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by HR Smith

Lovers of local drag have likely heard that our city’s bedazzled micromanager Sue from Corporate will soon leave Portland for the cobblestoned streets of Savannah, Georgia. 

The lifelong Oregonian and regular visage at horror-themed drag shows and her now-defunct Corporate Takeover showcase at Local Lounge, Sue from Corporate’s devotion to the bit—that she’s a high-powered CEO businesswoman—has made her a memorable presence in the scene, even as the costumer skills of the artist behind the queen, Zach Kavanagh, have made her borderline impossible to recognize at times. She’s just that changeable. For instance, we once knew her as Sue E. Psydoll.

While initially we assumed Sue was moving to take a promotion to the position of living in a moss-covered mansion being haunted by hunky ghosts, it turns out that Kavanagh is actually starting AutoCAD classes as part of a professional art degree. So really glad that you agreed to this exit interview, Sue! Action items in this exit Q & A include best practices for Portland drag queenery, and what new bus line might win her back. 

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

MERCURY: First of all, what did Portland do wrong? Why are you leaving? 

SUE FROM CORPORATE: I’ve lived in Oregon my entire life. Then I moved to Portland to go to Lewis and Clark College, where my sweet Canadian lesbian sculpture teacher suggested I do drag. I fell in love with it, but I’ve just been doing it for a long time. I’ve decided to go back to school and get my master’s in themed entertainment design at the Savannah College of Art and Design. It’s always been my dream to be a theme park designer—I just didn’t realize it was a degree until recently. 

Why did your sweet Canadian lesbian sculpture teacher tell you to do drag? 

My mom made all my Halloween costumes, and she taught me to sew. I had made a few costumes as sculpture projects as my solution to the prompt, but there was one prompt that I was really struggling with—creating an art piece where the process is just as important as the finished result. I had thought about doing drag, and talked with her about it, and then she said, “What if, what if for the project, you do the process of creating your drag persona? And that just really clicked for me. Granted, my original drag name was not Sue from Corporate.

Wait, what was your original drag name? 

Because I was a depressed early 20-something college student that thought they were really cool, my original drag name was Sue E. Psydoll.

That’s very age-appropriate. What was your look? 

I do not know what I was thinking. Today, you can go on YouTube and find tutorials really easily about drag makeup. But back in early 2017, makeup tutorials for drag specifically were just starting out. I decided to glue these really cheap gemstones to my face. At that point, I didn’t know the difference between acrylic-backed rhinestones and glass rhinestones that are actually shiny. I had never worn acrylic nails before and I went with ridiculously long ones. I had watched a tutorial that said that the best way to put them on was with super glue. That was a bad choice.

How did the other students respond? A brutal art school critique? 

It was universally acknowledged that my makeup was not good—I was the first to admit that. But everybody thought the idea was cool and was super supportive. I created this lore around the character; she was very much a way for me to dealing with my mental health. Because I was in college, I was really bad about remembering to take my meds, and I had undiagnosed ADHD. She was a way for me to personify and deal with things. 

I actually started a drag student club. It almost got banned because I had been lip syncing to Marilyn Manson’s cover of “Personal Jesus,” and I ripped up a Bible and was signing pages and handing them out. A member of the Christian student union complained to the school and almost got the entire club shut down. 

But to this day, the club still exists. I’ve come back and hosted the show. Back in September, I hosted the new student orientation—it was really cool to see all of these incoming freshmen supporting other students doing drag and having fun on stage. 

So how did you transition into Sue from Corporate?

It was during COVID, actually. 2020. I got tired of my entire stage persona being attached to my mental health. I was in a much better place. I had a stable job. I was doing a lot of drag. I was happy. And my entire persona was depression—I just got sick of that. I was like, “I’m going to go from the depressed Capricorn energy to the workaholic Capricorn energy.”

“Psydoll” used to autocorrect to “Payroll,” which I thought was funny. But I didn’t just want to be “Sue From Payroll.” I wanted to be CEO. I do a lot of scary drag, but there really is nothing scarier than corporate America. 

 

 
 

 
 

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A post shared by Sue from Corporate (@sue_from_corporate)

Are drag mothers still as much of a thing these days?

YouTube is kind of everybody’s drag mom now, at least at first. I learned most of my makeup from practicing and social media.

Did you do any video drag during the pandemic? 

I was on the regular cast for Drama Camp—we either had to do dramatic or campy numbers. When the pandemic started, every two months we would have a virtual drag show—like music video productions in my bedroom. The amount of work that went into those videos was insane. I would be filming for four plus hours, then spend another four plus hours editing, and then another, two hours captioning the video. I was still making all my outfits. It was so much work. I was crazy. 

Did you use any of that stuff to apply to your grad program? 

 I actually did. When I was making my portfolio, I realized that I made these entire giant sets, productions, storylines and everything during the pandemic. That helped me get into the program, which is crazy to think about. 

You mentioned there’s nothing scarier than corporate culture. What are a few scary things about it? 

 Oh god. The emails. The meetings that could have been an email. The all hands meetings when you have to get there an hour before and sit there. A Zoom meeting when the meeting hasn’t quite started but everybody is sitting there on camera, and then people start really awkward small talk. That’s one of the most terrifying things. Office party potluck. Getting an email from somebody named Sue. There’s always a Sue from Corporate in the office, and they are not somebody you ever want to get an email from. 

If Sue from Corporate emails you, what is she usually emailing you about? 

It’s gonna be snarky. Very micromanage-y. Always a sense of urgency. Almost never important. 

 

 
 

 
 

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A post shared by Sue from Corporate (@sue_from_corporate)

Is there anything Portland can do to win your back? 

I’ve lived in Southwest my entire life in Portland, and the public transit on that side of town sucks. I wish Portland would stop voting against another bus line out to Raleigh Hills. 

Portland drag can also be… it’s a very competitive scene, and it’s a very small scene. And I think a lot of the time people need to realize we don’t all need to be perfect. We just have to be co-workers. There’s definitely art involved, but if a bar is hiring us, we are there to do a job. Sometimes you work with people you don’t like. You don’t necessarily have to be best friends, but you do have to get along in that moment. 

And if you have a problem with somebody, probably address it in person rather than online. I was very guilty early on in my drag career of being a terminally online demon twink, and I thankfully have grown from that moment. Everybody fucks up sometimes. Most problems can just be solved by a conversation, and especially a conversation, when we are not in full drag, in a club at one in the morning, and drinking. 

Do you think that you’re going to be taking Sue from Corporate to Savannah? Or do you want to let another drag persona develop?

There is no other drag persona for me except Sue from Corporate. We’ll definitely be making an appearance somehow. First, I have to get my costumes cross country, which is going to be a feat in itself. The pole in my closet is bending from the amount of drag on it, and I also have a storage unit full of drag. 

The hardest part about moving cross-country, honestly, is deciding what I actually want to bring. I’ve limited myself to one bin of drag because I can always get more fabric in case I want to make something. I said two wigs, but that seems too limiting, so I think I’m gonna do three wigs. And then of course I have to pack my boobs and hips and all of that. 

Do you have any advice for people who want to get started in Portland drag?

Honestly, just go to and support the shows that you want to be a part of. Put effort into your look, whether that’s spending an extra five dollars and getting some rhinestones, and then spending the hours rhinestoning to make it your own custom piece—it will get you noticed. 

When I was starting, I would go to all the shows that I wanted to get booked in and talk to people, and I would be in full drag—a completely unique look. People remember you, when you give them something to remember.

Sue from Corporate’s farewell “Sue Long” tour is currently underway. Keep up to date with her on Instagram @sue_from_corporate.