TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A Taiwanese drag queen is set to appear on RuPaul’s Drag Race for the first time as the global reality TV series prepares for Season 16.

The U.S.-born, Taiwan-raised queen Nymphia Wind will bring her charisma, uniqueness, nerve, and talent to the runway when the season kicks off in January 2024. In the runup to the premier, the show’s YouTube channel released a “Meet the Queens” preview in which Nymphia described herself as a conceptual, cultural, and “very yellow” queen.

In her opening piece to camera, Nymphia, speaking in Chinese, announced that the “banana buddha” had made it. “I hope I can help Taiwan shine bright,” she said in a Facebook post shortly after her appearance on the show was announced.

In a 2022 interview with PTS Plus, Nymphia said that she first began wearing makeup at 17 years old. She said she was first introduced to Drag Race when studying in England and returned to develop a drag persona in Taiwan.

Nymphia, whose name out of drag is Leo Tsao (曹米駬), said that after completing her military service in Taiwan, she returned to Taiwan’s main island and began performing drag in night clubs and lip sync competitions. Living in a heteronormative society requires LGBTQ people to eradicate stigmas by using beauty as a weapon, she said.

Nymphia Wind will compete alongside 13 other queens for the title of “America's Next Drag Superstar." The season will debut on MTV on Jan. 6 in Taiwan, or Jan. 5 in the U.S.