Maria Elena Fernandez

Maria Elena Fernandez is an award-winning journalist who has been a staff writer at the Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Vulture, The Daily Beast, and NBC News. An entertainment reporter in Los Angeles for over 15 years, she was the first mainstream journalist allowed on the set of RuPaul’s Drag Race, a show she has continued to cover throughout its run. She now lives in her hometown of Miami, Florida. Her children’s book, The Secret of Fern Island, was

published in 1996 under a pseudonym so that she wouldn’t be stalked

by screaming children.