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

Perle , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to go back in time and hear the story of how you came up with the name of your brand?

Healing Through Seduction was born once I realized that I had to fall in love with myself to avoid dangerous relationships with emotional surrogates.

My career path started with my own body-positivity journey. Unlike most people, my journey of falling in love with myself didn’t start with loving my curves. On the contrary, as a Black woman, I had to fall in love with having a flat derriere and dark skin. No matter how much I worked out or with surgery, I couldn’t change those two things. Luckily, I was introduced to Josephine Baker and the art of burlesque. I started my burlesque career in 2003 when Josephine Baker spoke to me. She told me I was born to honor her legacy and show the world how beautiful and influential blackness can be. To honor my assignment, I had to start seducing myself instead of waiting on society and emotional surrogates to validate my worth hence, how my program Healing Through Seduction was born. I was my first client.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your background and context?

My name is Perle Noire, and I am one of the most celebrated Black women in burlesque since Josephine Baker. I teach women and femmes how to heal themselves through the art of burlesque and self-seduction. I became an icon due to my ritualistic burlesque performances and workshops. I am proud to say that I’ve not only healed myself every day through burlesque, but I’ve witnessed over three thousand women return to themselves through the art form.

I am on a mission to help women and femmes prioritize their self-care and sensual journey through the art of transformative burlesque. Especially women of color who have been taught that staying in abusive relationships with intimate partners and family members is a badge of honor. I want to redefine the definition of strength and resilience for women. The Healing Through Seduction community is a space for women and femmes to be celebrated when they honor their boundaries, explore their sensuality, practice consent, and offer community to other women by lifting them up. When we focus on our well-being and loving ourselves, we can show up for our loved ones and community profoundly. That is the power of transformative burlesque.

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

This is a great question. I have committed myself to releasing any addiction or dedication to being humble. Throughout my career, I have had many people tell me to “stay humble” instead of offering love and support whenever I share a win. As a dark-skinned Black woman in an industry that celebrates traditional white beauty, I always like to celebrate when I make history. I had the honor of having my image on a billboard in New Zealand, and when I shared my good news on Facebook, 90% of the folks in the comment section told me to “stay humble” instead of congratulating me. I decided to look up the definition, and being humble sounds like committing to having a toxic relationship with yourself. I encourage anyone reading this to look up the definition. So I committed to living my life grounded in gratitude instead of waiting on others to tell me when and where I can celebrate my light.

How did you build your audience on social media?

I built my social media audience by allowing myself to be vulnerable, authentic, consistent, and I treat every post like a ritual. I think most people are afraid to be themselves in real life, so they’re most certainly afraid to be themselves on social media, but I offer transformation for a living, so my audience must receive consistent content that feels real and offers transformation. I don’t try to offer a picture-perfect story or content. I share authentic moments of my life and offer vulnerability. That’s the key to seduction. My advice for anyone starting their social media page for their brand is to focus on sharing your transformation and the transformation of your clients.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://blackburlesquequeen.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theperlenoire/

Image Credits
Dallas Pinup and Honey Beaver