diff --git a/src/screens/Onboarding/StepSuggestedAccounts/index.tsx b/src/screens/Onboarding/StepSuggestedAccounts/index.tsx
index 6b13462599..6a886ad77b 100644
--- a/src/screens/Onboarding/StepSuggestedAccounts/index.tsx
+++ b/src/screens/Onboarding/StepSuggestedAccounts/index.tsx
@@ -74,6 +74,7 @@ export function StepSuggestedAccounts() {
   } = useSuggestedUsers({
     category: selectedInterest || (useFullExperience ? null : interests[0]),
     search: !useFullExperience,
+    overrideInterests: state.interestsStepResults.selectedInterests,
   })
 
   const isError = !!error
diff --git a/src/screens/Search/util/useSuggestedUsers.ts b/src/screens/Search/util/useSuggestedUsers.ts
index 3e48245b41..9ca2c558a7 100644
--- a/src/screens/Search/util/useSuggestedUsers.ts
+++ b/src/screens/Search/util/useSuggestedUsers.ts
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ import {useInterestsDisplayNames} from '#/screens/Onboarding/state'
 export function useSuggestedUsers({
   category = null,
   search = false,
+  overrideInterests,
 }: {
   category?: string | null
   /**
@@ -18,11 +19,17 @@ export function useSuggestedUsers({
    * based on the user's "app language setting
    */
   search?: boolean
+  /**
+   * In onboarding, interests haven't been saved to prefs yet, so we need to
+   * pass them down through here
+   */
+  overrideInterests?: string[]
 }) {
   const interestsDisplayNames = useInterestsDisplayNames()
   const curated = useGetSuggestedUsersQuery({
     enabled: !search,
     category,
+    overrideInterests,
   })
   const searched = useActorSearchPaginated({
     enabled: !!search,
diff --git a/src/state/queries/trending/useGetSuggestedUsersQuery.ts b/src/state/queries/trending/useGetSuggestedUsersQuery.ts
index 05cc4d74db..8980293985 100644
--- a/src/state/queries/trending/useGetSuggestedUsersQuery.ts
+++ b/src/state/queries/trending/useGetSuggestedUsersQuery.ts
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ export type QueryProps = {
   category?: string | null
   limit?: number
   enabled?: boolean
+  overrideInterests?: string[]
 }
 
 export const getSuggestedUsersQueryKeyRoot = 'unspecced-suggested-users'
@@ -24,6 +25,7 @@ export const createGetSuggestedUsersQueryKey = (props: QueryProps) => [
   getSuggestedUsersQueryKeyRoot,
   props.category,
   props.limit,
+  props.overrideInterests?.join(','),
 ]
 
 export function useGetSuggestedUsersQuery(props: QueryProps) {
@@ -36,6 +38,7 @@ export function useGetSuggestedUsersQuery(props: QueryProps) {
     queryKey: createGetSuggestedUsersQueryKey(props),
     queryFn: async () => {
       const contentLangs = getContentLanguages().join(',')
+      const interests = aggregateUserInterests(preferences)
       const {data} = await agent.app.bsky.unspecced.getSuggestedUsers(
         {
           category: props.category ?? undefined,
@@ -43,7 +46,11 @@ export function useGetSuggestedUsersQuery(props: QueryProps) {
         },
         {
           headers: {
-            ...createBskyTopicsHeader(aggregateUserInterests(preferences)),
+            ...createBskyTopicsHeader(
+              props.overrideInterests && props.overrideInterests.length > 0
+                ? props.overrideInterests.join(',')
+                : interests,
+            ),
             'Accept-Language': contentLangs,
           },
         },