Trell Chanel: “You like my voice?”

Miyonnee: “It turn you on?” [Laughs] I’m recording you.

Trell Chanel: [Laughs]

Miyonnee: You recording right now. So stop act—act like you got some sense. This why I told them I didn’t wanna do y’all interview ’cause we too damn funny.

Trell Chanel: Okay, I’ll sit down.

Miyonnee: Okay so, this is the Ballroom Portrait interview. Tell me your name, your pronouns, your category, and how long you have been in Ballroom.

Trell Chanel: Hi my name is ...

Miyonnee: Stop playing Trell.

Trell Chanel: I’m not playing! This is [inaudible].

Miyonnee: Okay, okay, okay.

Trell Chanel: Hi, my name is Legendary Father Trell Chanel.

Miyonnee: Mm-hmm.

Trell Chanel: My pronouns are him and he. I’ve been walking balls since 2009, so that put me about 15 years now.

Miyonnee: And your category.

Trell Chanel: My category when I first started was Runway, American Runway. Then I transitioned to Realness, which was Schoolboy Realness.

Miyonnee: Okay.

Trell Chanel: But I’m legendary for Thug Realness.

Miyonnee: Okay, and what community do you come from? Like where do you come from?

Trell Chanel: What do you mean?

Miyonnee: Like, where did you grow up, like how? Where do you come from? The streets? From the—the suburbs?

Trell Chanel: Oh yeah, I’m—I’m from the streets of East St. Louis.

Miyonnee: Okay. What’s your Cinderella story, like how did you get introduced, what—how did you get to the ball?

Trell Chanel: My Cinderella story was—at the time, she was a drag queen. I was dating this—she’s now transitioned to be a full trans woman, her name is Asia Ebony.

Miyonnee: Mm-hmm.

Trell Chanel: Well, she’s not Ebony anymore. But I was dating her—

Miyonnee: Mm-hmm.

Trell Chanel: —at the time, and she introduced me—I was not for it at first. I did not like nothing about balls, because they was taking her away from me.

Miyonnee: Mm-hmm.

Trell Chanel: So ... I just gave in. It was like, oh, so if I’m going to be able to spend time [with her], I guess I have to join balls. So she introduced me to my late father, Don Juan Ebony, in 2009 and I became a Ebony. And that’s really what happened.

Miyonnee: You walked your first ball in 2009.

Trell Chanel: Yeah, I walked my first ball in ’09.

Miyonnee: Okay, so how did you find your role in the community, like what’s—and what’s your role in the community, and tell—like as far as a community leader, like how did you come into that?

Trell Chanel: So now my role in the community is ... Pops.

Miyonnee: Like ... “Pops,” like a father?

Trell Chanel: Yeah, I’m more of a father figure now. [I mentor and usher in the new generation.] I’ve worked in the HIV field ... roughly 7-8 years. After that it just was like, pretty much up from there. [I’ve built family through community and Ballroom over the years. Now it’s my time to mentor, and in the future pass the torch.]

Miyonnee: And how did you find that role? Like how did you get to that—

Trell Chanel: Growing up—

Miyonnee: —“Pops” role, like what ... steps happened, and—you know, so people getting that respect and that leadership.

Trell Chanel: Realizing that I had lackluster fathers, and I wanted to be a better father to my kids.

Miyonnee: Yeah. That makes perfect sense. Okay, so the last question is, where do you see Trell Chanel in ten years?

Trell Chanel: Oh, in ten years I see myself ... not walking balls.

Miyonnee: Okay.

Trell Chanel: I don’t see myself still walking balls in ten years, I may pop up here and there, but ... I think my time is pretty much winding down.

Miyonnee: Mm-hmm.

Trell Chanel: Focusing more on my real, you know, personal life, opening some businesses, doing some different things in my life, still trying to mold the younger generation that comes back. But in the next ten years, I don’t see myself in Ballroom.

Miyonnee: Well, that concludes our interview for the evening. Thank you so much, Trell Chanel, for interviewing for the Ballroom Portrait series. We truly appreciate you.