Individual | Inducted 2026
Mimi Marks has spent more than three decades as a Chicago entertainer, advocate, and community figure, with a career spanning local performance, international pageantry, and HIV/AIDS fundraising. For approximately 25 years, she performed at the Baton Show Lounge, a significant Chicago LGBTQ+ venue. Her work there made her one of the performers most closely associated with the club and its role as a place where performers developed their artistry and audiences celebrated LGBTQ+ culture.
Marks’s pageantry career brought Chicago representation to international audiences. She was crowned Miss Continental in 1992, won the World’s Most Beautiful Transsexual Pageant in 2004, and in 2005 was crowned Miss International Queen in Thailand. These titles recognized her work as a performer and established her as an internationally known representative of Chicago’s LGBTQ+ entertainment community.
She has also used her public visibility to advocate for transgender equality and rights. Through her platform, Marks promoted acceptance and dignity for transgender people and challenged discrimination. Her career provided a visible example of a transgender woman achieving recognition while living authentically, at a time when transgender visibility was less common, according to the nomination materials.
Marks has devoted performances, appearances, and fundraising efforts to HIV/AIDS awareness and support for people living with HIV. These activities helped raise funds and bring community members together around an issue that deeply affected LGBTQ+ communities. Her community involvement has extended beyond formal advocacy: she has used her celebrity and talents to support causes affecting the people she represented.
Her work has also included an appearance in Janet Jackson’s “Rock With U” music video and performances for internationally renowned artists, including Madonna. Despite that broader recognition, Marks remained connected to Chicago and its LGBTQ+ community. Her career combines entertainment, transgender advocacy, HIV/AIDS service, and public representation, with accomplishments that include three major pageant titles and approximately a quarter-century at the Baton Show Lounge.