Season 3 finalist Alexis Mateo offers advice to this season's contestants

Since her third-place finish on Season 3 of RuPaul's Drag Race, Alexis Mateo has traveled the country representing the show and promoting herself. As Season 4 fast approaches, Mateo still finds she's recognized in hotels, malls and airports throughout the countryâ┚¬â€and she's excited that the same national television exposure is about to be unleashed on her friend, Alisa Summers.

â┚¬Å”She's like a little sister to me,â┚¬Â Mateo says from her home in Tampa. â┚¬Å”I used to help get her ready for newcomer pageants and I'd be in her talent. So to see her get onto Drag Race makes me very proud.â┚¬Â

Mateo attributes her successes on televisionâ┚¬â€and her successes sinceâ┚¬â€to her ability to market herself. She says that this season's cast of drag hopefuls should remember that the Logo television show is a marketing tool first, and a competition second.

â┚¬Å”Always have it in the back of your mind that the main goal isn't to win, but to put out a great image,â┚¬Â Mateo offers current and future contestants. â┚¬Å”Sometimes in a competition you forget about what you're doing and what's going on. But remember, it's on TV and it will be broadcast everywhere.â┚¬Â

Thanks to the â┚¬Å”boy interviewsâ┚¬Â on Drag Race, Mateo says that she's recognized both in and out of drag, and that was something he wasn't completely prepared for.

â┚¬Å”I'm so surprised to have such a great response in the straight communityâ┚¬â€especially straight girls,â┚¬Â Mateo says. â┚¬Å”They know your name, they love what you do and they ask you for tips. It's so much fun. You have to be approachable.â┚¬Â

Summers and the other contestants of Season 4 are beginning a life-changing experience once the show debuts on Jan. 30. It's a journey Mateo experienced first hand and she says she wouldn't change a thing.

â┚¬Å”If I had to go back [on the show] I wouldn't change anything,â┚¬Â Mateo laughs. â┚¬Å”I was never wrong, in my own little mind. I was happy with my outcomes and with the way I was portrayed.â┚¬Â

While Season 4 is just starting, Mateo is already eyeing her next professional television appearanceâ┚¬â€she's vying for a spot on next year's Dancing With the Stars.

â┚¬Å”I was a dancer at Disney for many years,â┚¬Â she says. â┚¬Å”My fans have been voting every day to get me out there. After Chaz Bono and others on there, I think the world is ready for a drag queen on that show.â┚¬Â