Silky Nutmeg Ganache, also simply known as Silky Ganache, is the stage name of Reginald Steele, an American drag queen and performer from Chicago, Illinois, who came to international attention in 2019 when she competed on the eleventh season of RuPaul's Drag Race.
Early life and education
Steele was born on December 30, 1990 in the south but eventually moved to Chicago as a young adult. Steele graduated from Moss Point High School in 2008. Steele has a master's degree in organizational leadership. She went to Wabash College, an all-male college, where she thought of her original drag name, "Lasagna Frozeen". Her mentor later dubbed her "Silky" because she could be rough around the edges but also classy. Ganache went home where she watched the Food Network. While watching a program, Ganache overheard the phrase “silky ganache.” From there, she would hence be known as "Silky Nutmeg Ganache". She earned her MBA in organizational leadership from Indiana Wesleyan University in December 2017.
Career
Steele has participated in many pageants, and has over 100 competition credits. Her pageant history includes:
Prior to her time on RuPaul's Drag Race, she performed drag for six years, working at Hydrate, Roscoe’s Tavern, Splash and Berlin in Boystown. Steele was announced to be one of fifteen contestants competing on season eleven of RuPaul's Drag Race on January 24, 2019. She won two main challenges, in episode four and eight. Ganache portrayed Oprah Winfrey for her winning performance in . Ts Madison, whom Ganache portrayed in the season's Snatch Game challenge, praised Ganache for her performance. In episode 11, Ganache landed in the bottom two, where she sent home Nina West home to TLC'sNo Scrubs. In the season finale, held in Los Angeles’ Orpheum Theatre, Ganache was a part of the final four, and lip-synced against Brooke Lynn Hytes to Destiny's Child's "Bootylicious", which she lost, finishing the competition in 3rd/4th place alongside A'keria Chanel Davenport. On July 24, Ganache performed alongside Iggy Azalea at the Bowery Ballroom in New York City. Ganache guest starred in Germany's Next Topmodel, alongside fellow RuPaul's Drag Race alum Derrick Barry and Vanessa Vanjie Mateo. She appeared in a music video for Lizzo's song "Juice" on April 17, 2019. From March 26 to September 6, she was a part of the rotating cast for RuPaul's Drag Race: Season 11 Tour, presented by Voss Events and World of Wonder, and hosted by Asia O'Hara. The show kicked off in Los Angeles on May 26 during the RuPaul's DragCon LAwrap party and concluded with a final bow on September 6 in New York City at the top of RuPaul’s DragCon NYC. In April 2020, amid the coronavirus pandemic, Ganache was announced as a featured cast member for the very first Digital Drag Fest, an online drag festival for all ages, with attendees given opportunities to interact with the artists, tip them, and win prizes during the broadcast. Ganache is set to star in her own series on WOWPresents Plus series entitled Shantay You Pray, a series exploring Ganache's relationship with religion. She is also set to star in Nightmare Neighbors with Silky & Vanjie'', another WOWPresents series with Vanessa Vanjie Mateo, a docuseries chronicling their life together as they move into the same apartment.
Personal life
She is a registered Republican. In the Drag Race episode "", she explained that this is because of party gerrymandering and "gentrification and movement of the districts". She says "It's very important that people realize that if you want to stop that within the political process, get smarter than them. Register as a Republican, and they'll have to redo everything." After her run onRuPaul's Drag Race, Ganache later revealed that due to the online hate and abuse she received, she fell into a depression.
