We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Crimson Rose a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Crimson , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?

In 2019 I took a life changing risk, to pack up my life and move from Oklahoma to California at 48 years old.

I was born in Oklahoma City and spent my entire life in the Oklahoma City area. I graduated high school from a small-town East of OKC, got married at 20 years old and had my first child at 21. When I was 30 years old and pregnant with my 3rd child, my husband and I took on our niece and nephew after his sister died in a motorcycle wreck. Being 30 years old and a stay-at-home wife and mom to 5 children, in a small town, was draining. As thankful as I was to be able to stay at home with my children, I felt like there was nothing left of me and I desperately needed a change.

A few years later, the niece and nephew went to live with other family members, my husband and I got divorced and I began life as a single mom of 3. Since I had only worked some part time jobs here and there while married I was starting out pretty new in the job market, and took whatever administrative work I could find. Not able to make much money, life was extremely difficult at times, to say the least. However, during this time I was able to start discovering who I was and able to do things that benefited me including earning my Master Degree in Leadership in 2019.

In 2019, the year I completed college, my youngest child graduated high school. With all 3 of my children having successfully flown the nest, I was in a new phase of my life and ready to see what was available to me outside of Oklahoma. I decided I was moving to California! Within a matter of a few weeks, I sold all of my furniture, purged through my belongings and packed up my car with the bare necessitates and took off! I was on unemployment at the time and had 3 months left to get to California and find a job. My goal was to live in San Diego, as I had always loved San Diego after visiting my grandpa there when I was a kid, but wasn’t sure where luck would land me and was open to all options.

Only telling 5 people that I was leaving Oklahoma, I arrived in California on September 27, 2019 and got to San Diego the first of November 2019. I landed my first job in December 2019 with a major medical device manufacturer. I stayed in Airbnb while getting settled, later renting a room from a local family and getting my first apartment in March 2020. The move was not easy and often times very lonely, money was really tight at times but moving out of Oklahoma, from the only place I had ever known, and into an entirely different world of California, was the biggest and most life changing risk I have taken. 5 years later I have no regrets.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

My name (stage name) is Crimson Rose and I am a 53-year-old burlesque performer based in San Diego, California. I am the creator and owner of The Crimson Rose, an online shop aimed at creating and providing various burlesque themed merchandise and gifts for burlesque performers and fans of burlesque.

I grew up participating in dance, gymnastics and cheerleading in the 70’s and 80’s hanging up my dance shoes at 18. My focus at that time of my life became getting my college education and becoming a wife and mother. However, I did stay involved in the dance, gymnastics and cheerleading world over the next 15 years by working in my family’s dance studio in Midwest City, Oklahoma, teaching gymnastics classes in a private school, judging high school state cheerleading competitions and at one point opening up my own gymnastics and cheerleading gym in Purcell, Oklahoma where I had a small competitive cheer team for a couple of years. Additionally, with a family full of girls there were always classes and performances to attend and be a part of. Fast forward 30 years, and after raising my three children and finally completing my college education with an undergraduate degree in Sociology and a Masters in Leadership, I packed up and moved to San Diego, California. After making it through the almost 2 year California Covid lockdowns I returned to dance taking burlesque dance and performance classes at Flaunt Burlesque Dance Studio in San Diego.

Returning to dance classes, after taking 3 decades off, was life changing for me both mentaly and physically. Stepping into the world of burlesque opened up a whole new world for me full of supportive friends and mentors, exciting self-liberating performances and sexy fun costumes. I was instantly hooked! In June 2022, at 50 years old I performed burlesque on stage for the first time in a begining burlesque routine with Flaunt Dance Studio, led by Coco Lamour. I was incredibly nervous, stripping down to a G-string and pasties on stage in front of about 200 people but in the end I was so proud of myself for taking the chance and could not wait to do it again!

Wanting everyone around me to know of my new found passion, I began looking online for a burlesque t-shirt or dance bag. I couldn’t find just what I was looking for, so with the help of AI, I designed my own. My goal was to create a burlesque design that wasn’t specific to any one burlesque event or person but a general burlesque theme for burlesque in and of itself. Something that people would look at and ask “Burlesque? What’s that about?”. After creating a design that I liked, and discovering that I could put my designs not only on shirts and bags but any number of other items such as holiday ornaments, coasters, blankets, shower curtains, towels and so much more I decided to create an online store as well as an Etsy shop to sell my creations to others who love burlesque as much as I do. In the fall of 2023, The Crimson Rose Shop was born!

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

The best support artists and creatives can receive is for you to buy tickets to their shows and to buy their merchandise or services. The local performers and the venues that host them need your support. Those that are selling items at pop up shops, farmers markets and on on-line need your support as well. If you can spend a hundred dollars or more to watch a major performer then you can spend $30.00 to support a local performer. When you are looking for a gift to buy, skip the major retailers and look to shops like The Crimson Rose to buy those special and unique gifts. Get out of your house and buy tickets to a local show and then spread the word on your social media. Take pictures and make posts, tag the creatives and artists. They will appreciate it more then you know.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

From my return to dance in my 50’s I just want everyone to know that it’s not too late, you aren’t too old. Burlesque dance, whether it’s taking a class once a week or performing in front of a crowd, is such a liberating and empowering tool for many women (and men) like me that have struggled with low self-esteem and body shame. Burlesque has taught me to love my body, have confidence and to take up space. I am a 53-year-old woman with a curvy body that brought 3 healthy humans into this world. I am proud and thankful of the strong body that I have with no apologies. I wear my burlesque shirts and show off my burlesque merchandise loud and proud in support of all of burlesque and I hope to inspire someone else who is struggling with confidence to find a class and discover the benefits of burlesque.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://crimsonroseburlesque.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thecrimsonroseshop/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61555998670018
• Other: Crimson Rose Performer Instagram Page https://www.instagram.com/crimson.rose.burlesque/ Etsy Page https://www.etsy.com/shop/CrimsonRoseBurl

Image Credits
The cover image (in pink) is by Gina Barbara Photography