By Keegan Williams, Photo: Hillary Schave/Azena Photography, LGBTQ Nation, August 21, 2023
Mercury Stardust’s phone camera pops on in the vacant Google Meet room. She’s doing her makeup, surrounded by her team offscreen, in a period of relative calm before the release of her first book, Safe and Sound: A Renter-Friendly Guide to Home Repair, which will be accompanied by a 52-city book tour.
Just over two years ago, the self-proclaimed Trans Handy Ma’am, based in Madison, Wisconsin, worked solely as a maintenance technician and burlesque performer, spending most of her time in other people’s homes. Today, she has more than 2.4 million TikTok users following her DIY home improvement content and can hardly leave the house without being recognized somewhere.
“I was somewhat used to being recognized prior because I was a world-renowned burlesque dancer,” she told LGBTQ Nation. “So I got recognized every once in a while. But not like I do now. I mean, I go into Target, I go to Walmart, I go into any grocery store, I go to any gay bar — oh my God, gay bars!”
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