We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Lady Ve’Lush . We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Lady below.

Lady , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.

Being a creative is not just a pathway it is a journey. After being exposed to entertainment life in my youth, I immediately knew that I wanted to be in this lifestyle But living in working class it was going to be harder than I thought to be just an entertainer. Which is why I pursued science as a career to adequately keep up with day to day finances. As my coworker once told me, “College is safety net for your dreams.” Looking back on it, she was definitely on the right track. I was able to explore many classes in college to advance both my artistic skills and learning through experience through auditions. I knew that if I did theatre it would have to either work with my schedule or be my primary job with Broadway and tour life. Life definitely dealt me the first option where I am able to have my 9 to 5 and pursue my passion. For the many years of being on this creative journey I have made it work for myself. It has allowed me to explore many options of the creativity such as, costumes, different genres of performance, and exploration of different stages. Currently, I am contributing my talents towards pathing the way for my more PLUSH size BIPOC (Black and Indigenous People of Color) performers as my burlesque persona Lady Ve’Lush while giving safe spaces to performers as HDIC (Head Doll in Charge) of my production company, Showdoll Heaux-ductions, I am truly living my life motto, “You Gotta make SCENE to be SEEN”. I want nothing more in life than to be on stage and even if it’s just for a split second I will give my ALL to the stage until the bitter end.

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.

I literally got into burlesque world complete by accident. A friend presented to me that he would be putting on cabaret show and wanted to gear my comfortably towards removing my clothing in front of the general public. Needless to say I was all for it. That experience allowed me build upon my journey where I later branched out to seek more opportunities. Since then never look back. Before joining the burlesque scene I was drag queen. I use a lot of my drag queen skills in the art of burlesque. My many skills in the art is what sets me apart; that’s of course if you are willing to hire me and believe me I definitely give plenty of reasons to hire me.
Throughout this journey, I am proud of all my WINS; that includes my 2nd places, 3rd places, and even just being a participant. Honestly ever experience becomes a win for me because I am learning something new or enhancing an already learned skill. I am, however, most proud of being able to put on my first production at Newport Theatre, which is like my second home and hope to continue to strive in the community to bring the best entertainment to as many stages as possible.

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

Allow ALL artist of many backgrounds. I am PLUSH size queer black woman and in 2024 I expect to be able to do my art in safe spaces without judgment or in harms way; especially if there is GOOD money to be made and the entertainment is top tier.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

I have had to relearn and unlearn theatre etiquette for burlesque vs live theatre. The same rules still apply but in burlesque it can be depended on performer and their boundaries. In theatre there are a lot of contracts that are built around the show its perks. As an independent contractor I built my pay, my perks, etc. I do my best to learn within each situation and make the needed connections, so I continue to create more opportunities in my burlesque career.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lady_velush?igsh=MWZhaW8zdWRxaW50Zw==
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/D256dJUzAWWu2nVX/?mibextid=LQQJ4d
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@xoxolusciously_wicked?si=pVpqei99C5i4PRCL

Image Credits

Genito photos on Ig
Rehnbowz on IG
Darin_k_ on IG
loveoneself on ig