Results 1 to 21 of 21

Thread: Stripper Success Stories

  1. #1
    Senior Member
    Joined
    May 2012
    Posts
    126
    Thanks
    53
    Thanked 91 Times in 30 Posts
    My Mood
    Innocent

    Default Stripper Success Stories

    I came up with this thread to motivate myself and others, because sometimes I feel like a failure for being a stripper (even though I am a student, so don't know why I feel like that sometimes)However, I do know of girls who have stripped for 5-10 years and then they became a real success in life. Examples of these people that I know of are Erika Lyremark. She was a stripper for 9 years, went to school, but never used her degree. Instead (according to her), she co-created a multi-million dollar commercial real estate company, wrote a book "Think Like a Stripper" and now is a successful business coach.

    Another stripper success story is Sheila Hageman. She also stripped for ten years and in her early thirties finished school as a valedictorian, got a degree in creative writing, wrote a memoir about stripping and now is a writer of two blogs on Huffington Post.

    Another great stripper success example is IMO a well known by our community user of this forum Melonie. I think we all know her story, so I won't reiterate it. But I do think that she is a good example of stripper success.
    I keep reminding myself of all these stories to keep myself motivated and preventing myself of thinking that stripping is a "means to an end" or a "last resort", as many people love to say.

    If anybody on here feels like me about stripping sometimes, I hope these stories help you to keep going and not feeling bad about what you do. Also, if you have any other success stories you know of, post it here!!!

  2. The Following 5 Users Say Thank You to Sexy_Jenny For This Useful Post:


  3. #2
    Featured Member Starling's Avatar
    Joined
    May 2011
    Location
    NYC
    Posts
    1,511
    Thanks
    2,450
    Thanked 2,081 Times in 874 Posts
    My Mood
    Pensive

    Default Re: Stripper Success Stories

    Quote Originally Posted by Sexy_Jenny View Post
    "means to an end"
    Well if you think of it this way, a 'means to an end' could also mean getting all that money in the end. And as for myself, I don't necessarily have to rely on stripping for income anymore. I could stop dancing if I chose to. I've gotten to 'the end' so to speak. But I still do it anyway whenever I have days off from my day job.

    It's nowhere near a last resort for me because it gives me something fun to look forward to after a crazy work week and if I don't make money that night, I'll still have my paycheck to rely on.

  4. #3
    God/dess simone87's Avatar
    Joined
    Feb 2012
    Location
    New England
    Posts
    5,171
    Thanks
    7,361
    Thanked 9,469 Times in 3,228 Posts
    My Mood
    Cheeky

    Default Re: Stripper Success Stories

    i think what you should do instead, is explore why exactly you feel that its "last resort" job.

  5. The Following 6 Users Say Thank You to simone87 For This Useful Post:


  6. #4
    Featured Member kaninchen's Avatar
    Joined
    Jul 2012
    Posts
    1,659
    Thanks
    930
    Thanked 5,550 Times in 1,321 Posts

    Default Re: Stripper Success Stories

    Hmm. Oh dear. Well, I'm not exactly trying to criticize you, but I'm picking up on a bunch of shitty cultural attitudes on gender roles here. Consider the following to be a flame on society, not you.

    You bring up Erika Lyremark and Sheila Hageman like their academic and professional successes are atonements for the sin of stripping. As in, they may have messed up by taking their clothes off, but look! They became good girls with good grades who were successful in legitimate jobs! This characterization is ridiculous when you consider that their "real success" (girl, wtf, seriously) most likely owes to the freedom and wealth that they directly owe to stripping.

    You feel like a failure "even though" you're a student? Whaaat? Are you saying here that being a student should "excuse" the fact that you're also a stripper? Get these shitty patriarchal ideas out of your head. There's nothing wrong with being a stripper for stripping's sake. There is a pervasive cultural narrative that sex work is something which must be done under duress in order to be acceptable, and even then is only marginally so. This is SO annoying. It is not something for which you should be compensating.

    Real stripper success stories are all of us, actually. All of us who enjoy our jobs, meet our goals, and are happy with our lives. It has nothing to do with moving on to other industries.


  7. #5
    Senior Member
    Joined
    May 2012
    Posts
    126
    Thanks
    53
    Thanked 91 Times in 30 Posts
    My Mood
    Innocent

    Default Re: Stripper Success Stories

    Quote Originally Posted by kaninchen View Post
    Hmm. Oh dear. Well, I'm not exactly trying to criticize you, but I'm picking up on a bunch of shitty cultural attitudes on gender roles here. Consider the following to be a flame on society, not you.

    You bring up Erika Lyremark and Sheila Hageman like their academic and professional successes are atonements for the sin of stripping. As in, they may have messed up by taking their clothes off, but look! They became good girls with good grades who were successful in legitimate jobs! This characterization is ridiculous when you consider that their "real success" (girl, wtf, seriously) most likely owes to the freedom and wealth that they directly owe to stripping.

    You feel like a failure "even though" you're a student? Whaaat? Are you saying here that being a student should "excuse" the fact that you're also a stripper? Get these shitty patriarchal ideas out of your head. There's nothing wrong with being a stripper for stripping's sake. There is a pervasive cultural narrative that sex work is something which must be done under duress in order to be acceptable, and even then is only marginally so. This is SO annoying. It is not something for which you should be compensating.

    Real stripper success stories are all of us, actually. All of us who enjoy our jobs, meet our goals, and are happy with our lives. It has nothing to do with moving on to other industries.
    You are so right..... with everything you said. I indeed should get "shitty patriarchal ideas" out of my head. Thank you for your post!!

  8. The Following User Says Thank You to Sexy_Jenny For This Useful Post:


  9. #6
    Featured Member Starling's Avatar
    Joined
    May 2011
    Location
    NYC
    Posts
    1,511
    Thanks
    2,450
    Thanked 2,081 Times in 874 Posts
    My Mood
    Pensive

    Default Re: Stripper Success Stories

    If anything dancing should give you an inflated sense of ego. You get to make stupid amounts of cash more than the average person, you get to hear how hot you are all the time and get paid for it, and you learn the real value of your time. Sometimes when I see people who are 'too GOOD' for stuff like stripping and see how hard they have to work all the time for a measly sum of money, all I can think of is "I'm glad I'm not those people."

  10. The Following 11 Users Say Thank You to Starling For This Useful Post:


  11. #7
    Banned Aniela's Avatar
    Joined
    Jun 2009
    Location
    KW
    Posts
    3,291
    Thanks
    6,920
    Thanked 5,854 Times in 2,242 Posts
    My Mood
    Cynical

    Default Re: Stripper Success Stories

    Quote Originally Posted by Sexy_Jenny View Post
    You are so right..... with everything you said. I indeed should get "shitty patriarchal ideas" out of my head. Thank you for your post!!
    It is very easy to internalise the mainstream's negative views of stripping -- I struggle w/ this myself.

    Ever notice how strippers (& sex workers in general) are held up as the devil incarnate, but you do not see nearly as much nastiness directed at the patrons of said sex workers? W/o them, we have no job. Supply & demand. The very culture that demonises us for making $$ thru our sexuality is also our largest customer base. We are really just entrepreneurs taking advantage of the demand for a service we can provide. There is nothing abt this that is 'bad' or 'less than'; it is Capitalism in action.

  12. #8
    Banned Melonie's Avatar
    Joined
    Jul 2002
    Location
    way south of the border
    Posts
    25,932
    Thanks
    612
    Thanked 10,563 Times in 4,646 Posts
    Blog Entries
    3
    My Mood
    Cynical

    Default Re: Stripper Success Stories

    You bring up Erika Lyremark and Sheila Hageman like their academic and professional successes are atonements for the sin of stripping. As in, they may have messed up by taking their clothes off, but look! They became good girls with good grades who were successful in legitimate jobs! This characterization is ridiculous when you consider that their "real success" (girl, wtf, seriously) most likely owes to the freedom and wealth that they directly owe to stripping.
    I'm in a 180 degree position in this regard. Before I ever went on stage, I had already achieved mainstream academic and professional 'success' ... in the eyes of 'polite society' anyhow ... by obtaining a college degree and working in highly respected professional positions for several years. Unfortunately, the 'real world' definition of success i.e. size of take-home paychecks, time / schedule demands of the professional job etc. wasn't enough of a 'success' to allow me to properly provide for my son or for my own future.

    It was only after I 'turned my back' on the polite society paradigm, and made a serious full time effort at dancing, camming, featuring etc. that 'real world' success was achieved !!!


    Ever notice how strippers (& sex workers in general) are held up as the devil incarnate, but you do not see nearly as much nastiness directed at the patrons of said sex workers? W/o them, we have no job. Supply & demand. The very culture that demonises us for making $$ thru our sexuality is also our largest customer base
    rampant hypocrisy indeed !!!

  13. #9
    Senior Member xcatxbrownx's Avatar
    Joined
    Jul 2012
    Posts
    190
    Thanks
    1,426
    Thanked 370 Times in 113 Posts
    My Mood
    Cheeky

    Default Re: Stripper Success Stories

    I feel sorry for women who are too "good" to strip. I see gorgeous girls busting their asses for $10 an hour when they could be making $400 in 4. Stripping has empowered me, made me realize the value of my body, my time, my mind. I have learned my boundaries, how to say no, how to read people, how to appreciate EVERY DOLLAR I MAKE. I've learned how fit I can be, I've opened my mind (I will never look down on sex workers or patrons again), I've learned how to dance on a pole, take rejection like a BOSS (and get up, keep going), I've learned what makes good business partnerships, I've learned about how supportive people in the sex industry are with each other, I've learned how to perfect my hair, nails, makeup. I've learned to be more picky about the kinds of people I want in my life, the MEN in my life especially. I've learned how to talk to ANYONE, I'm learning more and more Spanish, too. If I had not started stripping, I would not be in college right now. I've learned more about myself in the past year than I have in the 20 years of my life before this one.

  14. The Following 13 Users Say Thank You to xcatxbrownx For This Useful Post:


  15. #10
    Featured Member wednesday86's Avatar
    Joined
    Mar 2014
    Posts
    1,911
    Thanks
    2,498
    Thanked 6,402 Times in 1,573 Posts

    Default Re: Stripper Success Stories

    I think I would define "stripper success" as having a very lucrative stripping career AND investing in your future so that if/when you choose to quit, or when you get too old, you can still do well. Whether that means getting an education and another career, saving or investing in real estate-whatever! Part of the stigma attached to us (other than the obvious naughtiness of us showing our boobies) is that "society" thinks we don't have a choice; that we can't get hired anywhere else. That's probably why so many patrons offer us jobs or tell us we're "too good for this." Everyone thinks we're stuck...and Yes, some girls DO get stuck in this industry because they don't plan ahead.

    That said, like the PP noted I do feel sorry for the wage slaves, especially the pretty girls that are "above it." I feel like stripping is the ultimate life hack if you're a cute female. If other ladies don't want to take advantage of it, more $ for us!

    I am not a "success story" yet by my own definition. Stripping allowed me to leave an abusive relationship, support myself and go back to school. I eventually met my amazing husband while dancing and we have a beautiful baby boy. In 18 months I'll be finished with my degree and then, who knows? I now have the confidence to talk to anyone, go for any job and have gotten my first paid internship this summer for a music magazine. So far the future looks bright!

  16. The Following 9 Users Say Thank You to wednesday86 For This Useful Post:


  17. #11
    Veteran Member charlotte_ai's Avatar
    Joined
    Mar 2012
    Location
    In my head
    Posts
    202
    Thanks
    20
    Thanked 308 Times in 103 Posts
    My Mood
    Twisted

    Default Re: Stripper Success Stories

    Quote Originally Posted by Melonie View Post
    It was only after I 'turned my back' on the polite society paradigm, and made a serious full time effort at dancing, camming, featuring etc. that 'real world' success was achieved !!
    I have been thinking a lot about this lately after copping a bit of grief about night work, odd schedules (from my family- and they don't even know what it is I do in reality) and what I want to "do" with my life, etc. when in reality, non-conventional works for me and I have no desire for a family, a 9-5, a relationship, or any other things that are considered usual. I have almost completely removed myself from "polite society" and love it.

    This line gives me hope and motivation... I may tape it up in my locker... THANKS!!!!

  18. The Following 3 Users Say Thank You to charlotte_ai For This Useful Post:


  19. #12
    Member StripperSierra's Avatar
    Joined
    Feb 2014
    Location
    California
    Posts
    71
    Thanks
    0
    Thanked 185 Times in 27 Posts
    My Mood
    Bored

    Default Re: Stripper Success Stories

    Really well put kaninchen, I had the same attitude as the OP believing that I was a loser for having to resort to getting naked for the pleasure of men to pay my way through college. I felt it belittled me but I legitimized it in my mind by saying I am doing it to pay for my college and to better myself and once I get my degree it will atone for my sin of working as a stripper.

    I got my degree left stripping and worked a bunch of years in various marketing and public relations positions for some big corporations and made decent money doing so. I didn't like the 9-5 and working for some asshole bosses so I started my own company and began stripping again and modeling not for just the money but also because it is fun for me as I realize that I am an exhibitionist and a bit of an attention junkie.

    I consider myself a success, I have my degree, my mainstream business (I design bikinis, lingerie for my own brand) is highly successful with my designs sell all around the world and makes me more money than stripping ever did but I still strip and model and I am pushing 40 and I still look damn good . I don't need to strip or model (mostly nude) but I do it because I like it, something that was hard for me to admit to when I was a student feeling sorry for myself for having to do something sinful to make make. I think as you mature and feel better about yourself you'll see that being a stripper actually takes alot of guts and strength and is something only strong and powerful woman can do successfully and you'll like fondly back on your stripper days if you should decide to quit the industry.

    Quote Originally Posted by kaninchen View Post
    Hmm. Oh dear. Well, I'm not exactly trying to criticize you, but I'm picking up on a bunch of shitty cultural attitudes on gender roles here. Consider the following to be a flame on society, not you.

    You bring up Erika Lyremark and Sheila Hageman like their academic and professional successes are atonements for the sin of stripping. As in, they may have messed up by taking their clothes off, but look! They became good girls with good grades who were successful in legitimate jobs! This characterization is ridiculous when you consider that their "real success" (girl, wtf, seriously) most likely owes to the freedom and wealth that they directly owe to stripping.

    You feel like a failure "even though" you're a student? Whaaat? Are you saying here that being a student should "excuse" the fact that you're also a stripper? Get these shitty patriarchal ideas out of your head. There's nothing wrong with being a stripper for stripping's sake. There is a pervasive cultural narrative that sex work is something which must be done under duress in order to be acceptable, and even then is only marginally so. This is SO annoying. It is not something for which you should be compensating.

    Real stripper success stories are all of us, actually. All of us who enjoy our jobs, meet our goals, and are happy with our lives. It has nothing to do with moving on to other industries.

  20. The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to StripperSierra For This Useful Post:


  21. #13
    Veteran Member
    Joined
    Jun 2006
    Posts
    575
    Thanks
    20
    Thanked 176 Times in 70 Posts

    Default Re: Stripper Success Stories

    I also had a degree before I started dancing. And two when I came back to it. I am only leaving it now because I am 32 and want to have a career that I can do at 40, 50, and 60. I almost feel stupid for leaving dancing because I know it is the best job I will ever have. I have financial stability, flexible schedule, unlimited income potential (and very steady actual income), along with many other perks.

    By all means go to school. Figure out what you want to do when you are 40. But if you want to dance until the day no one will pay you anymore, more power to you. It's the best job if you approach it in the right way. Don't let anyone or society in general tell you otherwise.

  22. The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to carolina6 For This Useful Post:


  23. #14
    Banned Melonie's Avatar
    Joined
    Jul 2002
    Location
    way south of the border
    Posts
    25,932
    Thanks
    612
    Thanked 10,563 Times in 4,646 Posts
    Blog Entries
    3
    My Mood
    Cynical

    Default Re: Stripper Success Stories

    Figure out what you want to do when you are 40.
    I definitely did this ... and decided that a. I never wanted to HAVE to work at ANY job again, and b. that 'floating' around the Caribbean wouldn't too bad of a way to spend my 'retirement'. Fortunately, the high earnings potential available via a 'serious, full time' effort at dancing and camming made it possible for me to save and invest enough money to make this possible !

  24. #15
    Curious Guest
    Joined
    Jun 2013
    Location
    San Francisco
    Posts
    2
    Thanks
    0
    Thanked 5 Times in 1 Post

    Thumbs up Re: Stripper Success Stories

    Quote Originally Posted by xcatxbrownx View Post
    I feel sorry for women who are too "good" to strip. I see gorgeous girls busting their asses for $10 an hour when they could be making $400 in 4. Stripping has empowered me, made me realize the value of my body, my time, my mind. I have learned my boundaries, how to say no, how to read people, how to appreciate EVERY DOLLAR I MAKE. I've learned how fit I can be, I've opened my mind (I will never look down on sex workers or patrons again), I've learned how to dance on a pole, take rejection like a BOSS (and get up, keep going), I've learned what makes good business partnerships, I've learned about how supportive people in the sex industry are with each other, I've learned how to perfect my hair, nails, makeup. I've learned to be more picky about the kinds of people I want in my life, the MEN in my life especially. I've learned how to talk to ANYONE, I'm learning more and more Spanish, too. If I had not started stripping, I would not be in college right now. I've learned more about myself in the past year than I have in the 20 years of my life before this one.
    I absolutely love this! Could not have said this any better myself. Bravo!

  25. #16
    Member
    Joined
    Apr 2014
    Posts
    57
    Thanks
    78
    Thanked 66 Times in 26 Posts

    Default Re: Stripper Success Stories

    Quote Originally Posted by Melonie View Post

    It was only after I 'turned my back' on the polite society paradigm, and made a serious full time effort at dancing, camming, featuring etc. that 'real world' success was achieved !!!
    Re-visiting an old thread here but I put this quote on my bathroom mirror and sent it to two dancer friends as well. Seeing it every day has made me think about exactly what that means, so I wanted to ask Melonie if she is around? For those of us interested, how would you define "serious full-time effort", meaning what did you actually do, aside from the obvious, working full time etc? Thank you, would really love to hear the answer to this or what anyone else does outside the standard working a lot and hustling hard.

  26. #17
    Banned Melonie's Avatar
    Joined
    Jul 2002
    Location
    way south of the border
    Posts
    25,932
    Thanks
    612
    Thanked 10,563 Times in 4,646 Posts
    Blog Entries
    3
    My Mood
    Cynical

    Default Re: Stripper Success Stories

    With the understanding that certain aspects of our industry were different 10 years ago than they are today ...

    A. my first commitment to becoming a 'serious, professional' dancer involved the total amount of time and priority I was willing to dedicate. After experimenting with different schedules, and discovering what my own mind / body / spirit was able to handle sans burnout, I boiled this down to three consecutive 8+ hour five day weeks worked, followed by taking the 4th week entirely off.

    B. my second commitment to becoming a 'serious, professional' dancer involved the degree of my commitment to saving / investing for the future. Again after some experimentation, this boiled down to me setting an absolute priority to set aside $500 per week ( after-tax ... thus ~$700 gross ) for every week that I worked ... before I even considered paying my bills. And, obviously, I also didn't consider spending dollar one on any non-essential item until both my $500 per week savings / investment commitment had been banked PLUS my bills had been paid. Early on, this meant working some LONG shifts, and/or eating Ramen noodles ( figuratively speaking )

    C. next evolutionary step was to 'invest' in my own marketability, such that my nightly earnings potential could be increased. Obviously this involved several trips to the plastic surgeon ... plus building a 'brand' for myself via magazine / video appearances / adult website etc.

    D. next evolutionary step was to get smarter about 'markets' ... such that my nightly earnings potential could remain consistently high all year long. This involved avoiding the inherent seasonality of virtually every particular city, in favor of travelling to different clubs in different areas of the country ( and occasionally other countries ) where the seasonality was more favorable. Or put simply, north in summer, south in winter !!! I eventually came up with a 'triangle' road trip schedule, where I would book myself into three different cities for three consecutive weeks, returning home again the 4th week to play 'catch up' on real life.

    E. after my 'brand' started to gain some recognition, I was able to transition out of 'house' dancing on the road in favor of feature bookings a couple of weeks per month ... filling in the 'gaps' with webcam earnings, video sales earnings, etc.

  27. #18
    Member
    Joined
    Apr 2014
    Posts
    57
    Thanks
    78
    Thanked 66 Times in 26 Posts

    Default Re: Stripper Success Stories

    Thanks!! This is really great ^^

  28. #19
    Featured Member
    Joined
    Aug 2011
    Posts
    1,881
    Thanks
    3,026
    Thanked 3,426 Times in 1,229 Posts

    Default Re: Stripper Success Stories

    Melonie, I think you need an autobiography.

  29. The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to tuesdaymarie For This Useful Post:


  30. #20
    Banned Melonie's Avatar
    Joined
    Jul 2002
    Location
    way south of the border
    Posts
    25,932
    Thanks
    612
    Thanked 10,563 Times in 4,646 Posts
    Blog Entries
    3
    My Mood
    Cynical

    Default Re: Stripper Success Stories

    ^^^ no chance ... not my style !!! These days my most valued 'possession' is privacy !!!

  31. #21
    Featured Member
    Joined
    Aug 2011
    Posts
    1,881
    Thanks
    3,026
    Thanked 3,426 Times in 1,229 Posts

    Default Re: Stripper Success Stories

    ^The world's loss! I really respect your smarts and independence.

Similar Threads

  1. acne success stories
    By krys in forum Body Business
    Replies: 68
    Last Post: 02-08-2013, 10:29 PM
  2. Success Stories
    By Elusive21 in forum Stripping (was Stripping General)
    Replies: 26
    Last Post: 03-15-2012, 07:33 PM
  3. Your feel-good success stories at work
    By manhattan in forum Stripping (was Stripping General)
    Replies: 21
    Last Post: 10-15-2007, 01:09 AM
  4. Post diet success stories!
    By sunnie in forum Body Business
    Replies: 3
    Last Post: 12-07-2006, 06:39 PM
  5. Are there any dancer success stories?
    By 4footfine in forum The Lounge
    Replies: 19
    Last Post: 05-26-2004, 04:33 PM

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •