University in Jefferson City, and my dorm mate—he was from St. Louis, and they actually went to Chicago over the weekend for a ball. And I was actually supposed to go with them but I ended up not going. Mind you, St. Louis had—at this time St. Louis had a host of free balls that I had never attended.

So they—he got back in town, we was all on the phone, and he was like “we was at the ball, and the emcee was saying ‘when you voguing fem fem fem, just to get your tens tens tens, you the creme de la creme creme creme, I want you to stop shawam!’”

And I’m like “what did you just say?”

So he repeated himself, and I wrote it down—never been to a ball before. Every time they would have like vogue practice in our dorm, I would watch them, I would actually say that chant and they would tell me other lil stuff to say while they’re voguing.

So I stopped school, came back to St. Louis, they were—when they got back to St. Louis, I met Mechee Bulgari at the time.

Miyonnee: Mm-hmm.

Meko Ebony: And it just so happened they were going to a ball in Chicago. And so I was like, “I got gas money, let me ride with y’all!”

Miyonnee: [Laughs] Okay.

Meko Ebony: We didn’t have a hotel room, we go down to Chicago, we got dressed in a KFC bathroom across the street from the ball. And the ball was actually at the venue where Soul Food was at—the movie Soul Food, when it first comes on, the venue when, you know, the wedding reception and Bird catches her husband dancing. The ball was actually there in the basement, right across the street. We got dressed in the KFC. So ... we get to the ball, the first emcee, he was really just okay. And the second emcee came, he was like a hour late, he came, he was like “the roof, the roof, the roof is on fire! We don’t need no water, let it burn!” And I was like, y’all, I don’t know what’s going on, but whatever he’s doing, that’s what I wanna do. So I like literally watched this man the whole entire night, just starstruck.

And so after that I start like emceeing, I start walking Big Boy Performance, I start walking Big Boy Runway. Then I dabbled into Drag Realness, but in the midst of doing that I started emceeing, and ... being a newcomer, people wouldn’t hire me to emcee their balls, some people didn’t like my voice because I was still new at it, and it’s like I would scream instead of commentating. So I started throwing my own functions and I’m like, baby who’s gonna tell you you can’t emcee your own ball?

Miyonnee: Right.

Meko Ebony: So I start doing my ball in fall 2002 at the G Spot, and just see doors start opening for me to where I start evolving. And it’s like—sometimes I don’t like my voice, but ... that day at that ball when I saw Frank Rodeo, it was just like, this is what I wanna do. I don’t care about nothing nobody says, I want to be a Ballroom commentator. And here it is, going on 25 years later, I’m a commentator.

Miyonnee: Yes you are. And one of the best commentators.

That’s so crazy, because I won my first ball six years after you started at the G Spot in 2008. (Laughs)

Meko Ebony: Yes.

Miyonnee: Okay so—

Meko Ebony: Yeeessss.

Miyonnee: Okay so, what do you do now professionally?

Meko Ebony: Well now professionally I am a supervisor ... at a pawn shop, and I work part-time as a hair colorist, and I dabble in a lot of other things as far as like emceeing fashion shows, hair shows, that Ballroom has opened the door for me to emcee these different hair shows and fashion shows and do like runway bootcamps. So I have a lot of different titles under my belt.

Miyonnee: Okay, okay. That’s amazing, that is so amazing. So, what communities do you serve now?

Now this can be, you know like, communities—LGBTQ, if you still serve the Northside area, like, you know, what communities do you serve now?

Meko Ebony: I still serve—I do outreach every chance I get. I would say I serve at the Forest Park Community College, because that’s a community within itself.

Miyonnee: Mm-hmm.

Meko Ebony: I work there with the LGBTQI [VOICES], I serve North City still, and I will say I’m just an advocate for all of these—I actually really serve, you know, support all of these communities. Because when anything goes on—they need a donation, a helping hand or, you know, any type of volunteer work—I’m there.

And I’m also part of the first Black LGBT fraternity [Delta Phi Upsilon] for gay men of color, so I also serve that as well. Like we do a lot of outreach and a lot of service in the community of course, like donating to different—we just did a donation to the Covenant House like two weeks ago. So we work with different organizations and donate to like different homeless shelters, youth shelters, you know ... food drives, whatever the community needs.

Miyonnee: That is incredible. Thank you so much for your service. We definitely appreciate it, it’s so good to learn from the up-and-coming Icon. The last question that I have for you is, where do you see yourself in the next ten years?

Meko Ebony: So actually, in the next ten years, I actually see myself as a—probably a counselor at a school, or an educator. I’m actually finishing up my degree at UMSL—25 credit hours shy from my bachelor’s. I see myself in the next five years working probably in the educational field, doing something probably with disability students.

Miyonnee: Uh-huh.

Meko Ebony: Just to get my feet in the [inaudible]. But that’s like been a goal of mine since I was a child, so—

Miyonnee: Okay! That is incredible. I mean, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to cut you off. I’m sorry.

Meko Ebony: I’ll say it’s—that’s the five year plan, but in the next ten years I do see myself probably having a foster child or something, and I always dreamed of having like a drop-in center, because I have worked with so many other different organizations, I feel like that can be my giveback to the community, my love and legacy to be left behind once I’m no longer here. A center where you can come and get tested, [dance, get your hair cut or done], take showers, get a meal. And then it will just be a different type of center than the other centers we have.

Miyonnee: Yes. Yes, yes. That sounds so amazing. That’s something that I’ve been wanting to do and I—I had in my mind as well. I think that’d be so dope. And if I could partner with you in any way possible I would love to ... you know, like if you need any of my help or what—you know, if you—if it was okay if we—if I partner with you personally, and/or my organization MO Ho Justice Coalition. But that is something I definitely have had in my mind for the longest, and I would love to, you know, link with you on that if possible.

But that is absolutely incredible, and I love everything that you’re doing, and we appreciate you so much. You are the Icon, you—my—my grandmama, been my granny since what, when I first came out, you was the first person that told me, you gonna be a girl. And I was—argued you up and down, “no I’m not!” I used to get so so mad at you, like “no I’m not granny, stop saying that! I’m a boy! I’m a boy!”

And you used to be like, “No you’re not, stop saying that! You a girl!” And baby, look at me now. [Laughs]

And I love you so much, and I thank you granny, I promise I do. We really appreciate this.