That word surfaced again and again when OutPBC sat down with Mia Starr ahead of her hometown performance at Pride on the Block on June 6 at The Peach in West Palm Beach.
“To have joy in anything that you do is so important,” the “RuPaul's Drag Race” Season 18 contestant said. “It’s confirmation that this is what I’m supposed to be doing. It doesn’t feel like work. That’s very important to me with anything that I do — it has to bring me joy, and drag brings me joy. So that’s why I am going so hard with it.”
For Starr, drag is more than a career. It’s where she found a newfound joy.
“This is exactly what I want to do, and to be able to succeed while doing it, you know, being happy is just a double win,” she said.
The West Palm Beach-raised performer is especially excited to return home and perform for a local crowd.
“West Palm Beach is such a gold mine [of talent] that a lot of people look over. I feel like so much comes from here,” she said. “This is my hometown so I am going to go hard. The [audience] will get a concert vibe. I am doing my own songs as well.”
Starr’s drag career first began in 2008, when she quickly captured two titles: Miss South Beach and Miss South Florida.
But her newfound passion was short-lived.
She shifted her focus to dance, beginning what would become a 14-year hiatus from drag.
“I just knew that it was time to come back because I feel like I had only given drag six months of my life before I stopped,” she said.
Ironically, her return to the art form coincided with growing political attacks on drag performers, particularly in Florida.
“There’s like a little rebel inside of me that if you tell me no, I’m going to say yes,” she said.
When she moved back to Florida in 2023, she also returned to drag. Not long afterward, she attended a protest outside the West Palm Beach courthouse.
“That was so empowering for me, and in that moment, I really realized, oh, life, it’s more than just being on stage — you can really use your voice for good,” she said. “Something shifted, just the way that I even saw drag.”
During her years away from drag, Starr built an impressive dance career that included performing on one of television’s biggest stages: as part of Jennifer Lopez's Super Bowl halftime show.
“That was a highlight,” she said. “Because it was in Miami and it was like my hometown. I’m now doing probably the biggest performance as a dancer, you know, like a checkmark on my bucket list. It has been really, really amazing as well to say I’ve done that.”
Though she has spoken candidly elsewhere about some of the challenges surrounding that experience, it remains one of the defining moments of her dance career.
Another career highlight was appearing in Camila Cabello’s “Havana” music video. She has also danced for artists including Britney Spears and Rihanna.
Her journey to Drag Race took a little patience. Before landing a spot on Season 18, she was an alternate for Season 17.
In fact, Starr turned down an opportunity to tour with Shakira in order to compete on the show.
“I was still able to assist with the choreography for her tour,” she said, “so I still got that feeling of rehearsing with her for eight months.”
Starr ultimately placed ninth on her season of “Drag Race.”
“My highlight, for sure, was Snatch Game,” she said with a laugh. “No, I’m kidding. Bloody Mary haunts me to this day. The highlight is definitely winning the talent show with Juicy [Love Dion], having probably one of the best lip syncs that now has entered the lip sync Hall of Fame.”
Now, as she returns to the city where it all began, Starr is embracing the same thing that first drew her back to drag: joy.
