While in school, Utica got involved in the Twin Cities drag circuit. “Everything I learned in school I’m applying to my career now.” “I basically went to school to be a drag queen,” she says. She was also a cosplayer for a while, which gave her the creative spark to create her own costumes.īut she didn’t really get into drag until her time at Hamline University, where she majored in costume design and art. In high school, Utica was part of an improv troupe in Rochester that played a pivotal role in her interest in performing. “I came in a little hat and umbrella without my mom knowing,” she says. In kindergarten, she raided her mother’s closet and went to school dressed up as Mary Poppins. To explain her journey from small town farm kid to Drag Race superstar, Utica calls on a few moments. “That’s where the name Utica comes from.” “I shifted my focus back and paid homage to this beautiful little haven that cultivated my imagination,” she says. “I left because I thought that was better for me, but I soon realized what a gift it had been to be on this beautiful farmland,” she says. While many people dream of leaving their tiny hometown, Utica had a different experience. “There wasn’t a lot to do on the farm, so it was a lot of figuring out my own way to explore the world,” she says. Utica doesn’t even comment on them.īorn and raised in Utica, Minn., growing up in a rural area meant that Utica was able to let her imagination run wild. The wind chimes that can be heard in the background of our phone call seem almost too fittingly whimsical for the conversation at hand. “Ever since I was a kid, I made it a choice to bring up the vibrations in the world instead of bringing them down,” she says. “Very hometowny, very Midwestern.” Her style wields a kind of offbeat camp that is definitive of this state. “My whole vibe is very wholesome and loving,” she says. Utica’s sweet personality, however, is quickly recognizable to her fellow Minnesotans.
As of the last episode, Utica has made it to the final six queens.Ĭreated by Ethan Mundt, the 25-year-old’s unique drag style may be hard to pin down, but it’s gotten Utica this far and she has no plans on changing. She’s appeared as a chic poodle, an elevated Bob Ross, and in a couture sleeping bag gown–and was recently featured in Vogue. Among this year's crop of queens, Utica leans toward the more avant-garde, weaving high fashion concepts into her drag that always tell a story on the runway. Utica Queen has captured hearts as the wacky fan favorite in the COVID-19 afflicted season of RuPaul’s Drag Race. Sign up to Daily Edit to get unlimited access.
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