Today we’d like to introduce you to Calli Coquette.
Hi Calli, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
February 19th, 2022, I moved out of my parents’ house at 18 with $2000 in my name, and only my partner Kay was there to support me. I always had an incredibly sheltered life, not helped by the fact that I was trans, which only made my parents more domineering in my life. So, going out into the world with little to no safety net was terrifying, but I was finally free. The question was, now what? Sitting in my run-down Painesville apartment, I started thinking about what I wanted out of life.
From a young age, I had always been an artist at heart, learning every creative skill I could get my hands on. Painting, drawing, sewing, makeup; you name it, I had spent at least a few months hyper-fixating on it. So, now that I was an “official adult,” I decided to pursue a graphic design career. I worked at freelancing for a while and finally landed what I thought would become a serious job in design. A company I had made a couple of designs for approached me and said they wanted to bring me on full-time in the next six months.
This is what I had been waiting for! The only problem was that my partner and I would have to relocate to Lakewood to make this happen. So we talked through it, discussed things with our landlord, and skipped all the boring details. We arrived in Lakewood with U-Haul in tow in August of that year. We made it! Things were great for those first few weeks. But a month after moving out, the company ghosted me. So we return to the question: now what? This is where drag finally comes into the picture.
RuPaul’s Drag Race has been an immense source of comfort for me throughout my teenage years after first discovering the show through YouTube in middle school. Whenever I was having an awful day, my parents were fighting, or I was being bullied at school, I had Drag Race to turn to and see powerful queer representation on my screen. And all those queens being so glamorous and poised through all their hardship made things feel a little easier. So, after being ghosted by this company and feeling sorry for myself, I was on another binge of my favorite Drag Race seasons when I thought, “What if I could do this?”
I had dabbled in drag makeup before and sewn a few costumes here and there, but I never thought I could have the gall to go out and try to make a name for myself. But now, living in the city, possessing the skills I had developed over the years, and suddenly having a lot of free time on my hands, the stars had aligned, and nothing was stopping me from, at the very least, trying. So I styled a crappy little wig and sketched up my signature drag face, and came up with a cute little name. And on September 29th, 2022, Calli Coquette was born on Instagram.
Don’t get me wrong; I knew I didn’t look great back then, but the only way I could improve was to keep trying. I made it my mission to post a new look every week and make it out to as many drag shows as possible. Over the next few months, I started making more connections, falling increasingly in love with drag. Eventually, my first two bookings came within a week of each other. One was Sassy Sascha’s Christmas Drag Brunch at the Winchester, and the other was a holiday-themed show hosted by Zoey Zegai at Vibe Bar + Patio. Doing those first few numbers was incredibly nerve-wracking, but in the end, there was just this magical feeling that this was what I was meant to do. The energy in the room was so electric, and I had never been happier to be seen for who I was.
Throughout the next year or so, I continued to hone my craft, performing all around the Cleveland area and Akron, and I became a well-known name in the local scene. All I wanted to do was keep growing and expanding, and the universe has a funny way of presenting opportunities exactly when I need them. A brand new YouTube drag competition called Drag Duel was casting their first season, so I sent in my little audition tape and got cast! As soon as the promo dropped, my following more than doubled in size, and suddenly, people worldwide were rooting for me to win. Everything went perfectly, and I could go to this competition. But you know what they say: the higher you climb, the further you fall.
By the end of the second challenge, I was sent home as the first eliminated contestant of the season, and my world felt like it had collapsed in on itself. All I could ask myself was, “What did I do wrong? What could I have done differently?” All these eyes were on me, and I thought they would watch me fail and leave me in the dust. What happened was quite the opposite. The audience clamored over my elimination, saying I shouldn’t have even been at the bottom, let alone sent home. I was shocked. All these people cared enough about me and my art to defend me? It motivated me to pick myself back up and work harder to prove my worth.
Over the next five months of that competition, I posted every look I would have worn and was outperforming locally almost every single weekend. It was grueling, especially with having a day job on top of it all, but I came out the other end with an established local following, international fans, and a lot of growth. My drag had jumped to the next level, and I was ready for whatever life offered.
And that brings us mostly up to speed! Shortly after the competition ended, I launched a new monthly drag show called Claws Out! at Wizbang Theatre in Cleveland Heights. The show has been running for a few months and has become my new passion project. I am working on the production with Uncle Lulu Productions, and having complete creative control over something as big as my show has been incredibly fulfilling. I have also started traveling to more cities with my drag, working in Columbus a few times, Grand Rapids, MI, and Albany, NY, shortly after. I’ve even been nominated as CLE’s Best Drag Queen by Cleveland Scene Magazine!
This is just the beginning for me, and I only wish I could go back in time and tell that thirteen-year-old kid hiding from their volatile mom watching Drag Race under the covers how much their life was about to change. Who knows what’s next? I can’t wait to find out.
We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
I’m a twenty-year-old, autistic, transgender lesbian who comes from an abusive household. The road has most certainly not been smooth to get to this point. It often feels like whatever higher power there is didn’t even bother to give me a hand, let alone stack the deck in my favor. I have to work ten times harder to receive half the opportunities others do, but I persist because I do what I love. Perfectionism can often be a curse, but it is a superpower for me. I will stay up for countless nights working on new numbers, costumes, wigs, video editing, etc., and I do it all myself because when I’m touring all over the world at the top of my game, I want to be able to look back and say I did it all on my own. Life’s challenges dictate your drive, and my hard work shows that I am not going down without a fight.
Thanks – so, what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
Being a more alternative-looking drag queen but predominantly doing more “traditional” dance and performing makes me not fit with the alternative or traditional crowd. I ride a fine line between being a clown and a supermodel, making me stand out. This is the first time I’ve seen someone else with my stamped drag face or my fashion perspective. I’ve found my little niche to fill and have started creating more opportunities for people like me. I am known for being a workhorse, taking every opportunity I can to grow and look good while doing it. Now, new entertainers look to me as a source of inspiration, which is crazy. I’m always incredibly hard on myself, either saying I don’t look good enough or my art isn’t impressive enough, but when I sit back and look at the small empire I’ve built, it all comes into perspective. I am still an incredibly young entertainer, and the amount that I have been able to do with my short time at Calli Coquette should not be overlooked. I want to be one of those legendary entertainers, still performing 30 years later, known by everyone for their talents and how much of a difference they’ve made.
What matters most to you? Why?
What matters most to me is humility and staying grounded. Being in the entertainment industry is a double-edged sword because the more significant and extensive someone gets, the harder it is to feel a sense of normalcy. So many performers have fallen down the path of being egocentric and me-me-me because being on stage feeds into that, and I never want to develop that monster because it will eat away at you until there is nothing left. Every drag performer, celebrity, and musician is a person underneath all the glamour, just like the rest of us. I want to grow, expand, come back home, and give back to the communities that raised me. That is the mark of a true artist.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/callicoquette?igsh=OTgwM2x0MmZnNnN5&utm_source=qr
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100080961767186&mibextid=LQQJ4d
- Youtube: https://m.youtube.com/@callicoquette
- Other: Claws Out Ticket Link- http://www.wizbangtheater.com/eventcalendar?view=calendar&month=05-2024
Image Credits
Kay Rice
