Tupperware Drag Queen
The only living heiress to a major Tennessee whiskey label may not have much restraint around the family booze but when it comes to selling Tupperware, Dee W. Ieye is in total control. With big blonde hair and striking blue eye makeup, the retailer is known to some as the Tupperware Drag Queen, and to others as Kevin Farrell.
A former actor in Los Angeles, Kevin now lives in Ohio selling Tupperware in drag. “From 2007 to 2010, I was the No. 1 Tupperware sales lady in America,” Kevin says, noting personal sales that topped $320,000 one year.
It’s not a career path the once aspiring actor had ever imagined for himself. He’d moved to L.A. to pursue an acting career, one that landed him smaller roles in popular shows like Frasier, Friends, My Name is Earl and Ally McBeal. When in 2004 a friend asked Kevin to participate in a drag show fundraiser for people with HIV/AIDS, he said yes.
“It was a beauty pageant so I created this character Dee W. Ieye from Tennessee. She’s got a drinking problem, hence, the name,” Kevin says, referring to DWI (Driving While Intoxicated). “She wears Daisy Dukes and a red gingham top tied at the waist.”
While performing in the show, one particular audience member with an eye for flair spotted Kevin. That spectator, Oscar Quintero, just so happened to be the famed L.A. Tupperware Drag Queen known as Kay Sedia (like quesadilla). After the show, Oscar praised Kevin’s performance and invited him to join the ranks of Tupperware Drag Queens.
“At first I said no,” Kevin recalls. “I had no plans of dressing in drag ever again and I didn’t want to sell Tupperware. I wanted to be an actor.” But after a run of small roles in TV sitcoms ended, Kevin decided to put Dee to the test. The decision would make Kevin a hot commodity from L.A. to Orange County, where women routinely asked him to host sales parties at their homes, five days or more each week.
“And this was way before our virtual society and social media,” Kevin says. “I always wanted to be an entertainer and thought I’d have my own show. Instead, I put a wig on my head and became famous through Tupperware. I got to do what I wanted to do, just a different package.”
Kevin and his husband eventually decided to move back to his home state of Ohio, where the couple’s shared income would stretch further. There, Kevin tapped into a hungry market of rural and suburban women who continue booking him for parties. For each party, Kevin arrives as himself and meets with guests before privately transforming himself into Dee. Through comedy and a shared love of kitchen accessories, Kevin says his act does more than simply entertain.
“It’s introducing people to the unfamiliar,” Kevin says. “Drag queens typically perform at gay clubs, so it’s not like straight people in rural Ohio are coming out to these clubs. I’m going to their homes out in Farm Town U.S.A., meeting farm women and challenging their stereotypical thoughts about who we are, in a way.”
With about 150 sales reps on his team, Kevin’s business has rapidly expanded. Through the pandemic, he began offering virtual events, which allows him to connect with people from Columbus to the Central Coast. Book your experience through Dee W. Ieye’s website.
