Blue Jean, baby
When I was a rookie, the agents kept booking me with a huge feature of that time, Blue Jean. I was a bit of a brat, honestly, I came out of Fort McMurray, Alberta (the rough n tough, far Canadian north) with a huge chip on my shoulder, an attitude to match and a lot to prove. I feel like they were booking me with her in the hopes that I’d actually pay attention and learn a thing or two, or three lol some of those things would be to soften and humble. They saw a potential there but my brattiness was a deterrent I was a very good dancer, coming from a dance background and thought I was a lot better than I actually was LOL There’s a lot more involved in being a great entertainer opposed to having just good skills. I used to think, ” I should be the feature.” Yes, total bratty mentality in that regard but with drive and aspirations. So, I would be dancing my butt off, doing ALL the moves, handstands into splits, fancy spins, I really thought I was killing it! And I’d get some claps and shouts. Then Blue Jean would go on stage and get triple encores, money thrown everywhere and I just didn’t get it. How does she have them eating out of the palm of her hand like that and she doesn’t even touch the pole? She was wearing a red and white plaid shirt and cut off Jean shorts, so, not even a huge, embellished feature costume. Then after a few months, I finally broke down, realizing I didn’t know it all and still had a lot to learn, clearly, and I just asked her, “Can I pick your brain? I’m wondering, How do you do it? They go crazy for you as soon as you walk on stage. I feel like I’m working so hard and I get nothing.” She was so nice and sweet about it. She said, “Eye contact and smile. I make every man in the room feel like I’m dancing for only him.” I laughed and said, “No way, it’s not THAT easy.” She smiled and said, that’s the secret. So, my next stage show, I was ready and armed with this new feedback! I went out on stage, started dancing, looked at a customer in the eyes aaannddd felt so shy! I couldn’t do it. It was actually so hard for me! And smiiiileee…. omg, so hard. I couldn’t look at people and also, smile. I was so used to being a serious performer but really, probably looked more like a drill Sargent with my resting bitch face. So, I started to work on that. I would look at a customer and think of something funny to make me laugh, which, would lead into me smiling. Then, they would get excited, smile back and put money on the stage! I was like, “Wow, it really is that easy, once I get past this shyness. They don’t care about my handstands, they want to feel acknowledged.” It changed my whole show. So then, making eye contact and smiling is how I started my show. My first song would be spent courting the audience. This changed the game for me. I could go onstage after an entertainer doing amazing pole work or aerials and make triple the amount of tips just from that personal connection. And then, when I would do a fancy move, the audience would go even more crazy, even if 3 girls before me did the exact same move. That was the secret sause!
Another great piece of advice I received from Randy, my agent and huge mentor, pertained to Blue Jean, again, as well as Krissy Snow, another big feature of that era. I was competing in contests, making the finals but not placing. I was really taking it hard, beating myself up over losing. Randy said to me, “You know Blue Jean,” I said, “Of course! You book me with her every week!” He said, “She hasn’t won a contest yet, neither has Krissy Snow and both are two of the highest paid and most booked features out there. They’re so popular, they don’t need a title. Any title they could win would be a benefit to that title because of how much status and spotlight they had. Build a career so big that you don’t need a title. If you win a title, YOU will be giving that award a spotlight of recognition, not the other way around.” After that, Blue Jean, went on to win Miss Nude Canada but by then, it was as he said, she gave that title more recognition because she was already so big. Her career had greatly influenced and inspired my perception and shaped where I am today ✨️ There were a few others, like Lianna Cole but those 2 pieces of guidance completely changed my thinking and the trajectory of my career. I then started building a career so big that I didn’t need a contest title to get booked, I would get booked solely on who I was. This was also similar advice I was given from my music mentor, Bruce Levens, the owner of Greenhouse Studios, a well known recording studio that was home to such acts as Aerosmith, Bon Jovi and Nickel back, just to name a few. Bruce told me to strive to be bigger than my music. At the time I had an all girl group called, G-Force, that was recording and rehearsing at the studio. When he said be bigger than your music, it reminded me of be bigger than any title you can win. And that is how my career has been. I don’t win a ton of contests but will be the most talked about show and have cemented 14 years of a stacked booked schedule around the world. And for me, guaranteed paychecks and touring internationally is the best accolade anyone could attain because that sustainability is next level. Many features struggle to keep relevant with a steady booking schedule for 2-3 years before things start to fade out, let alone almost 15 years. So, I have profound gratitude for the mentors I had early on who shifted my mindset and helped me to have total vision, instead of just tunnel vision of where my career could go and how to get there.
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