Tiffany Fantasia

Tiffany Fantasia has been on the Miami drag scene for 20 years. But don’t call her an icon—at least not yet. “I have more to show the world before they call me that,” she says. (For the record: She’s cool with “phenom,” “diva,” or “star.”)

Her star shines brightly these days at the Palace in South Beach. But it was at a club called Twist that she started drag “as a means of survival” when she was a student at Miami Dade College.

“I had plans to be a singer,” she says. “I was going on auditions, but nothing was popping.”

That’s when a friend asked Henry to participate in a group drag performance. He put on “a bad Party City wig” and his “mom’s old bra stuffed with teddy bear filler,” and left the club with $10 in tips. “I remember that being so important. As a broke college kid, $10 meant a lot. I could pay for my gas for a week with that.”

From there, drag became a job—yielding more cash than Tiffany remembers making at Burdine’s department store. Eventually that meant real wigs, fancier costumes, and better makeup—although back then there

Henry Williams

were no contouring tutorials to watch on TikTok. “I’d go to a dressing room early and hope a girl was doing her makeup so I could catch what products she was using and how to apply them,” she confesses.

Six years ago, Tiffany quit retail to concentrate on drag full-time. It’s a form of self-expression that she says is uniquely empowering. “When you put those heels and that makeup on, it’s like you have this body of armor around you. You can be who you want and scream it to the top of the mountains. Nobody’s gonna question you.”

Out of drag, Henry does get questioned. At 6 feet, 4 inches tall, he sees himself as a “gentle giant.” But, that’s not what Henry says the world sees. “They see me as dangerous or angry off the bat. Like a threat. Your typical Black male stereotype.”

The Blackness doesn’t go away in the form of Tiffany. But the female persona and appearance (now assisted by a professionally crafted bodysuit and waist cincher, among other accoutrement) “soften the blow,” Henry explains. “There isn’t that fear with Tiffany. Instead, there’s respect.” (@tiffanyfantasia)