Double Platinum selling artist, Broadway star, reality tv star, and overall media presence, Aubrey O’Day, lends her unique and outspoken voice to the inaugural initiative of #30Voices30Days.
Starting on stage at five years old, Aubrey became known to the world as the breakout star of Making the Band 3 and 4, which birthed the international super group Danity Kane.
After which, she went on to star on Broadway in Hairspray, had a residency at Peepshow in Las Vegas, had her own tv show called All About Aubrey where she wrote, produced, and recorded her own solo album, as well as remaining in music with two ‘dumblonde’ albums, a third Danity Kane album, and has been dropping ep’s while maintaining a vigorous tour schedule throughout all of her music projects.
Additionally, O’Day has appeared on over 20 reality shows, most notably Celebrity Apprentice, Celebrity Big Brother, Famously Single, and RuPaul’s Drag Race amongst others.
Notably, O’Day is also very active in charity work, particularly supporting the LGBTQ+ community, as she came out as sapiosexual in 2019. From starting her own charity Fighting AIDS Now (F*A*N) to choosing GLSEN as her charity on The Celebrity Apprentice, O’Day uses her voice to uplift those who need an extra hand. Moreover, over the years, Danity Kane was the Mercedes Benz Pride representative for New York Pride and they closed the stage for Los Angeles Pride in 2014. Also, as an individual artist, O’Day was the Virgin America representative for San Francisco Pride for multiple years.
Founder and publisher, Derek Warburton, spoke candidly with O’Day about #30Voices30Days.
Who is the true you?
I believe at my core, I always try to lead with compassion, integrity, and equality. I also believe that we are ever evolving souls that grow as we go, and every element of growth can shift and shape the superficial levels of our consciousness so that what we may perceive as our authentic self will likely continuously adjust throughout time.
What are you most passionate about?
I am most passionate about utilizing my life in a way in which I can become a part of the change I want to see in the world. I want to leave the world a better place when I go, and that requires spending as much time as possible, understanding the power of my voice and being fearless when using it… speaking truth to power.
When do you feel your most authentic?
I feel most authentic when my mind, heart, gut, and soul are operating in one accord in agreement with each other publicly and privately. I feel most authentic when I am operating from my grace, intelligence, and all my strengths that are still strengthening. I feel authentic when I decide who I want to be in spite of who I am corned to be. I feel authentic when I stay flexible against all interpretations of me, and so harmony can be reflective disharmony, can flow away from you.
Why is it important to use your voice, especially when it comes to equality for the community?
We are very lucky as public figures to garner larger audiences than most can, and because of that, I feel we have a responsibility to fight for anyone that doesn’t get to participate in the system equally. Every person should feel safe to be everything they feel internally, overflow onto their external self. Everyone should have safe environments where being their authentic selves are promoted, rewarded, and leave a feeling of joy for them to appreciate the essence of their being.
Everyone on this earth, regardless of their sexuality, has something unique and special that they bring to the table, so everyone on this earth should understand the importance of being able to display their unique selves to the world, and within that knowledge understand that everyone on this earth should be given the safety of that right as well. We should all want for others what we want for ourselves in regards to the freedom as safety of expressing our most authentic selves.
Do you think there would be a lot less abuse in the entertainment industry if talent were able to live publicly as they truly are?
Since I entered the industry as a child, there were immediate expectations for me to be anything but me (my true authentic self), which hadn’t even been developed yet, it was taught to me by media trainers. I feel that because of those restraints, it was very hard for me to find what resonated authentically for me, as well as before I had a chance to grow into myself, my character was decided for me.
Because of that a lot of times sexuality, depending on when you became famous and how acceptable sexuality was in the category of entertainment you were in, many people had to do things in the dark. When things are done in the dark, they are usually not in environments that are safe, protected, and consensual.
If we could release the stigmas of needing artists to fit into molds in order to be ‘sellable’ and encourage them to do the work to find their most authentic selves prior, or be OK teaching their fan base that they are still on their journey, I believe we would have safer environments normalizing sexual exploration vs. confusion or shame.
Therefore artist’s of all kinds wouldn’t need to escape to the dark and could stay informed healthy and consensual in the light, which would obviously inspire an entirely new generation of artists to be free with their sexuality, growth, and most importantly create safe spaces to do so.
