We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Talia Tucker L’Whor a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Talia Tucker, thanks for joining us today. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?

The biggest risk I’ve ever taken as a Drag Queen is the decision to quit teaching and pursue entertainment as a full time artist. I decided to take the very scary step of leaving predictable checks, consistent income, healthcare, 401k benefits, and job security to enter into a far less stable but potentially far more rewarding realm.

Some background: I’ve worked in education as a teacher, literacy coach, and reading specialist for 5 years. I went college to study English and went on to get a masters in education through CU Denver; I have spent my entire working career with kids, generally Middle Schoolers and High Schoolers. In every education related role I worked in I was blessed with a strong coach/leader that I connect with, contrastingly I also was heartbroken when I’d often see this exceptional leader be in tears or inconsolably distraught by the stressers of their work. This was true for all 4 schools I worked for and my leaders within each of them.

When I received my MA in education and continued to pursue teaching the overwhelming depression and blow to mental health that precipitated working in our current education system was devastating. I love kids and watching them explore the world, but I couldn’t keep doing what our education system expected of classroom teachers.

At this point I had been practicing drag for 5 years in addition to my work in education, I had been producing unique shows for 2 years and have developed enough local connection that it was possible to put more energy into drag as a full time source of employment. So in May of 2023 I finished the teaching school year and hit the ground running with drag shows of all kinds: bingos, cabarets, trivias, clubs, dinner shows, private events. It took my passion for creating and applied it to a system that I had control over.

This risk was not one without peril, I had to make sure there was financial security if I didn’t break even with my expenses some months. Additionally, I had to pay for healthcare out of pocket, how much to put into my IRA, financial LLC trackings, and learn the ebbs/flows of live entertainment. Not to mention that relationship with your art when it goes from a source of joy to your source of income, things may become not as fun and feel daunting. But I was determined to create something that meant more to me than teaching in the classroom, that had my permanent stamp of joy and creativity.

And so far, nearly a year into my artist experiment, I feel very happy with what I’ve achieved. It’s incredible for any artist to make enough from their work to exist on, doubly so when it grants so much personal joy. In the realm of entertainment it’s often feast or famine, high highs and low lows. What I’ve learned is the paramount value of celebrating your achievements but also meeting success and failure with the same face, understanding that this moment is temporary and will change.

My advice to anyone wanting to risk their stable income for full time artistry is the following:

1. Make sure you have enough financial stability to pay for a minimum 3 months of rent/living expenses

2. Start an LLC to track income and deductibles

3. Don’t dwell on failures or successes, celebrate your wins and more forward knowing that high highs and low lows are just for the moment and not permanent.

Talia Tucker, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I’m a local Denver drag queen named Talia Tucker L’Whor. I’m a self proclaimed fashion clown with a proclivity for boundary pushing humor. In my shows you can expect glamorous outfits, campy references, and plenty of surprising sexual humor. Think Ali Wong but taller and in a wig. My entire brand is about the joy of laughing at the world we live in, recognizing all the insane shortcomings of what’s around us and how we can maintain joy in-spite of the difficulties.

My shows are audience engagement based and I’m interested in how to bring drag to the forefront in unique and different ways. I host murder mystery shows as well as co produce the Meow Wolf productions along with House of L’Whor. Follow me for the foolish fun of makeup and Drag artistry.

How did you build your audience on social media?

My social media audience is perpetually growing but in the world of Drag it’s hard to be a successful artist without a strong social media. In many ways, instagram/tik tok works as the business card in our industry, if your business card isn’t visually captivating to potential venues or producers that have not met you in person it’s hard to be taken seriously. I’ve performed in three different states and three different countries, in order to get those jobs I have to message producers personally and the only thing that have to go off of is what’s on my instagram page.

So, for building your brand/audience here are my suggestions:

1. Know your relationship to social media, it’s quite common that most of your posts will not get the likes/attention you’d like so make sure you’re posting what you find enjoyable and fulfilling and not what you think everyone will love.

2. Post consistently, every day every 1-2 days.

3. Try posting at different times of the day to see when gets more audience engagement.

4. Sit down at the beginning of the week and create/edit all your content, then schedule posts for the rest of the week. We make better content when we’re in “flow” or creative focus.

5. Pin essentials to your profile, I always pin my monthly schedule so people can find my shows. I also have a highlight reel of how to book me for a private party, social media likes are great but how can you take the next step to translate it into a booking or people coming to your events.

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

There are two key ways our society and better support artists/creatives:

1. Audience members coming out to events, tipping Drag Kings + Queens and engaging in shows. If you have connections with a company or venue that needs entertainment, think about how we can provide entertainment consistently and not just during pride month.

2. Creatives supporting creatives, in this case drag supporting drag. Because artists can work in a similar field of entertainment they often feel like this person’s opportunity is taking away from their own which makes it hard to celebrate other’s achievements. It’s important to recognize that you can cheer for people’s success without diminishing your own accomplishments. We should be supporting our own shows, helping artists get the resources they need to build their own brands.

Contact Info:

• Website: thetaliatucker.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/talia__tucker/?hl=en
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/talia.tucker.54
• Other: Tik Tok: https://www.tiktok.com/@talia_tucker?lang=en

Image Credits
My incredible photographer Jay Cupcake, insta: https://www.instagram.com/jay_cupcake/?hl=en