Daily Inspiration: Meet Flabbergast

Hi Flabbergast, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.

Hi! I’m Flabbergast, your new favorite big girl and LA Drag Queen! I started doing Drag during the beginning of the pandemic. It was the perfect time to start learning how to become a Drag Queen because I had time to learn makeup without going out and being criticized because I was so new and not yet confident of my skills! After about four months I made my debut to the world as Flabbergast at Evita, a weekly LGBTQIA+ party happening every Friday night in West Hollywood celebrating queerness, decadence, and debauchery. My Drag Mother Laganja Estranja was performing and that was my first time out partying in public as a true Drag Queen.

I fell in love with the scene instantly. My Drag Father Troy C. Ford (@troycford) is a legendary designer who has been designing costumes and airbrushing for over 30 years. He helped me learn how to channel my creativity by sketching, picking out fabrics, and accessorizing my looks. Every week I continued to dress up in different off the wall looks that inspired me. After a few months, I competed in a local drag competition called Dragged Out hosted by Billy Francesca and Beau Byron in WeHo. It challenged me and was kind of like a Drag Queen High School experience for me. Each week we had different themes or challenges to prepare for. One queen was eliminated each week, which really put the pressure on us! One of my most memorable themed weeks was Disney vs Britney B*tch week. We had to mash up a Disney character with Britney Spears’ music. I figured all the other queens were going to be princesses or villains and I knew this was my chance to stand out. After some deliberation, I decided to come dressed as Heimlich, the caterpillar from Bugs Life, and lip synced to “Gimme More” and “Stronger” where I underwent a metamorphosis into a butterfly as the finale. What made that night so memorable for me is that Eureka O’Hara, one of my drag idols, was in the audience and told me that I was an icon and would take her job one day! After fifteen weeks with over forty drag queens eliminated, I had made it to the Finale. I placed 3rd place and while I was disappointed that I didn’t win first place, I knew that the other queens I competed with had been through so much and had also grown and was so proud of all of us. Competing in the Finale opened so many doors and got so many eyes on my drag.

One of the many things I loved about Dragged Out competition is it helped me learn how to lipsync, dance, and perform. I started getting booked all over Los Angeles, including at the Sugar Tank hosted by the House of Avalon and at an Alice and Wonderland Party at Heart WeHo. I loved performing in these shows, but wanted to integrate my love of comedy and the art of roasting. I went out on a limb and started a Drag Queen Roast Battle inspired by the Original Roast Battle show at the world-famous Comedy Store. I also got to host the Grand Opening of the Artist Tree Cannabis Lounge. As a lifelong cannabis consumer and as someone who worked in the cannabis industry, being an integral part of California’s first legal cannabis lounge experience was mind blowing! We sold out all four shows and now have a monthly show the second Sunday of each month that sells out every show and features all cannabis-loving Drag Queens. I’m also currently in the process of starting a new party experience, so stay tuned!

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?

There have been lots of challenges and lessons learned since I started becoming a Drag Queen. Nothing is ever easy without hard work, and that phrase fully extends to being a drag queen! Each outfit, performance, and show requires so much attention to detail. I’ve had zippers burst on my backstage before a show and have had to duct tape and safety pin my costume back together, and I’ve forgotten my outfit before and only realized it once I arrived at the club. I’ve also had to overcome much more physically challenging struggles, like learning how to dance and walk in heels. This is a good time to remind you that I’m a 400 lb Drag Queen and that my shoes are the same size as most! It’s hard to find a comfortable yet sickening heel! Drag can be painful, and beauty can be born from that pain! Never having been a dancer before is one of my greatest struggles regarding remembering choreography, but having Laganja as an amazing teacher and practicing helped me step out of my comfort zone and onto the stage, ready to turn some heads and maybe even snap some necks!

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?

I am always going to be Too Much: the Queen with the most creative and over-the-top looks, a primal party animal that cannot be tamed, and a bitch with a quick-witted mouth ready to read you for filth. (But just know that if I read you, it is done with so much love and respect for you. My close friends know I love to make fun of myself and them!)

As a physically large Drag Queen, I value being committed to the bit of being the elephant in the room with an over-the-top look that makes people’s eyes go all over the place because of just how many different things there are to fixate on. I want to take your eyes on a journey!

I also love being the life of the party, dancing the night away in a safe space. Los Angeles has so many gay safe spaces where we can let loose and let our queer creativity and expression come out. It took me a long time to love myself unapologetically and if I can be a role model for other queer people in learning to love ALL of themselves, I will know that I have lived a life that I can look back on and be proud of.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: flabbergast4eva