The MOST Frequently Asked Question: "How did you get into this?"

Let me take you back. Way back, to October, 2003. I was 21 and the U.S. was in its post-9/11 recession. I was sitting in my dad's living room when I got a call from my employer, Washington Mutual, saying they would no longer be needing my services as a loan auditor. As I sat on the couch, rather disappointed to be out of my seventh (yes, seventh) job that year, my girlfriend Crystal happened to call. When I told her I had just been laid off, she replied, "We should go strip."

The next day I met Crystal at her apartment in San Francisco. She helped me pick out my first pair of shoes (5" clear platform heels) and loaned me a lacy black tank top and black panties with ruffles to dance in. We walked down Broadway and talked to a few doormen until we got an audition at Roaring 20s. Honestly, this was so long ago that I don't remember much except that we were terrified to go on stage, but stoked afterward when we were hired. We filled out paperwork, had an orientation, and then left. We came back the next day, danced on stage for a few songs (and yes I looked like an idiot/deer in headlights/TOTAL NEWB), and left having never given a lap dance.

That was my first exposure to dancing. The two aspects that stand out most vividly in my memory are being absolutely terrified to go on stage (like, shaking and almost in tears), and the orientation we received. We asked the hiring manager how much money we could expect to earn working there, and he told us: "Dancers here make about $5000 a month working three shifts a week." At that point, mind you, I had just been laid off from a job where I was working 40 hours a week, and making $12/hr meant I still didn't have enough to move out of my dad's house, let alone go back to school. Even though Crystal and I never went back to 20s after our second day, that figure ($5000/month for part-time work!) stuck in my head, and after thinking about it and researching the industry for about six more months, in May of 2004 I ultimately quit my job (working full-time for $10/hr as a "fax coordinator" for a company that does billing for radiologists), moved to Sacramento, and dancing became my sole source of income.

Second to going back to school, it was the best decision I've made as an adult.