We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Sweet Pickles a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Sweet, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Have you been able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen? Was it like that from day one? If not, what were some of the major steps and milestones and do you think you could have sped up the process somehow knowing what you know now?

I have been a drag performer for almost seven years, and about a year and a half after making my debut, it became my full-time job. My job before I chose to make drag my career was a touring actor doing children’s theater. I’ve never truly worked in a traditional job setting. I was always dedicated to earning my living through performance one way or another. Once I figured out that there was more money to be made through drag, plus more schedule flexibility and creative freedom, I pivoted from being a full-time actor to a full-time drag queen. It helped that I was just out of college at this time, and my cost of living was extremely low. As long as I was making just enough money in drag to cover my rent, I was happy.

When the pandemic hit, I continued to earn money through drag – only this time, it was through digital performances. As someone used to performing for live crowds, the shift was less than ideal, but I still managed to earn just enough to cover my living expenses. During that time, I focused my attention on building up my social media, determined to still grow as an artist even without an in-person audience to witness it. Eventually, drag shows came back in full force, and so did the earning potential. The post-pandemic era for entertainment was quite profitable, with overly-generous audiences that were just grateful to be out of the house again. A new addition to drag shows at this time was the advent of digital tipping – while audiences could once again hand us dollar bills during our shows, they were also encourage to send us tips via Venmo or Cashapp. Many times, they would do both, which was hugely beneficial to us performers.

Drag is a unique medium because it comes with a lot of instant gratification – namely the fact that audience members quite literally hand us money while we’re on stage. Tipping during drag performances is what enables many performers to be able to make a living solely off of this type of performance – although, as the economy worsens, it can become more difficult to live off drag money alone. In the past few months, I have supplemented my drag income with money earned through my content creation. The groundwork I laid in 2020 through my burgeoning social media has proved to be extremely beneficial to me as a working artist. I can now make money as a creative without having to work drag events, which can be extremely taxing on the body.

As time goes on, it is our job as artists and entertainers to continue to find new ways to earn money through our art. Art breeds ingenuity and innovation, and I’ve always aspired to be an artist who is able to parlay their creative skills into consistent profits. Over the years, I’ve learned how to blend my knack for entertainment with a genuine business savvy, resulting in a full-time creative career spanning more than five years.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

When people look at me, usually a few things run through their head – “Is she a clown? A doll? A cartoon?” And the answer to that is – Yes. Yes to all of the above. But most importantly, I am a drag queen. I know I’m not what most people expect when they hear the words “drag queen”. That’s a term that usually conjures up images of a 6 foot tall Glamazon with protruding couch-cushion hips and a lace front wig teased to the ceiling. I – on the other hand – am a 5’3 woman with clown makeup on her face and a bundle of yarn on her head. I am a queen of my own creation, a walking art project with a pulse.

I’d been an admirer of drag for years before I decided to become a participant. I knew I wanted to try it but, but held myself back by thinking that there couldn’t possibly be a place for someone like me in this community, or for the kind of art that I want to make. I was, of course, wrong. While I’ve encountered my fair share of obstacles during my career, I’ve managed to carve out a place for myself where there simply wasn’t one before. I’ve learned that my ability to stand out is actually my greatest strength.

My approach to drag comes from a different place than most of my counterparts – my goal is not female illusion. Instead, it’s just pure entertainment. My aesthetic is inspired more by my favorite colors than my favorite pop stars. I style myself to look like a troll doll instead of a Bratz doll. I’ve built a brand off of the things that I love most – whimsy, fantasy, imagination. Not being bound by a conventional style means I get to go as far off the map as I want – all the way to Candyland, usually.

I’ve always been motivated by showing other people that drag is for anyone and it can look like anything. It’s one of the few truly limitless art forms we have – anything you can think up, you can put on a stage in a drag show. When I hear people say that they’ve never seen a drag performer like me, I always take it as a compliment. For as long as I’ve been doing drag, I’ve been pushing boundaries, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

As someone who grew up with the internet, I always viewed it as a place of entertainment. I only ever used it as a consumer, rather than a creator. Once I started drag, I realized that would have to change. With something like drag, which tends to be very locally based, your social media is like your professional resume. It’s your strongest networking tool – how you showcase your growth and your career milestones, how you can get ahead in other cities despite never having performed there. I slowly started building up my Instagram, but I didn’t fully commit to a strong social media presence until the pandemic.

Without in-person events, I was bored and listless. I couldn’t let myself stop creating, so I purchased a ring light and began doing at-home photo shoots. I borrowed a green screen and started filming digital drag numbers. I turned my apartment complex into a film set, always looking for new places to record.

I started spending hours researching the most effective hashtags, engaging with our creators, learning how to edit photos. I had to put my energy somewhere, and social media became my outlet. Eventually, I joined TikTok, recognizing its massive potential for growth. I was one of the first creators to start posting Reels, which gave me my first genuine boost, and I started gaining thousands of followers overnight. Even after quarantine restrictions lifted, I stayed committed to creating content. Now, I spend as much time working on my social media as I do performing at in-person events. My social media has allowed me to perform in shows across the country, to work with brands I love, and to earn money that I can put right back into creating.

For those just starting on their social media journey, I would focus on quality over quantity. Make sure you truly have something share with the world before you post. Focus on what you want to be known for, how you want to be remembered, and go from there. If your content has authenticity, originality, and consistency, you will be well on your way to making your mark on the digital landscape. Posting with intention and regularity is the key. And most importantly – don’t care what others think! The fear of looking stupid is only going to hold you back. Be yourself and your content will find the right audience.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

I come from a theater background – I started as a kid and it was always my main activity, my true focus and passion growing up. I never seriously considered it as a career, but it was the thing that brought me the most joy and I did it consistently all the way up until I graduated college.

It took me a while to make my drag debut – drag and theater tend to have conflicting schedules, and while the desire was there, my rehearsal schedule always got in the way. I only got involved with drag when I had no other option – I didn’t get cast in the last theater production of the season and would have no more performance opportunities for months. So I took it as my sign to start building the drag persona I had been dreaming about for so long, and I got to work.

However, I quickly learned that drag and theater are completely different worlds with completely different approaching to creating. Theater is collaborative in nature, with many different people all on one team filling many different roles. Drag, on the other hand, is individualistic to its core – you are your own actor, director, choreographer, costumer, sound design, marketing department, etc. If something goes wrong in a theater production – that’s okay. It’s a team effort. All the moving pieces leave room for error, and working as a team creates a sense of unity. In a drag show, however, your decisions are your own. Every artistic choice is your responsibility, from conception to execution.

That realization left me with a lot of internal pressure. If an audience sees a theater production I’m in and doesn’t like it (which has happened many times), that’s not necessarily my fault as an actor. There are so many factors that can contribute to that audience’s experience. If someone doesn’t like my drag performance, however, that feels personal. It feels like they don’t like me, my art, my style. If my drag persona is built out of the things I love, the things that inspire me, and I get a poor reaction from the crowd – does that mean that they don’t like me as a person?

My years in theater taught me to be a perfectionist – give a perfect audition and you may get the role. Give a perfect performance and you’ll get great reviews. You learn to put a lot of expectations on yourself in order to get to where you want to go. Even before you step foot on a stage, there’s a whole lot of red tape to get through, and you have to work every step of the way. That all went out the window when I started drag. Suddenly, the door was wide open in a way that terrified me. I carried that expectation of perfectionism into a world where perfection wasn’t necessary, where a certain degree of messiness was a part of the experience, and I didn’t know what to do with all that weight. Performing had always about being the best, not just having fun – how can you have fun without being the best?

It took a while to shed this constant inner criticism. I had to change the way I viewed performing. I had to get to used to the fact that there was no script to follow, no director taking notes. If I was going to do this, I had to do it my way, and I had to have fun. Otherwise, I was going to make myself miserable doing something that was created to spread joy – and what’s the point of that? So I stopped fixating on all the tiny things I could’ve done better while on stage. I started focusing on how empowered I felt when I heard someone tell me how much they liked my drag. I started noticing how quickly people started paying attention to me and my art, how I felt like I was in the starring role every single time I performed. I started making my own rules, and challenging my own expectations. I started to love getting to be my own director, choreographer, costumer. More responsibility only meant more artistic freedom. Now, I truly wouldn’t have it any other way.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bitethesepickles/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SweetestPickles/
• Twitter: https://x.com/SweetestPickles
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@SweetestPickles
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@sweetestpickles

Image Credits

Johnny Jay
Andy Jordan