[4][5] Born in Berkeley, California, Velour was raised in New Haven, Connecticut, until the age of nine when her family moved to Urbana, Illinois.

In 2010, she was a Fulbright Scholar in Moscow and completed a project that aimed to understand the role of different art forms in contemporary Russian society.

The work was called "a smart, beautiful and artful take on a significant and difficult historical event" by Highlow Comics.

[23][24] Velour's cut paper work was part of the group show "Coney Island Babies, Visual Artists from the Brooklyn Drag Scene" at the Bureau of General Services Queer Division that opened in Manhattan in November 2012.

She also met her partner John Jacob Lee (known as Johnny Velour) in Vermont when he was acting in a production of Annie.

In the spring of 2013, Velour and her partner staged Whatever She Wants, A Drag Musicale at the Main Street Museum featuring local residents.

[31] The magazine included interviews as well as varied art forms such as photography, poetry, and illustration that address the power, beauty, and purpose of drag.

[35][36] Velour's lip sync to Whitney Houston's "So Emotional" in the season finale was named “performance of the year” by The A.V.

[3] Velour expanded her drag showcase NightGowns, moving it from Bizarre Bushwick to National Sawdust in April 2017.

[42] The show also toured to Los Angeles, London, and played at Terminal 5 in New York City, with Janet Jackson in attendance.

Velour selected 40 LGBTQ+ models to walk, creating the first all queer show in New York Fashion Week history.

[52] For the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall uprising in 2019, Velour published a detailed history comic about the events of that night titled Three Dollar Riot.

[57] Those highlighted by the series include Izumo no Okuni, Rebecca and Her Daughters, William Dorsey Swann, Mei Lanfang, Barbette, Josephine Baker, Coccinelle, José Sarria, and Divine.

[72][73] Velour adapted her stage show NightGowns into an 8-episode docu-series for the short-form platform Quibi, and it premiered on April 6, 2020.

[80] In March 2021, Velour starred in Angélica Negrón's The Island We Made, a short art-opera film commissioned by Opera Philadelphia.

[82] In July 2023, it was announced that Velour, alongside Priyanka and Jaida Essence Hall, would be the new hosts of the fourth season of the reality television series We're Here.

[94] The European tour resumed in February 2022, playing in often sold-out theaters in 36 cities in 17 countries, reaching from Ireland to Poland.

She often performs in drag bald, as a tribute to her mother, Jane Hedges, who died of cancer in 2015 and had lost her hair during treatment for the disease.