Suzie Toot knew she was tapped for greatness. She had to be.
That kind of resolute confidence comes with being a drag queen — where success is measured by performance and persona.
With a vermillion bob and bright blue eyeshadow, the Broward performer tap danced her way into this year's season of RuPaul’s Drag Race, beating thousands of others who audition for one of 14 spots on the cult variety TV show. And she grabbed the chance with both satin-gloved hands — earning a top five finish.
Although she missed out on the top $200,000 prize, the appearance has turbocharged a career that was already on the rise.
“I can't even fathom the amount of people that have seen Suzie Toot and know who Suzie Toot is now — it's such a jump, and I think it's not comparable to a lot of things in the entertainment industry to go from so low to so high,” she told WLRN.
Toot occupies an interesting space as a young queen with an old-school image. The 25-year-old describes her drag persona as a 1920s cartoon ingénue. Think of a cross between Betty Boop and Lucille Ball, she said.
With only three years in the game, Toot auditioned for Drag Race because she said she felt ready and secure in her ability to take her drag career to the next level.
She already hit a career milestone in 2023 when she opened for pop star Chappell Roan in Fort Lauderdale. Now, she gets to add Drag Race alum to her resume.
A start on Halloween
She recalls her first foray in drag as a teenager on Halloween, which was a far cry from the Suzie Toot of today. But once she donned what is now her signature curly orange wig and fringe flapper dress, it unlocked something in her.
Toot, a theater kid and tap dancer, proudly wears her references on her sleeve. She takes inspiration from old Hollywood dancers like Ginger Rogers, Eleanor Powell and Ruby Keeler, imbuing their tap routines, showmanship and glamorous finger waves into her persona.
“Just everything clicked. All the pieces were right in front of me, and they all clicked into place at once,” Toot said.
Suzie Toot is not the only famous queen to come from the Sunshine State. In fact, this season had three Florida queens, including Lucky Starzzz from Miami and Jewels Sparkles from Tampa. In the show’s more than decade-long run, only one Florida queen has taken the top title.
“There's eyes on us. I will make fun of Florida drag till the day that I die, but it also has some of the best drag in the entire world,” Toot said.
Toot, who grew up in Wellington and later moved to Fort Lauderdale, calls drag “such a niche and local art form.” For about two years, she cut her teeth in Wilton Manors, a city that has been a home to South Florida’s LGBTQ+ community since the 1980s.
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“It's a city of survival — that's what it is to me. So that is a very direct way that the city and that South Florida has influenced my drag, but in so many other ways too.”
She got her start performing and competing at Lips, a celebrated LGBTQ+ bar and drag venue now renamed Aquaplex.
AAliyah Jae, a drag queen currently working at Aquaplex who performed with Suzie Toot, said it’s hard to break into Florida's drag scene.
“A lot of it is competing to get to where you want to be out here. I will say Florida drag is one of the most polished drag out there. New York is artsy, California, sweaty, but Florida — we are very polished and we take what we do real serious,” she said.
Aaliyah Jae said she has witnessed Toot apply that same polish and discipline to her craft. She said it’s carried her a long way.
“Hey, no matter how you start off, whether it's small or big, you can get to where you need to be. I think she's doing it for all the weirdos out there, for all the ones that are still stuck back in the 1920s and further, she's doing it for those kids and she's doing it for me,” she said.
As the youngest queen at Aquaplex, she credits the tenured queens for teaching her the drag fundamentals, as well as the local LGBTQ+ community for embracing her references.
“ I think the queens at Lips really taught me [that], God, we just need to laugh. Laughter and joy and camp as a necessity, as a need, I think is such a real thing and such a fascinating concept and something that Florida really encapsulates,” she said.
Toot has since relocated to New York to chase her next big project, but she hopes that the show will give more exposure to local drag scenes like the ones found in Broward.
“ Anyone who watches Drag Race will say ‘that is a Wilton Manors queen. I've gotta go to Wilton Manors because there is real talent that is there,’” she said. “And I hope to continue representing Wilton and South Florida beyond the show, whatever is next.”
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An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that Suzie Toot finished the race in fourth place.
