StripperNomics: Exotic Dancers to Business Moguls
Line of work, or line of twerk? That is the real question. Bria Davis looks at how strippers take the lessons of ‘shmoney’ making it to rebrand themselves into entrepreneurs.
Many of us take a traditional route to making more money. Some people take on side-jobs, others go back to school to get a postgraduate degree. But if you’re someone like Mihzani, KashDoll or even Cardi B, then you would probably opt for the road less traveled: stripping.
Take, Tiara Walton, formerly known as Mizhani, an ex-dancer based in Miami that rebranded herself as a business mogul. Although she retired from stripping, she continued to push pole tricks in her pole dancing classes, and offers it in different cities across the country. Mizhani also created her campaign ‘Mizhani Movement’, and expanded her brand to fitness classes and poetry shows.
The average exotic dancer salary can exceed the typical salary and earnings range from $20,000 to $154,000 depending on the city (and per capita income of attending ‘clientele’) and shift frequency. Large cities like Miami, Atlanta and Las Vegas generate a lot of traffic for strip clubs, establishing them as cash cows.
Business Insider reported that the yearly median income for single millennials is from $19,000 to $43,000 across the nation. Most of us will accept modest pay for entry-level experience, the harsh realities of market forces have driven others to desire a different standard of living. Furthermore, the influence of television and social media promotes the ‘luxurious lifestyle’ and being a part of the upper-class. Basically, everyone wants more money to buy nice things.
Subsequently, seasoned strippers end up thriving from such a “taboo” profession; even regular workers say things like, “I should have been a stripper”. HuffPost reported in 2014, that a college student who makes $180,000 from stripping could pay off her college debts. Exotic dancers – in a way – increased the per capita income for millennials. Stripper also pay taxes – even though they don’t receive traditional employee benefits that full-time jobs typically offer.
While the longevity of stripper careers are short lived, dancers learn the lessons of hustling along the way. Eventually, they are able to create opportunities for themselves as they often finance their way through college, start their own business, or venture into other revenue-making avenues.
However, stigmas built around stripping still exist because it is a form of sex work. As time progresses, money management will be necessary as their incomes grow.
This considered, dancers have created their own avenues to follow up their careers from their strip clubs.
Many have become household names by breaking the glass ceiling like NeNe Leakes, Blac Chyna, Amber Rose and Cardi B have all started with humble beginnings as strippers but managed to still break through the glass ceiling.
It is crazy to think of strippers as drivers of the millennial economy, but there is some truth behind it. Presently, there are even apps available for dancers to perform job searches.
One app called “The Dancer’s Resource” is considered the Yelp and Glassdoor for strippers, as it provides an overall analysis of employee experience, estimated salaries and reviews for different clubs and venues.
Moreover, stripping is starting to be viewed as an art form from its use of pole dancing and athletic ability. Ultimately, it will be interesting to see how the archetype of stripper will progress in the future; even though dancing for money is the genesis, they may end up in the least expected professional areas.
