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

Mia, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.

I began as a kindergarten teacher while quietly nurturing a love for performance. At the City College of New York, CCNY, I played a stripper in a play and felt power unlike anything else. The audience loved it, my parents praised me, but my fiancé at the time was horrified. He dumped me backstage, saying I had disrespected us both. That moment planted the first seeds of doubt. His slut shaming cut deep and shadowed my early performances. I begged for his forgiveness and stopped performing for a long time. I decided to become an elementary school teacher.

Luckily, when he dumped me again, I started my first burlesque troupe during graduate school at Sarah Lawrence while sneaking back to CCNY, my undergraduate alma mater, to collaborate with theater friends. My master’s degree in early childhood education grounded me, while my clandestine rehearsals fueled a new life. I was terrified of losing my teaching job, so I performed under a stage name, Delysia La Chatte, and refused to take off my top. I told the troupe we were not strippers and would never twirl pasties. Within a few months we did, and the night we all revealed our pasties together was the moment something inside me clicked. I felt liberated and no longer chained by other people’s judgments.

Living a double life of teacher by day and performer by night became too heavy. Every time I tried a regular job I became depressed. Eventually all the teachers who participated in starting a union at my school were laid off, myself included. At the time it felt devastating, but in hindsight I know it was divine intervention. The layoff, like the breakup, was aligned with my spirit as a performer. It was meant to be.

When I committed fully to burlesque, I found financial stability and creative freedom. My path accelerated when I was cast as Josephine Baker in Ziegfeld’s Midnight Frolic. I not only performed the role but also choreographed and cast the Ziegfeld Girls. The production earned me a full photo in the New York Times and a review that called me “an excellent Delysia La Chatte.” That was the moment I knew I no longer needed to hide behind an alias. I could stand as myself, as Mia “The MVP,” Mia Victoria Preisser.

My passion for teaching never left me. My background in early childhood education continues to serve me as I mentor, teach workshops, and support emerging performers. The two worlds of education and burlesque merge beautifully in my work and community.

Today I teach feather fans at The New York School of Burlesque and perform at The Burlesque Show at The Borgata in Atlantic City, at Duane Park, and at Bathtub Gin, three of the top burlesque shows and venues in New York City. I am happier in my art life than I ever was in a conventional job. I have no regrets. Burlesque gave me independence, confidence, and the freedom to live fully as myself.

Mia, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I am Mia “The MVP,” Mia Victoria Preisser, a New York City based burlesque performer, writer, visual artist, and creative producer. My career has taken me from embodying Josephine Baker in Ziegfeld’s Midnight Frolic to performing at The Borgata, Duane Park, and Bathtub Gin, three of the most respected stages in burlesque. I am also a cancer survivor, and that experience deepened my commitment to living fully and authentically through my art.

Beyond performance, I create visual art, write, and mentor the next generation of artists. I teach both individuals and groups in act development and feather fan technique, drawing on my background in education to give students structure, encouragement, and tools for creative expression. I am currently writing an ebook and audiobook titled Manifest Like a Showgirl Think Like a Stoic, which will be released on my website CatCult.com.

My mission is to merge performance, education, and empowerment. I want audiences and students alike to experience not only the glamour of burlesque but also its power as a practice of confidence, freedom, and resilience.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

What I had to unlearn was the idea that I needed to do things the way other people do them in order to be successful or accepted. For a long time I carried fear and shame, shaped by outside voices that told me I was too much or not enough. That conditioning pushed me to hide my real self and try to fit into molds that were never made for me.

Meditation has been part of my life since I was seventeen, and it gave me the clarity to hear my own voice beneath the noise of other people’s expectations. My spirituality is not about religion but about alignment with the divine feminine. That means honoring my sensuality, creativity, and intuition rather than suppressing it.

Stoicism taught me to focus on what I can control. The Law of Assumption taught me to believe in my vision and live as though it were already real. Together they helped me stop giving too many fucks while remaining professional and original in my craft.

Unlearning the need for external validation gave me freedom. It allowed me to trust my path, claim my artistry fully, and create success on my own terms. That has been the key to both my resilience and my joy.

Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?

What non-creatives often struggle to understand is that being an artist is not just a hobby or something extra, it is a way of life. It is not about waiting for inspiration to strike, it is about discipline, consistency, and a willingness to take risks that do not come with guarantees. The path is unpredictable, but the rewards are deeper than a paycheck.

As a creative I had to learn that the value of my work is not measured only in money or traditional success. Sometimes the world will not immediately recognize the worth of your vision, but you still have to keep going. That is why I lean on Stoicism, meditation, and the Law of Assumption. They remind me to trust my inner world, to keep creating regardless of outside approval, and to assume the best outcome.

What keeps me going is the knowledge that every time I step on stage or teach, I am not just entertaining, I am giving people a sense of freedom, beauty, and possibility. That is something that cannot always be understood from the outside, but it is everything to those of us who live it.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://CATCULT.COM
• Instagram: MIAVPART
• Other: Substack MiaTheMVP

Image Credits

Photo 1 The Burlesque Show at the Borgata
2 Lindsay Adler photography
necklace photo House Indulgence
red skirt at Duane park Emma Story
black hat House Indulgence