Brooklyn-bred, ‘nerdy connoisseur of Blackness’ Queerly Femmetastic is inspired by Black shake-dancers, strippers, and hoochie-coochie girls across generations. She’s picked up numerous titles and awards since her debut in 2018, including Silver Tusk Awards Entertainer of the Year 2025, Miss Coney Island 2026, Grand Master Funk at What The Funk?! Festival 2024, Exquisite Burlesque Festival Champion 2023, and Most High at the Mile High Burlesque Festival 2023.
Here’s her 21.
1. How would you define yourself in three words?
Sensual, superlative, silly.
2. Who would play you in a movie about your life?
1992 Whoopi Goldberg.
3. What is your biggest strength?
I really care about things.
4. What is your biggest weakness?
I really care about things.
5. When are you most happy and inspired?
When I have space to play. Learning, creating and refining all need space for exploration and play to take the output to the next level.
6. What is your favourite on-screen burlesque moment from film or TV?
Hey Big Spender from Sweet Charity 1986, because Paula Kelly!
7. What’s the best piece of advice you’ve received?
Galen Hooks said during an intensive to focus on being ‘the captain of my own ship’. It was a hard piece of feedback to hear at the time, but it’s sat with me for years.
Now, I know it means I’m here to unashamedly take up space with my body, to use all the time presented to me in a piece of music, to step on stages with intention and purpose. That piece of advice shifted how I think about my own artistry, and I’m really grateful I had the opportunity to work with her.
8. If you could switch lives with one person for a day, who would it be?
Not a person. My cat. All day naps? Amazing reflexes? Stretching and bathing in the sun? Sign me up.
9. What’s the biggest myth or misconception about burlesque?
That classic burlesque is white culture. Classic burlesque moves were stolen from Black vaudeville and Middle Eastern/North African social dance spaces and watered down to appeal to white audiences. All the polyrhythm, syncopation, and culture that makes the movement interesting was erased.
10. If you could only perform to one song for the rest of your life, what would it be?
You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real) by Sylvester. There are so many remixes and covers, the possibilities are endless!
11. What surprisingly useful things do you have in your show case?
Oversized hook and eye closures that can be pinned to a garment if a button, clasp, or zipper breaks. They even have rhinestones on them!
12. Do you have a backstage ritual?
Putting on my makeup is part of my glamour ritual. If I’m competing, I will go visit the largest body of water closest to the theater to make an offering and give thanks to my ancestors.
13. What advice would you give to new performers starting out today?
Burlesque is an industry, not a community. We are co-workers, not friends. Remembering that will save you a lot of hurt feelings.
If you’re not getting booked, take classes and improve your artistry. You may need to be seen on stages somewhere else so you can grab the attention of producers back home.
Perform for 3-5 years before you start trying to produce shows. Take the time to shadow a producer you admire for at least six months so you can see the ins and outs of what it takes to build a well run show.
14. What is your proudest achievement?
I hold two New York City titles: Miss Subways 2024 and Miss Coney Island 2026. My grandparents would have loved getting to see me in those sashes and becoming part of NYC history.
15. What is your biggest regret?
Letting fatphobia stop me from reaching for opportunities early in my career.
16. What is the biggest challenge facing today’s burlesque scene?
Social media + late stage capitalism = performer entitlement. People think that all they need to do is look the part to be a good burlesque performer. New performers aren’t taking the time to learn stagecraft. Burlesque is art. It should make you, the performer, feel something! It should make your audience feel something! Burlesque is so much bigger than feathers, rhinestones and beautiful gowns.
17. If you could go back and tell yourself one thing when you started out in burlesque, what would it be?
Do it now. Do it scared. Do it before you have all the rhinestones, or the perfect prop. You have all the things you need to thrive in your heart right now. Also, please for the love of God, stretch before and after you perform!
18. What is a cause or issue that’s very important to you?
Preserving and uplifting the legacy of Black burlesque performers. There are so many that we know very little about, and I think that’s tragic.
19. What are you currently reading, watching, and listening to?
Currently listening to The Isle in the Silver Sea (sapphic yearning fantasy). Currently re-reading The Broken Earth trilogy (Black women are always going to save the world). Currently watching Foundation (who doesn’t love Asimov?!).
20. If you could share a dressing room with one performer for the rest of your career, who would it be?
Audre Love! A sweetheart, a powerhouse and a baddie.
21. What would you like your life and career to look like in 10 years time?
I am always calling in being underworked and overpaid. I definitely want to continue working on tons of domestic and international stages. I especially want to keep working with Black women producers around the world. I’d love to expand my sideshow skills and incorporate those into my burlesque. I want to be financially stable enough to only say yes to shows, workshops and opportunities that fill my cup.
Visit Queerly Femmetastic at queerlyfemmetastic and follow her on Instagram.