Brandon Rounds grew up in the 90s in Boscobel, a town of about 3,000 people. As a kid, he dealt with a good amount of bullying, but nevertheless remembers being surrounded by a really great group of friends.

“We were always very supportive of each other, as were most people in my life,” Brandon said. “I didn’t even realize I was gay yet, but I was raised by parents who really encouraged me to be my authentic self no matter what.”

Brandon remembers his father as a very positive person. The two would work on motorcycles together, and he was supportive of Brandon’s involvement in activities like Forensics, band, and theater. As Brandon recalls, “Years later, when I came out to him, he said, ‘Well, we’ve known for many years.’ So, I guess everyone else knew before I did.”

Despite his parents’ generally positive attitude, he recalls not feeling as comfortable discussing the topic with his mother. “I actually came out to my mom first,” Brandon remembers. “I told her that I thought I liked both guys and girls, and she answered by saying, ‘Well, when I was your age, I thought I liked girls, too.’ Maybe she thought it was just a phase, but as a younger person, it was difficult for me to talk about, so we didn’t discuss it much.”

Then, in 2008, Brandon’s mother was diagnosed with lung cancer and passed shortly thereafter. “Because of her diagnosis, I never really got the opportunity to have that conversation with her,” Brandon recalls. “Although, she did tell me once that as soon as I turned 21, she would take me to my first gay bar. So, in the end, I knew she would have supported me no matter what.”

Discovering Drag

Brandon attended college at UW-Platteville, where he studied marketing and business. It was there that he first discovered the world of drag. “In Platteville, I was the president of the Alliance, which was the gay organization,” Brandon said. “In that role, I helped organize an LGBTQ+ conference that included a drag show. We hosted sessions and panels, and we invited students from a number of other schools. I didn’t really know much about drag at that point, but some of my friends convinced me to get in drag and perform. I wasn’t a professional or anything, but that was technically my first time, and I didn’t take it too seriously. After that, I ended up dating one of the people we hired to perform drag, so I would go to his shows.”

After graduating, Brandon moved to Madison, where the drag world opened up for him even more. “I would watch RuPaul’s Drag Race at Plan B on Monday nights with a group of friends and ended up doing my first dress up in 2013,” he remembers. “This particular drag queen used to host the watch parties, and sometimes she would banter with us during commercial breaks.”

During one of those parties, as Brandon was showing off some photos of his first drag performance in college, the host noticed and asked him, “Who is that?” She asked if Brandon had ever thought about trying drag, and encouraged him to think about it. “A couple of martinis later, I agreed,” Brandon laughed. “She is the one who took me shopping, got me my first wig and makeup, and helped me get into drag for the next Monday show with her. Then it escalated from there.”

Growing up, Brandon had always been interested in plays and musicals, but never felt like he was good enough to pursue that passion seriously. But in the world of drag, he found a space in which he would be able to put on a mask and perform without the pressure of people knowing who he was outside of that. “It was a way for me to be on stage and be in front of everybody lip syncing to Britney Spears—my favorite artist,” he recalls. “Never would I have thought that I would be able to do something like that. It was very freeing.

“I felt like I could be this character on stage in front of people and bring joy to people, which was something my mom always did in her life,” he continued. “She always brought happiness to people wherever she was. So, in a way, drag was a connection to her, too. In fact, whenever I wore brown wigs, I could always envision my mom in the mirror. That was a really special thing for me to experience.”

Building a Brand

In the drag world, Brandon worked on building the persona of Bianca Lynn Breeze, the glitz and glam mix of old-school drag and new-school ways who loves performing to Britney Spears, Lady Gaga, and Ke$ha, along with Broadway songs, eighties hits, and everything in between. In the early days of her drag career, Bianca surrounded herself with a network of friends who were all discovering and learning together. Together, they practiced, listened to, and watched other performers, always looking to learn and improve their art. As Brandon recalls, “I always say you have to look, listen, and learn, because that’s how you grow. If I was in a show, I would go get ready with other people and just sit and watch them get ready and mimic what they were doing. That’s how I learned.”

“I was lucky to have a handful of wonderful and influential mentors like Danielle Avalon, Cass Marie Domino, Josie Lynn, and Bryanna Banx$,” said Brandon. “Windy Breeze, my drag sister in Chicago, helped me with a lot as well. She taught me more about makeup, but also about working with designers on costuming to build yourself that way.”

But the success of Bianca came down to more than makeup and costumes. A large part of her early experience came from performing at FIVE Nightclub in Madison. Dave Eick, the owner of FIVE, often held Thursday shows where drag performers could perform for tips and drink tickets to gain valuable experience and exposure. Later, Eick went on to create a show called The Debutantes, which exclusively featured entertainers who had only been performing for a year or two. “He would bring in mentors to teach us about padding, or how to maintain a wig, or some other topic,” recalls Brandon. “So, it was a great learning opportunity. We did that show for about a year.

“I am a go-getter. If I want something, I’m going to go get it,” Brandon continued. “I’m a networker because I went to school for marketing. I do a lot of networking in my full-time career, which is how I got my first official gig hosting drag bingo at Hotel Red, where I was working at the time.”

The Hotel Red drag bingo show blew up very quickly. As crowds began to grow, Brandon found plenty of opportunity to promote and find work for Bianca Lynn Breeze. The idea of Drag Bingo seemed to resonate with a lot of folks, and it didn’t take long for fans to start suggesting hosting their own Drag Bingo events. “I started to build myself just through networking,” explains Brandon. “And as I continued doing shows like that, I started making more money, and started investing more in my drag, which led to more shows, and so on. That process helped me get better and better.”

As Bianca Lynn Breeze grew in popularity and experience, she began winning titles. “I’m a former Wisconsin Entertainer of the Year (2014), Miss Gay Madison (2017), Miss FIVE Nightclub (2019), Miss Gay Wisconsin (2023), along with others,” Brandon said.

Drag Became Something Bigger

With the titles and awards, people started really recognizing and seeing Bianca in a new light, and things were looking up for her career. Then the Covid-19 pandemic happened, and everything shut down. “That really changed who I was as a person and where I saw my future going,” said Brandon. “My mindset changed from just making money for myself, to suddenly wanting to do more work for the community.”

“I really wanted to help people see what drag is, to show them that it’s not a bad thing, that it’s its own art form, that it’s different from the trans experience. I’m not trans, so I can’t speak on behalf of trans people, but I can advocate for them and for my community through my work. That became my goal.”

Bianca switched from doing shows in Madison, Milwaukee, and Green Bay to seeking performance opportunities in more “straight venues,” or in smaller communities like Cambridge, Cottage Grove, Verona, Cross Plains, and Oshkosh. Most often, these shows are bingo, though Bianca doesn’t shy away from other kinds of events like brunch or evening shows either. Nevertheless, there is something about drag bingo that feels like a perfect home for Bianca. “I find that bingo really gets people in the door,” explained Brandon. “Sometimes people aren’t sure what drag is or what to expect, but everybody knows what bingo is, so I think that helps the show feel accessible. Those events are always busy. People just love it, so I’m going to ride that until it’s done.”

Changing Hearts & Minds

Bianca’s advocacy work switches depending on the type of performance and what is happening in the world at any time. But no matter what, her shows always include some kind of educational aspect. “One thing I always do is start my shows by saying, ‘Hi. My name is Bianca. My pronouns and she/her/hers. Outside of drag, I live my life as a man and my pronouns are he/him/his. Although I live my life as a man, right now I’m in drag, so you would say she/her. You wouldn’t say, ‘Oh, he’s a beautiful drag queen.’

“Then, I close my shows saying, ‘Thank you so much for being here and supporting local queer artists. Please remember that if a friend, a cousin, an aunt, an uncle ever comes out to you, make sure to let them know that you’re a safe space, because you never know if that’s going to change their life.’”

That point is one that resonates deeply with Brandon. “You have to be a safe space for people because some people have never heard that,” he said. “When I came out to my family, I knew they were supportive, but nobody really said that to me.”

Occasionally, Bianca’s social media presence and event postings garner the expected hate comments and trolling, but by and large, her performances in smaller communities are met with enthusiasm and gratitude. “That surprises some people,” said Brandon. “But people at those shows will often come up to me and say, ‘Thank you, that’s great, I didn’t know.’ One time, someone told me, ‘I’m a non-binary person, and it meant a lot that you said your pronouns because I don’t feel like I can do that in this town. I appreciate you saying that in front of all these people.’”

That moment meant a lot to Brandon and reinforced the fact that the advocacy work he does as Bianca Lynn Breeze is worth it for the future. “My goal is always to change at least one person’s mind at each event,” he said. “I always want people to see that I’m a real human outside of drag. I’m a full member of society. I pay my taxes. I’m doing all the same things that you are, and this is just a part of my life. It’s a character, an illusion. And I’m not trying to groom your children.”

“In fact, when I was Miss Gay Wisconsin, I started co-hosting Ready-to-Wear, which is Madison Reading Project’s annual fundraiser,” he continued. “I have done that event every year since then as well, and I’ve helped raise $150,000 for their nonprofit to buy books. I have done stuff for OutReach’s Willma’s Fund, GSAFE, and a lot of others, too.”

On top of the work Bianca does, Brandon has a full-time job working for the Fitchburg Chamber Visitor and Business Bureau as the Director of Partnerships and Events, a nonprofit that works on behalf of the businesses in the city. “I love my job because we get to watch people start their own business, their dream, and just grow it from the ground up. It’s so cool to see,” he notes.

“And ultimately, the part of me that loves that kind of work is the same part of me that loves being able to give back through my drag work as well, which is kind of the point. I enjoy what I do because of the love and joy and happiness that it brings into the lives of others, whether that comes from my daily life or my drag life. That’s just who I am.”