Jermaine Aranha

Jermaine Aranha

KEYNOTE SPEAKER

Toronto , Ontario

The Artistry and Activism of Canada's Drag Race Luminar, Resilience, and a Trailblazing LGBTQ+ Voice

Jermaine Aranha, known professionally as Anastarzia Anaquway, is a renowned Bahamian/Canadian drag queen, performer, advocate, and television personality. With a career spanning decades, Anastarzia Anaquway has not only dazzled audiences with captivating performances but has also become a powerful advocate for LGBTQ+ rights, diversity, and inclusion. Jermaine's journey is marked by incredible resilience, having overcome early life challenges and a horrifying hate crime. Anastarzia's rise to prominence in the world of drag includes winning over 20 prestigious pageants, making her a trailblazer in the field. Her groundbreaking appearance as the first Bahamian contestant on Canada's Drag Race captured the hearts of viewers and further solidified her status as an LGBTQ+ icon. Beyond the stage, Jermaine's commitment to advocacy has led to important dialogues on crucial issues, making him a beacon of strength, persistence, and hope in both the drag world and the fight for human rights and individuality.
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JERMAINE ARANHA BIOGRAPHY

Jermaine Aranha, widely recognized by the stage name Anastarzia Anaquway, is a Bahamian/Canadian drag queen, performer, advocate, and television personality. Born in Nassau, Bahamas, Jermaine has become a symbol of resilience, overcoming adversity, and promoting diversity, inclusion, and intersectionality.

Jermaine’s life story is marked by a series of challenges that began at a young age. After losing both parents, Jermaine lived with his grandmother, only to face her loss shortly after. These early losses shaped a tough and persevering spirit that has come to define Jermaine’s character.

Driven by the need to fight for everything in life, Jermaine’s introduction to drag was inspired by a local queen, Victoria Diamond, in 2002. Under the stage name Anastarzia Anaquway, Jermaine made his pageant debut later that year and quickly rose to prominence, winning over 20 prestigious pageants.

Anastarzia’s success on stage provided a platform to speak openly about personal experiences with hate crimes and homophobia in the Bahamas. In a horrifying incident in 2013, Jermaine was shot by two men. This attack led Jermaine to move to Canada, where he claimed asylum and continues his advocacy for LGBTQ+ rights.

Jermaine’s commitment to social causes extends to the themes of diversity, inclusion, and intersectionality. By sharing personal experiences and leveraging his public profile, Jermaine has played a vital role in opening dialogues about these important issues, both within the LGBTQ+ community and society at large.

Anastarzia made a significant impact as the first Bahamian contestant on Canada’s Drag Race, capturing hearts with her story of resilience. Jermaine’s subsequent participation in The Amazing Race Canada further expanded his platform.

In a career filled with glamour and triumph, Jermaine’s journey is also a testament to his ability to overcome life’s hardships. From the trauma of loss at a young age to the harrowing experience of a hate crime, Jermaine has emerged as a beacon of strength, persistence, and hope.

In addition to television appearances, Jermaine, as Anastarzia, regularly performs at events and has become an influential figure in the Canadian drag scene and as an advocate for racial, gender and sexuality inclusion. As Anastarzia continues to entertain and inspire, Jermaine’s voice resonates as a powerful advocate for human rights, individuality, and the courage to embrace oneself.

Currently based in East York, Toronto, Jermaine (Anastarzia Anaquway) continues to forge a path that celebrates uniqueness and fosters empathy and understanding. Their story, both on and off the stage, is a compelling narrative of triumph over adversity and a vivid illustration of the human spirit’s indomitable will.

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Articles & Media

Meet the racers of 'The Amazing Race' Season 9

CTV - etalk

Hosted by Olympic Gold Medallist Jon Montgomery, Season 9 of the mega-hit CTV Original series airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on CTV, CTV.ca, and the CTV app, beginning July 4 as an all-new cast of racers take their marks and prepare to embark on a non-stop, action-packed, high-stakes adventure of a lifetime.
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Bahamian Queen grateful for experience on Canada's Drag Race

Loop News

She may have been eliminated in episode three of Canada’s Drag Race but Anastarzia Anaquway is not sad. The Bahamian queen, the first Caribbean person to be cast on the Drag Race, said that achievement alone is enough to make her proud.
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Celebrity A new start on the rise Bahamian drag queen withstands backlash in pursuit of success

Issuu Inc.

Bahamian drag queen and asylum recipient Anastarzia Anaquway has survived the first two episodes of the Canadian reality show “Canada’s Drag Race”. He has also survived discrimination, death threats and multiple gun shots wounds. But Anastarzia, whose real name is Jermaine Aranha, has proved resilient.
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The Amazing Race Canada back for 9th summer run

BRIOUX.TV

In Tuesday night’s Ninth season premiere, the ten teams take off from the starting line in Winnipeg, Man. First stop is Calgary and on and on across Canada. But why is the episode titled, “I Hate Pancakes?” Who hates pancakes??
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CTV

SBC

Jermaine & Justin: Friends
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Jermaine Aranha Topic Presentations

No presentations have been added for this speaker.

Testimonials

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Jermaine Aranha travels from Toronto , Ontario & delivers customized and tailored keynote speeches, presentations, workshops and training sessions. on the topics enlisted below. These services are designed for a variety of audiences, industries, and event types and event formats.

FAQ

How to book Jermaine Aranha for an event?

Jermaine Aranha keynote speaker is an expert presenter and has a wide range of experience speaking to a wide variety of audiences and organizations. Jermaine Aranha delivers keynotes, workshops & training sessions. They may also host or emcee events. Hire Jermaine Aranha from Toronto, Ontario for your event to inspire the audience to take action and make change in their work and their lives. Your workplace will benefit from our keynote speaker and their keynote talks and speeches will shift the mindsets or behaviours for the audience members in Canada. 

Interested in booking Jermaine Aranha for an event?

Are you looking to hire Jermaine Aranha for your event? Jermaine Aranha Toronto, Ontario is a dynamic and engaging speaker that offers audiences researched content paired with expertise and a dynamic speaking ability. Jermaine Aranha is also a Canadian corporate consultant and coach and facilitates workshops and training sessions for a corporate audience. Jermaine Aranha is an expert keynote presenter and speaks on wide variety of topics. Hiring a great speaker for your event is important and working with a thought leader like Jermaine Aranha from Speakers Canada's roster will engage audiences into the content of the presentation to bring awareness and a fresh perspective for their approach to their work and their lives. Book Jermaine Aranha to educate, motivate and activate the audience through an interactive and entertaining presentation at corporate meetings and gatherings.

Known as a popular key note speaker in Canada, Jermaine Aranha creates life changing experiences for the participants with practical insights and strategic advice they can implement right after the session. Working with a one our leading expert speaker like Jermaine Aranha from Toronto, Ontario offers organizations a fresh perspective to assist the people of the organization. No matter if it is a government, association, or business crowd, Jermaine Aranha is a perfect speaker for your event. Through unique practical insights for trending topics and years experience speaking to different organizations, Jermaine Aranha focuses on changing individuals to make better decisions at work and their lives. No matter if you are holding an in person or virtual event, having an influential speaker such as Jermaine Aranha will engage, motivate, and activate the audience to make a change in their lives and inspire action for results to meet organizational goals. Your workforce will benefit from Jermaine Aranha's presentations and speeches, with measurable results set to shift the people of the organization and core direction of the company. Book Jermaine Aranha speaker for your annual general meeting, conference, summit, or convention in Canada.

How much does it cost to hire Jermaine Aranha for a keynote presentation or virtual event?

Jermaine Aranha is an expert professional key note speaker with a lot of experience speaking and delivering engaging talks to organizations and audiences in Canada. Each of Speaker Bureau Canada's talent have different ways to assess their fees, and Jermaine Aranha speaker fee ranges depending on the size of the audience, event format (in person or virtual), event location, and if the organization booking them is a non profit, association, government department/government agency or business/corporation. The speakers we work with are flexible with their fees, and it is important for us to learn more about your event before we approach them, as it is our role to work for you, and to help you find a speaker within budget. 

Please contact Speakers Bureau of Canada and provide us with your event details so that we can contact Jermaine Aranha to check availability or confirm the pricing and associated costs to hire a great speaker like Jermaine Aranha for your event. As Jermaine Aranha's agent and as a Canadian top speaker bureau and talent agency for speakers, we are able to propose each event opportunity from each host organization's behalf to try to help you get in touch with Jermaine Aranha and confirm them for your in person or online meeting/event. We can also provide and advise on the booking process and potentially negotiate their fee. Speakers Canada is a client focused speaker agency, and we work for you in finding good speakers for your team meetings and booking processes.

Jermaine Aranha Disclaimer

Speakers Bureau Canada assists companies and event planning teams seeking to hire talent like Jermaine Aranha for speaking engagements, virtual meetings, conference appearances, training sessions and workshops facilitations. Our Canadian speakers bureau does not claim to exclusively represent Jermaine Aranha, however they are represented by Speakers Canada, and we work with them closely for their Canadian speaking opportunities and bookings. As Canada's top speaker bureau, we represent Canadian motivational keynote speakers and professional guest speakers that will be available on your upcoming events date and location that are withing the budget. Our talented bureau speaker booking agency can help find business speakers or celebrity speakers that aligns with each organization, audience, event theme and the topic themes you hope for the speaker to address in their presentation. 

When SBC receives a request to book Jermaine Aranha we provide you with their speaker fees, travel costs and check their schedules. We work closely with the host organization's event planning team and the speaker to handle the logistics and to relay or negotiate associated costs. Our talented team members then will work with our talent directly or their agent/manager/assistant to confirm the Canadian speaker fee and travel expenses, so that event planning teams can receive an official quote for the speaker appearing at the event. Speaker fees and travel costs vary per speaker and our role is to contact Jermaine Aranha about your event, after we have connected with the event organizers to learn all the event details and/or conference program. Each booking request is unique since session durations and audience sizes can vary which may affect the speaker's fees. If you are looking to hire Jermaine Aranha, we recommend filling out the booking request form so a booking agent from Speakers Bureau Canada can get in touch with our talent to help you coordinate with your team to engage the speaker for a successful event.

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