Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Scarlett Santamaria. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Scarlett, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.

The biggest risk I’ve taken in my creative journey was producing my first event last year. I used to find event producing highly intimidating, especially after interviewing nightlife producers on my Youtube web series and learning about all their challenges. One night after my work shift I had a conversation with my boss and event producer, John Joseph, about my web series’ 3rd anniversary. I didn’t know how I wanted to celebrate it and he suggested throwing an event at my second home, Rich’s San Diego. I couldn’t believe I was getting such a huge opportunity, I felt a rush of exhilaration going through my whole body. As much as my fear of the unknown was telling me not to do it, I still went for it. I was fortunate to have the push I needed to take my brand to the next level. It was one of the best and most stressful decisions I ever made. I kept going back and forth feeling excited and doubtful of the outcome. Luckily, It turned out to be a success! I’m sure my online audience noticed that I was pouring my whole heart into it and came out to support it. The crowd loved the night and asked for more events leading to where I am now. Doing this on my own was a daunting and rewarding experience that I’ll never forget. It made me realize that I’m capable of more than I ever imagined and that I have a solid support system that genuinely appreciates me.

Scarlett, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I started my journey in the music and entertainment industry as a second-generation event planning and mobile DJ business owner at 15 yrs old. Since then I have DJed, emceed, and hosted hundreds of events. When I turned 21, I explored different gigs in nightlife including promoting, gogo-dancing, social media management, and more. Before graduating college in 2018, I joined KCR College Radio and created the first radio show and live stream dedicated to San Diego’s electronic music scene called, Scarlett Letter Show. In 2020, the show evolved into a fully produced youtube web series where I interviewed over 90 humans in my industry. In 2021, I got the opportunity to produce the first event celebrating the 3rd yr anniversary of my show. A few months after, I had to pause the web series and focus on creating nightlife vlogs on Instagram. This year I took it a step further and made one of my wildest dreams come true, Scarlett Fever.

Scarlett Fever is a dark techno queer fetish party in the heart of Hillcrest. It is a safe space for the community to explore their kinky side to dark beats and fetish performances. I take care of every detail of the event with a lot of love including hosting, promoting, creating online content, performing, gathering the best local talent to join me on stage, and more. I created this event because I knew we were missing something like this in the queer community and San Diego in general. I want people to know that fetish nights aren’t exclusively for the straight goth scene or the circuit gay bears. I always struggled to find my place as a pansexual, gender-fluid Latina in those spaces so I want to provide that for people that feel the same. This is for the ones that are more “in between,” the bisexuals, pansexuals, the gays and the straights that are a little curious. Scarlett Fever is a space for playfulness, exploration, and self-expression. I always encourage my guests to come dressed in whatever makes them feel sexy and give them the option to volunteer to come on stage. The queers just wanna have fun and maybe get a little spanked and whipped in the process.

The next event will be in March 2023 and it will be the biggest one yet! I’m currently only planning for one in the spring and one in the fall because I want to make sure I have plenty of time to produce a high-quality show. I will share updates on IG when I have the next date and keep ya’ll entertained with my nightlife content in the meantime.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

I love giving people unforgettable experiences and making them feel something. I feed off the energy of the crowd, I enjoy seeing their jaw drop and hearing them scream when I’m performing. I like to make them feel sexually aroused and scared at the same time to pique their curiosity. You’d be surprised how many people want to explore their dark and kinky side but never had the opportunity to do so until they came to my event. I feel honored that my submissives and members of my community feel safe to do it with me. Building trust and having that energy exchange on stage is priceless. Also, just being able to be my authentic self and receiving all the positive feedback from my friends, family, and community gives me life. I kept this part of myself hidden for a while because of shame and fear of judgment. But after doing the inner work, I decided to do what I love and what makes me feel the most empowered. I want to inspire my audience to do the same.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

Scarlett Letter Show has pushed me to be resilient multiple times. I was going to lose my show during the pandemic when the KCR studio closed but I got fortunate to relocate and start the web series in a new studio. Then, I had to stop the web series again when one of the technical producers left the studio. That one was absolutely difficult because the show had become a salient part of my identity and gave me the strength to get through 2020. I put my whole heart into creating it as a one-woman producer, it was my biggest passion. I got depressed during that break but still kept creating Youtube vlogs in the meantime. I got the opportunity to bring the show back the following year to pause it again 4 months after. This time around I was mentally prepared even though it still hurt. I transitioned into creating nightlife vlogs on my Instagram that people loved. Doing the switch lead to bigger opportunities, a stronger fanbase, and a huge amount of personal growth. I can never imagine giving up on my craft even when times are tough.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/scarlettlettershow/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ScarlettLetterShow

Image Credits
Joey Guzzino, Xing Photo Studio, Dakota Gamble, William Kerner, Xpozd Photography