The Drag Enthusiast: Eve Summers: The "last word" isn't important

Eve Summers is a queen from Canada who is very willing to learn new things and perfect her craft. Her influences range from Kathy Griffin to Raven-Symoné but she wishes she could work with Beyoncé. Find out why you should pay attention to her and what makes her different from other queens.

1. Who is Eve Summers?

Eve Summers is a sister, a mother, a great-aunt, a crazy cat lady, and most of all: a shady cunt.

2. When did you start drag and why?

I started going out in drag this February. As for why, well I always wanted to dress and perform like Britney and Christina on stage, and eventually I did see my first drag queen Mahogany J Browne, but it wasn't until I saw RuPauls Drag Race that I realized drag queens were not people who wanted to be women. Then I saw that someone I knew had started doing drag (my friend Jolin Starr,) and I realized that this was something I could actually do.

3. Who is your biggest inspiration?

My biggest inspirations are Kathy Griffin, RuPaul, Tina Fey, Mindy Kaling, Amy Poehler, Raven, Raven-Symoné, and some established queens from here in Toronto like Ivory Towers, Katinka Kature, Carlotta Carlisle, Brooke Lynne Hytes, Sofonda Cox, Devine Darlin, Scarlett Bobo, and this list could go for several pages and there would still be people I’ve missed, so I am gonna stop now. I’m also inspired by my mother’s pure “I don’t give a fuck” attitude and ridiculous sense of humour.

4. Introvert or extrovert?

I'm definitely an introvert when I'm alone, but when I'm with friends I will come out of my shell, and I'm much more willing to approach people, dance, and have fun. Doing drag has also helped me shake a bit of my introversion. I’ve realized through drag that it’s actually quite fun to provoke people and confuse / scare them.

5. If you could work with anyone, who would it be and why?

Of course it would be Beyoncé. Once I work with Beyoncé I'll be royalty, and I can hurl racial slurs at people on Instagram and plagiarize dress designs (that's a joke.) But seriously I'd love the exposure that would come from that of course… If it’s drag queens, well I would love to work with Raven just to learn from her. I wanna see that bitch do her makeup in person.

6. Do you have a drag family?

I have plenty of sisters! I would love to have a mother but it didn’t happen for me. However I feel like each of my sisters brings something new that I can learn from, and I feel like I bring something that they can learn from as well. I have learned a lot from Helena Poison about makeup, from Barbie Jo Bontemps about performing and having fun on stage, and from Boa about being friendly and approaching people.

7. What is the best piece of advice anyone has ever given you?

I have been lucky enough to receive a lot of great advice from a lot of great queens. But there are some things I just never think of, like for example when Carlotta Carlisle told me to put more pink in my cheeks. It's kind of like "duh" but it's something where you may not realize how important it actually is until someone tells you. I have always been the person to ask for feedback directly from people that I admire. I appreciate the truth because I always want to improve my craft.

8. If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would it be and why?

I would go to Tokyo, because it's very clean, and I like Japanese guys.

9. Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

That's a scary question. Hopefully financially comfortable, in a stable relationship, and with a dog. I'd love to be a famous drag queen, and if I'm not making a good living as a queen by then, I'd probably retire and just focus on my other talents.

10. What is your biggest insecurity?

Tie between my double chin, my backne, and my crippling inability to stop myself from being annoying. Also like any new queen should be, I am insecure about my ability to entertain, and about holding back on stage.

11. What is something that not many people know about you?

I am a huge gaming addict. I love Nintendo and I own a Wii U, 3DS XL, and a DS Lite. I also have a custom gaming PC, a PS Vita, and I'm currently waiting for Kingdom Hearts and FFXV to come out before I bite the bullet on a PS4.

12. Where did you learn to do makeup?

YouTube! I learned so much from so many different YouTube queens. Misty Eyez, Katana Rei, Misty Maven (Petrilude,) Joseph Harwood, and many others... I actually started off doing makeup as a boy every day, and I learned that from watching Gigi Gorgeous way back in 2008-09.

13. What is something that makes you unique compared to others?

I'm sure it's not that unique, but I actually don't smoke ever, I don't do any kind of drugs, and I don't get drunk and rarely have any alcohol.

14. How do you keep a positive attitude?

I try to remember not to respond to negativity directly, to let things go when "the last word" is really not important, and to always give people the benefit of the doubt. Also I find that having pets (2 cats, Mochi and Binks) can make me happy as I get to play with them, and just enjoy the love they give me. I find it odd how even people who are so successful, even some who have won RuPaul’s Drag Race, will only take to social media to respond to negative comments.

15. If you could have any super power, what would you pick and why?

Transformation like Mistique from X-Men. I don’t think that even needs explanation coming from a drag queen!