Money Talks: Kita Mean - How Drag Race winner beat financial failure

RuPaul's Drag race Down Under star Kita Mean talks life lessons and money with Liam Dann. Photo / Supplied

"The world of drag is very expensive," says Kita Mean, winner of the inaugural series of RuPaul's Drag Race Down Under.

"There is more and more expectation now to look expensive and to do more and more and look amazing. I think because it is on TV people are constantly trying to outdo what was on last season."

Kita - or her alter ego Nick Nash - grew up in Howick. Her first job was working as a Pak'nSave check-out operator, at 14.

"I never, in my wildest dreams would have been making a career and surviving off drag," she tells Liam Dann on the Money Talks Podcast.

But the desire to be an entertainer was always there, she says.

"But for different reasons I didn't think it was ever an option. Not only from a sustainability point of view, but also I was hiding a lot about myself back in those days."

"This was all pre- becoming 'a loud and proud gay, working drag queen'.

"It still blows my mind to this day that I can do what I do and pay a mortgage and do things like that."

But getting to the point of financial security was quite a journey, Kita says.

In some respects, the ups and downs of her financial journey mirror the personal journey she has been on to find and become her true self, she says.

"When I left school I had a few different jobs and I got into a lot of debt. I was really bad with money when I was young. I was a spender.

"I never really understood money or knew what it did," she says.

Like a lot of people she fell into the trap of easy credit and had little understanding of the impact that would have on her life.

"It was basically like dangling a carrot in front of me and I was like: 'woo hoo'. It felt like free money."

The real value of money and the importance of being in control of it didn't really kick in until she bought her first business.

Kita's mother agreed to help fund her stake as a partner in a restaurant business, mortgaging her house to do so.

Knowing what a big deal that was to her mother and rest of the family, Kita realised she had to make it work.

Kita is now is co-owner of Phoenix Entertainment and the Caluzzi Cabaret in Auckland, the co-host of the NZME podcast Kita and Anita's Happy Hour, and an author, with memoir - Life in Lashes - The Story of a Drag Superstar being released later this year.

Her priority became making the business work to pay back the money.

"I couldn't let it fall over," she says.

She paid off the debt and in doing so learned the discipline needed to keep making money.

"So after that debt was paid I worked on paying my personal debts."

It bothers her now how ill equipped she was to handle money and how easy it was to get into debt.

She'd like to see rules tightened for consumer lending and more financial literacy skills taught in school.

Money Talks is a podcast run by the NZ Herald. It isn't about personal finance and isn't about economics - it's just well-known New Zealanders talking about money and sharing some stories about the impact it's had on their lives and how it has shaped them.

Money Talks is available on IHeartRadio, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. New episodes come out every second Wednesday.

You can find more New Zealand Herald podcasts at nzherald.co.nz/podcasts or on IHeartRadio.