Anyone who believes that Canadians are shy and reserved hasn’t seen Indigenous icon Ashley Callingbull, beauty content creator Stephanie “Glamzilla” Valentine and drag powerhouse Brock “Brooke Lynn Hytes” Hayhoe in action. The three self-made media stars have trailblazed their way to global acclaim, busting stereotypes as coolly as they bust a move at FASHION’s September 2024 cover shoot. They were complete strangers before gathering on-set at the Windsor Arms Hotel in Toronto but are soon a tangle of arms and legs in a compelling group shot.
It’s impossible to boil all of their achievements down to a few paragraphs. But here’s what you need to know, if you don’t already.
Jacket and skirt, prices upon request, Fendi. Top, from $850, Fugnitto. Shoes, $1,765, Tom Ford. Necklace, $80,500, Tiffany & Co.
Callingbull grew up physically and sexually abused and in poverty in Enoch Cree Nation in Alberta. “I didn’t even dare to dream because of where I came from and the conditions I lived in,” she explains during a quick break between shots. But she did want to dance ballet. “We obviously couldn’t afford it because we were picking cans and bottles for food. But my mom was able to get me into a dance class. We grabbed clothing from lost-and-found bins. We made the dream happen.” Dance became an escape from the racism she experienced when she started school. “I was like, ‘What is this?’ I had never felt shame being myself before.”
"I didn’t even dare to dream because of where I came from and the conditions I lived in."
Thanks to the support of her family, Callingbull rose above the haters. Being both pretty and poised, she entered the pageant world and became the first Indigenous Mrs. Universe in 2015 and in May 2022 the first Indigenous woman to be featured in a Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue. If that makes it sound like she was lovingly embraced by the mainstream, the truth is painfully different. When she was competing for the title of Miss Universe Canada in 2010, a journalist questioned what her talent would be—drinking Lysol or signing her welfare cheque with her toes. “That really, really hurt me,” Callingbull shares. “Everyone saw that newspaper. Some of the other pageant girls were trying to break me by bringing it in to show it off. I was feeling so alone. My mom was the only one who could afford to come to the pageant so I had just her for support. But that night, I was standing in the top five finalists and people were chanting my name. I thought I was going crazy because I started hearing drums and women trilling. I looked through the lights, and there were all these Native people dressed in regalia who had come from different reserves around Ontario. They came to talk to me after and said: ‘We all saw the article. We want to let you know that you’re never alone. Your people always have your back.’ That made me bawl my eyes out. And later, it lit a fire under my ass.”
That fire led to Callingbull being cast in the Gemini Award-winning TV series Blackstone, the recently released film The Great Salish Heist and Acting Good, a comedy series on CTV and Crave. She has a memoir in the works with HarperCollins, and she can also be found hosting sports events for the NHL, CFL and NLL, coaching other pageant hopefuls and volunteering at shelters. Progress? For sure. But there are still First Nations children growing up, like Callingbull did, without access to clean drinking water.
Coat, $275, Hilary MacMillan. Corset, $40, Vveyago. Shoes, $1,075, Giuseppe Zanotti. Earrings, $180, Swarovski.
Rings (top left), $7,470, (bottom left), $3,420, (top right),$6,220, and (bottom right), $9,720, Chopard. Legwear, $60, Wolford.
As immigrants from the Philippines, Valentine’s family also faced financial challenges. But her bedroom walls were decorated with images from fashion magazines that she bedazzled with gold glitter. It was clear where her passion lay. “But my mom said, ‘You are either going to become a lawyer or a nurse,’” she says matter-of-factly from the makeup chair, where she is getting touched up between shots. “So I went to college. The first thing my classmates said to me was ‘This isn’t fashion school,’ because I was wearing a Juicy Couture backpack and ‘Roman Holiday’ lipstick from Nars. And they were right. I should have been in fashion school.” In 2013, she quit her job as a court clerk to become a content creator under the handle “Glamzilla.” Success wasn’t instant. “There were so many times I couldn’t afford lighting, clothes or makeup to make content with,” she recalls. “There were times when I purchased makeup palettes instead of paying for rent on time.”
"There were times when I purchased makeup palettes instead of paying for rent on time."
In 2020, Valentine started posting her 60-second beauty reviews on TikTok, and they quickly went viral. She now has 2.4 million followers on the platform plus an additional 836K on Instagram. She appeared on Kim Kardashian’s Lifetime show, Glam Masters, and boasts that Rihanna is literally her “bestie” and has a TikTok video to prove it. But even more impressive is that in a world of beauty influencers who can be easily bought, she built her reputation by offering candid opinions, even though some of her posts are paid. “Regardless of whether a post is sponsored or not, it is a true reflection of my first impressions,” she ensures. “I film without any edits, cuts or filters.” Watching Glamzilla is compelling whether you are into makeup or not. Her excitement is infectious, and in less than 10 seconds you’ll be convinced that you can’t live another day without a blush balm or lip oil.
Jacket, $4,990, and pants, $2,050, Balenciaga. Necklace, $101,500, Tiffany & Co. Shoes, Hytes’s own.
Not everyone with a high public presence is comfortable peddling products, however. “I have so much respect for influencers because you have to be so motivated,” says Hayhoe, who captured the nation’s hearts when he appeared as Brooke Lynn Hytes on season 11 of RuPaul’s Drag Race. “To sit down in front of a camera and be like, ‘Hey guys!’ That’s not something that comes naturally to me. I’m a very introverted kind of person.”
"To sit down in front of a camera and be like, ‘Hey guys!’ That’s not something that comes naturally to me. I’m a very introverted kind of person."
But we are not talking shy, wallflower introvert. Hayhoe is an artist, expressing himself first as a ballet dancer and now as a drag performer. He came to drag as a member of the cross-dressing dance troupe Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo. He studied at Canada’s National Ballet School despite his parents’ resistance. “I said, ‘If you do not let me do this, I will never forgive you,’” Hayhoe recalls, fully done up as Ms. Hytes for FASHION’s shoot day. They were supportive of his first professional job with the Cape Town City Ballet in South Africa. And they were even supportive when he went to Les Ballets Trockadero, which he was surprised by because of his strict Christian upbringing. “They enjoyed it, I think because it was comedy,” he says. “But the minute I stopped doing ballet and started doing drag, they were like, ‘Whoa, what’s happening here?’ I was doing it in bars, so I think they thought I was a stripper.”
Did Hayhoe always want to be in the public eye? “I always kind of felt that I was destined for something different,” he admits. “When I was in Grade 9 at Etobicoke School of the Arts here in Toronto, I was in a music theatre program. I was at one of my first-ever dance classes with this teacher named Victoria. We did some combination, and she just stopped and walked up to me and said, ‘You’re going to have a very interesting life’ and walked away. That has always stuck with me. And she was not wrong. I have had a very interesting life.”
On Callingbull: Corset, $850, Mr. Haque. Shoes, $1,195, Christian Louboutin. Earrings, $3,370, Chopard. Bracelet, $46,700, Cartier. Legwear, $60, Wolford.
On Hytes: Corset, $850, Mr. Haque. Shoes, $1,245, Christian Louboutin. Earrings, $11,300, Cartier. Legwear, $60, Wolford.
On Valentine: Corset, $850, Mr. Haque. Shoes, $1,195, Giuseppe Zanotti. Bracelet, $6,750, and ring, $13,500, Cartier. Legwear, $60, Wolford.
Valentine, though, was certain of her destiny. “I always told my mom I’d be a star,” she says. “She didn’t believe me. But it was never a surprise. I have always loved people; I have always loved pop culture. I loved networking and talking to people at church or the mall. And connecting with people through beauty has been a completely amazing journey.” Those connections have deepened even further since she began sharing her more than 200-pound weight loss after having gastric bypass surgery. “I’ve been able to be raw with my audience and tell them how I really feel and what I’m going through,” she says. “I’ve learned to be a better me.”
The downside of celebrity is the internet trolls who go on the attack, often for no reason other than to get a rise out of their target. Hayhoe’s worst experience was during season one of Canada’s Drag Race. “I got a lot of hate for the way I judged or the decisions we made,” he explains. “People were telling me to kill myself, and I was getting death threats. It’s crazy.”
Callingbull is often hit with racist comments, which she deflects with ease. “I’m like: ‘That’s the best you got? I’m Native and I’m killing it. I’m killing it.’ It doesn’t faze me anymore because people have said the worst. They’ve tried to break me, but no one can break me. I was already broken. And I pieced myself back together.”
Valentine also uses inner strength to gird herself against any harassment. “I never take it personally, because I’m sharing my own thoughts and opinions,” she says. “And what I’ve learned over the past 13 years is at the end of the day, both negative and positive comments should not impact my own thoughts about my art or who I am, and that has helped me a lot along the way.”
Despite the possible pushback they may experience, all three of FASHION’s cover subjects say their lives are pretty much an open book—so no gatekeepers here. However, Callingbull does keep the majority of the work she does with women in shelters private. “I have pictures I’m not allowed to post because they’re so personal, but when I go there, I honestly see myself.” Using her influence one-onone is critical, she emphasizes. “It’s hard to get to these northern or Indigenous communities, whether they’re flyin or not. But it’s really important for people to see that the dream is attainable—not virtually or in a picture online—that someone is driving eight hours north in a blizzard. Because if someone had done that for me, I would have felt like they really cared. Sometimes people just need to hear to their face that they are worthy.”
When the cover shoot wraps, Callingbull dashes to catch a flight back to Saskatoon, where she lives with her husband, professional hockey coach Wacey Rabbit. A week later, she’ll head to New York to shoot a number of fall ad campaigns, and in July, after this issue goes to press, she’ll return to compete in the Miss Universe Canada pageant (in which she placed second runner-up in 2010). Hayhoe is returning to Chicago and his two cats before repacking for jaunts to Salt Lake City, the Philippines, Chile and Brazil. And Valentine is off to New York and then heading to Vancouver for a brand trip.
The pressure to keep moving, to keep evolving, to stay relevant is unrelenting, since fresh talent can quickly go viral and build a fan base of millions. Or as Hayhoe puts it, “There’s always a new girl who is younger and prettier coming up the stairs behind you.”
Jacket and pants, prices upon request, CFCL. Necklace, $39,000, Tiffany & Co.
Coat, $5,485, dress, $2,460, and belt, $535, Michael Kors. Shoes, $1,725, Balenciaga. Hat, $250, Imago Millinery. Earrings, from $75, Swarovski.
Coat, $3,350, By the Namesake. Earrings, $430, and ring, $300, Swarovski. Legwear, $60, Wolford. Shoes, Hytes’s own.
