Ana Masreya Is a Luxuriously Bedazzled Love Letter to Egypt

In January 2026, a long-awaited Instagram post announced that Ana Masreya, one of New York City’s iconic drag queens, would return from a four-year hiatus. “Let me show you I still have what it takes to be the Queen of the Nile,” she wrote. “Come meet the new and improved Ana Masreya. She’s turning 30! Did you miss me? 💋I know you did. And I sure as hell missed you, too.”

So, who is the new and improved Ana Masreya? “Someone who has figured out her eyebrows,” she tells OkayAfrica. “When I first started doing drag eight years ago, my eyebrows were up by my forehead. Since then, they have changed shapes and moved down towards my real eyebrows, where they’re supposed to be. Ana Masreya’s face evolves as her eyebrow journey progresses.” 

The elusive diva is set to kick off this Pride weekend with a special edition of her Nefertitties party. Ahead of the fun, she allowed OkayAfrica a glance into the magic and sweat that go into maintaining her luxurious existence.

“Ana Masreya [Arabic for “I am an Egyptian woman”] was born out of my love for performance art and fashion and all things related to Arab culture,” she says. “When I moved to New York City, I felt there was a niche missing for Arab representation in drag.” 

From her early performances — she’d throw on a wig and wear an outfit she bought off the rack — Ana Masreya soon evolved into a guardian of a kind of drag that is rooted in non-Western cultures and their music, whether that be Egyptian, Moroccan, or Mexican. Only one year into her existence, she started producing Nefertitties, a drag show and party inspired by, but not exclusive to, Egyptian cabaret. 

The event series is named after Queen Nefertiti, who some believe reigned in ancient Egypt as a pharaoh. “To rule, she had to be a king,” says Ana Masreya. “So in her own way, Nefertiti was doing drag.” 

She admits she does not know much about the country’s ancient history beyond Nefertiti, but that does not change the fact that Ana Masreya, in its essence, is an incredibly sparkly love letter to Egypt. Her aesthetic is influenced by her upbringing in Cairo and, specifically, that one fabulous auntie that everyone looks forward to seeing at a family dinner. 

“Everyone has Ana Masreya in their life, whether it’s their mom, their mom’s friend, or an aunt at the nady (social club),” she says. “She walks into the room and lights it up by being loud, hot, glamorous, kind of crazy, but really funny. You know when she shows up, there are some ridiculous things that will be said.” 

Ana Masreya designs her own sets and makes all her costumes herself, spending days, weeks, and sometimes months on a single outfit once she has envisioned it. Inspiration comes from daily interactions, things people say, and whatever she’s currently interested in. With rhinestones, corsets, and ostrich feathers, any prompt can be turned into an Ana Masreya look.  

The diva recently wore an Americana-inspired costume drenched in over 200 000 rhinestones, which she glued onto the fabric by hand. To add her own touch to the cowboy hat and boots, she created a cape from a kuffiyeh, which she attached to her shoulder; it was also completely covered in rhinestones. “It took me over 2200 hours to make this outfit. The kuffiyeh alone took me 80 hours. I do it out of the complete love for creating the glamor,” she says. “It’s therapeutic, but it can also feel overwhelming.” 

Until recently, Ana Masreya crafted from her small New York City apartment, contending with the messiness and loudness of drag and often not finding space to exist outside it. “It was very overwhelming not to have a separation between where I live and the space it requires to create all these things,” she says. “It’s not like a guitar that you put on the side, and it looks pretty. There’ll be 20 wigs and 20 heels and big outfits.” 

Now, she has a studio, a sort of outside-wardrobe, from which she can operate. Most importantly, she has a dedicated space where her beloved ostrich feathers can shed without colonizing her apartment. As she says this, she looks around and picks up a red thread, holding it in front of the camera. “It’s been eight months since I created this red cowgirl outfit, and they still come out of nowhere,” she says. “Sometimes I’ll be at the gym opening my duffle bag, and I’ll see a red feather on the floor, and I say ‘mostaheel!’ [Impossible!].” 

When the outfit is ready and the night of the performance arrives, Ana Masreya spends another four to five hours getting ready. Much of this time is spent on the enormous task of covering her thick eyebrows. “The most important part of drag makeup for any professional or beginner is figuring out how to do your eyebrows,” she says time and time again. 

Ana Masreya’s favorite memories are the early days of her drag existence, when she was “just a little drag queen in a bar in Williamsburg.” “I felt so fearless,” she remembers. “It was so exciting to meet and dance with all these queer Egyptians and Arabs and Muslims.” 

She most cherishes the interactive parts of her shows, such as inviting people onstage for a bellydance competition. “I love when they get over any embarrassment or nervousness and have their own moment to express themselves, too,” she says, passion rising in her voice. “They get a touch of Egyptian culture.” 

Ana Masreya exists for these moments, when she gets to celebrate all that she loves about Egypt. “I find Arab women so generous, hospitable, and kind,” she says. “I’m so proud of my background, and Ana Masreya was the first way I knew how to show that in a way that made sense and felt authentic. I’ve been building her in my head since I was a child.” 

She has not gone home in a while, but Ana Masreya regularly visits Cairo. “I close my eyes, and I literally get in the car and drive every single turn, shop, and building, all the way from home to school, just to make sure I remember,” she says. “And sometimes, I swear to God, I’m there for a split-second.”