Ms. Colombia is a mainstay at nearly every parade, festival and event — bringing along her menagerie of animals and dressed in bright clothes.
And the Elmhurst resident is the latest New York City celebrity to be featured in "No Your City," a video series focused on the city's best-known characters.
Director Nicolas Heller spent a few hours with Ms. Colombia last June at the annual Queens Pride Parade in Jackson Heights, capturing her mingling with the crowd, telling them she's Lady Gaga's grandmother.
"She's the best," Heller, 26, said.
"Everywhere she goes she's kind of the life of the party."
The series offers snapshots of a wide range of local celebrities — this season will also feature "Mosaic Man" Jim Power and Curtis Sliwa — and Ms. Colombia opens up in the piece about why she does what she does.
She worked as a lawyer in her hometown of Medellin, Colombia, but moved to New York City "for my own freedoms," she said.
"By the time I leave my country nobody could dress like this, they kill it," she said.
More than 30 years ago she found out she had AIDS, she said in the video, which prompted her to begin dressing wildly and having fun.
The doctor told her she had only a year left to live, and it was then she realized the importance of each day, she said.
"Past is past," she said. "Present is the gift from the gods. Use the present, because you no have tomorrow."
City Councilman Danny Dromm makes an appearance in the video, too, sharing how important Ms. Colombia is to both Queens and the LGBTQ community.
"She is a real Jackson Heights character, and we love her and we support her," he said.
It's just the most recent press for the lively legend, who has been featured multiple times on the Humans of New York blog and recently was in Paradise Magazine.
