Nikita Dragun
The past year has been good for Nikita Dragun. The influential makeup artist and model — who boasts over 2.6 million YouTube followers she lovingly calls Draguns — won Beauty Creator of the year at the 2019 Streamy Awards, launched her makeup line Dragun Beauty, and premiered the Snapchat docu-series “Nikita Unfiltered.” But, she tells GO, “the most rewarding aspect of my career is the Dragun family I’m creating. Hopefully, my journey and story will pave the way for other future artists to achieve their dreams.” Her message of being out and proud shines through in her YouTube videos, where she’ll strip out of her colorful and sultry makeup and wigs to reveal how she gets rid of unwanted facial hair or to draw awareness to trans visibility. She’s candid about her own transgender journey — documenting her experiences with breast augmentation and facial surgery — and has “outed” herself to strangers as part of Trans Awareness Month (this year it happened virtually in the spirit of social distancing). “Being out has created my success because being visible, loud, and proud is what makes Nikita who she is,” Dragun tells GO. “Nikita wouldn’t exist without my trans journey, and I’m proud of what I’ve gone through to get to where I am.” —RK
