The last photograph taken of Brozyln Lechelle and her late mother hangs next to her bedside as a reminder of the support and love she received growing up.
Her mother, Jolene-Rae K. Kapua-Allison, and stepfather, Christopher R. Kapua-Allison were together for 20 years before he fatally shot his wife and then himself moments later.
Lechelle’s stepfather, who was part of the Hilo Police Department on the island of Hawaii for 11 years, used his own service revolver to commit the murder-suicide.
“I feel like if I would have called the cops, since he was a police officer, it would have only made it worse and it probably would have happened earlier,” Lechelle said, referring to the troubles her parents faced during their marriage. “To go through something for that long, she must have really loved him.”
Lechelle’s mother was always a big supporter of her career as a drag queen and loved watching her daughter when she performed traditional Tahitian dance.
Jolene attended Lechelle’s first running in the Miss Continental Plus Pageant in 2016.
“That one meant a lot to me that she was there because I had won some smaller pageants in Hawaii, but that first one was a huge circus,” said Lechelle as she recalled the motivation she received from her mother throughout her performing career.
For Lechelle’s father, the process of acceptance took longer; however, with some convincing from Lechelle’s grandmother, Judith Leslie, he became one of her biggest supporters.
“I had to explain to him for a long time, that’s how your son is, and he’s gone this far in life, and there’s nothing wrong with it,” Leslie said.
Growing up observing her grandmother, who she lived with for most of her life, was her incentive for applying makeup and sparked her interest in fashion and more feminine trends.
“I would paint my face in the morning, go to work, add some more makeup, and then perform at night. I enjoyed it and the hustle,” said Lechelle.
At the age of 16, Lechelle became close to a local Puerto Rican drag performer, Cookie Jones, who inspired her life of performing after a night of dressing up and dancing around the house.
By the time she was 17, it was time for her first taste of the spotlight.
“It was amazing. I did not think the crowd would be as receptive as they were and from there, I thought yeah this is what I’m supposed to do; I found a place for me,” Lechelle said.
After losing her mother, Lechelle knew that staying in Hawaii would only bring the daunting thoughts of the tragic death of her mother, but was met with overwhelming support from her family when she brought up the idea of moving to West Hollywood.
“My family said if you don’t go now you never will, so go; and after that I left,” Lechelle said explaining her hasty decision to leave her hometown island of Hawaii.
Having that push of support from everyone in her life in Hawaii, and her drag family in Los Angeles, made the transition seamless and expresses how blessed she felt during the short two week move.
After arriving in Los Angeles, and settling in her new apartment she shares with her cousin Sasha Colby, another drag queen performer, Lechelle began to do local performances and has performed at Long Beach’s iconic Hamburger Mary’s alongside her cousin.
Lechelle enjoys performing at these businesses that openly support the LGBTQ community because of the like-minded ideas shared and the non-judgemental environment.
“The people that you come across, you never know what their story is and you have to accept people for who they are,” Lechelle said.
Lechelle’s grandmother, was the one who encouraged and uplifted Lechelle to always remain herself no matter who she wanted to be, took Lechelle to legally change her name when she was 19 from Brock Leslie, to the performer name she uses today.
“People like my grandson, they must already be so afraid, it’s hard. We should not make it harder for them but a lot of people still do not understand and I have always told my grandson life goes on,” said Leslie.
After traveling back home to Hawaii to celebrate the one year passing of her mother, Lechelle is currently preparing for the next Miss Continental Plus held in Chicago. Lechelle still adds elements of traditional Tahitian dance to her performance in memory of her mother.