My role: Social Strategist

I helped launch Merriam-Websters's first-ever-created #dragdictionary week—“Thank a Queen.”

Shorty Award Finalist and One Show Finalist

Merriam-Webster’s Colorful Drag Dictionary Week - “Thank a Queen”

BACKGROUND

Today, words like tea, serve, and shade have taken on new meanings, with mainstream artists like Taylor Swift incorporating them into song lyrics and GOT’s Sophie Turner “spilling the tea” all over her Instagram. But these terms can be traced back to Black Femme, Latinx, and drag cultures, long before they were adopted by the mainstream, across TV screens, social feeds, and even at political conventions.

So we set out to give credit where credit was due and partnered with the world’s most well-known dictionary publisher helping millions of people understand and use language better for centuries, Merriam-Webster, to launch its first-ever-created #dragdictionary week—“Thank a Queen.” We started with six of the most commonly used words—read, tea, serve, shade, beat, and realness—and matched them to the drag icons who embody and serve up those terms every day. And then as a tribute, we created a series of vibrantly illustrated posters, one for each color of the rainbow, each as vibrant as the cultures and queens themselves.

Art directionally, inspiration was drawn from vintage art deco posters with a modern and contemporary spin. They were treated almost monochromatically so that when lined up together, they represent the heritage LGBTQ+ flag.

With zero budget and a lot of passion, the campaign did exactly what it was supposed to do—it reached the world using art and expression as a means to draw attention to subcultures and their role in how we communicate as a society today. All of the comments were exactly what we hoped for too—to get people talking, having conversations, and building awareness. With enough usage of these words in mainstream publications, the hope is to one day get these definitions added to the dictionary.

From 'tea' to 'shade' to 'realness,' a lot of the words we see and use every day have deep roots in drag and in particular the black drag community. Each day this week we'll be celebrating these words and phrases with our #DragDictionary spotlight, so check back as we #ThankAQueen and give credit where credit is due. #HappyBdayRuPaul (Artwork courtesy of the brilliant @totes.jorge)

1,706 Likes, 58 Comments - Merriam-Webster (@merriamwebster) on Instagram: "From 'tea' to 'shade' to 'realness,' a lot of the words we see and use every day have deep roots in..."