Moore Style - The Stories Behind Working in a Strip Club

Episode Date: April 25, 2022

I have been excited to talk about strip clubs, because I have a lot of firsthand knowledge on the subject. I have also been struggling to record this episode, because the more I thought about doing it the more vulnerable I felt. It’s really hard for me to open up after so many years of being in survival mode, but I want to emphasize that everyone who works in a strip club has a story. Some of them are single mothers, some are college students, and some are hustlers who want to make a lot of money in a short period of time. Maybe they want to do other things with their lives, like build businesses. I wanted to share my experience working in a strip club, and also give my opinion on how strip clubs can factor into possible date nights as well. This episode, I talk about: [5:14] How I came to work in a strip club [14:52] The slippery slope with drugs, alcohol, and solicitation [16:13] Having a good time at strip clubs [16:50] Working at a strip club does not define who people are Thanks for tuning in to today’s episode! Come and hang out with me on Instagram @celestemooreimage and let me know your thoughts on today’s episode, because I always love hearing from you all!

Hi, everyone. I'm your host, Celeste Moore, and you are listening to the Down and Dirty Podcast, aka the Double D's of dating. This is a podcast for navigating the ins and outs of modern midlife dating. Here, we will discuss the challenges that men and women face in today's dating world. Like many industries, this one is forever changing, and I believe this platform will help those who need or want it. Today, it is the best time to take control of your desired outcome, whether it is a marriage, significant other, life partner, or just to gain the confidence in dating once again. Every other week, we will dive in and talk about different viewpoints that seem to be challenges in today's dating arena.

So let's get into today's episode. Hi everyone, and welcome to the Down and Dirty podcast, episode five. So I wanted to jump on here and I was really excited to jump on and talk about strip clubs because this subject for me has many levels of knowledge, I should say, but I have been really struggling to come on here because the more and more I think about what I want to talk about, the more vulnerable I become. And that's really hard for me. It's really hard for me to open up after so many years of really being in what I would call survival mode. But on that note, what got me really excited and what really wanted me to or what I really wanted to talk about was I was just in Miami this last week

and I was with some friends and we had always wanted to go to this club called 11 Miami and this club in particular is apparently very different than any other strip club it has concerts and shows. And so it's kind of, there's kind of this duality there that bring people to come hang out and spend money, I guess. Um, but Nelly was performing and I am an all-time Nelly favorite. I was, and he was amazing in the 2000, early 2000s, everything he did, it was like a number one hit. Uh, and I loved his music. So, but when I went to his club, it was way too early. I did not know he was going to go on and perform at 3.30 AM. So that's interesting because I just can't hang like I used to when I was in my twenties. So anyhow, I went to

this club and because there was only like a few people there, it was empty. It was, there was like, there was no strippers. There was no performers. There was no nothing. So I grabbed a drink, sat down with some friends and then finally I ended up meeting a very sexy lady and she you know I knew there that she was there to work and so I wanted to have fun and we ended up going to the VIP room and having drinks and talking anyhow you know I like talking to the ladies that work there because I used to work at a strip club and I believe every woman that works there has a different story but in particular this woman she had a very interesting story that maybe and unfortunately that many Cubans Cuban Americans or just Cubans in general have where she escaped

Cuba, she ended up having to pay $20,000. And just so that she could have a life outside of Cuba, but she escaped on this, what she called a boat, it was really like a raft. And was very lucky to arrive in Miami with nothing wrong with her and she was healthy. But I just like her story was just like, I just sat back and I was like, wow. I mean, we're so blessed as Americans to never have to go through something like that. And the struggle that she went through just to make it to the state so that she could have and live a better life. Unbelievable. Like her story just moved me in so many ways. And I think where I want to talk about first is like, like I said, every woman who works there has a different story. Some of them are single mothers. Some of them

are college women. Some are just, you know, smart hustlers who want to make a lot of money in a short amount of time and do other things with their lives, build businesses, so on and so forth. So I met all different types of ladies, but I wanted to give my opinion on what it looks like for possible date nights too, because I think it can be really fun. But anyways, let me get back to how I came to work in a strip club. So back in 1997, I got married to my high school boyfriend at the time. I was 21 and way too young to be married. I of course did not think so at the time, but we think we know everything when we're young. And I really didn't like, I think the one thing that kind of still to this day, I would have been really grateful if my

My parents would have said, you know, Celeste, I think you're too young to get married. You still need to go to college. You still need to experience life. And I told my mom this and she said, you know, you wouldn't have listened even if I said something. And she's right, 100%. I am very strong-willed, but I think it would have mattered that she said something. So that's a whole nother story.

So like I said, I hadn't even started college yet. I was really naive to the world. I had never experienced much of anything. I mean, in high school, I went to some parties like any other teenager, got into a few nightclubs with a fake ID. But really, that was the extent of my experience. I was quite sheltered and grew up religious so that I didn't steer too far from, you know, probably normal teenage years. I did, however, know about strip clubs because all of my high school friends that were guys went to strip clubs in Florida where I grew up um because you could only you only had to be 18 uh so obviously they

would go on weekends and have naked ladies dance for them why not you're 18 getting some female attention especially naked attention why not um okay so my very first strip club experience this is such a great story because if you know me I have a sister that's four years younger and her and I have always been quite different she is brunette I'm blonde she's just her value just everything about her I would say mostly we are we're opposites so not that I was crazy at this age but she definitely was never crazy and then I find out she's the one who wanted to invite me to the strip club um okay let me tell you a little bit about my sister she's four years younger than me she was always a bit more serious she's whip smart she graduated high school early went

right into college. She really had, it seemed like she had a head on her shoulders. So in 1996, when my family had moved to Vegas, she was only 17. And she started working in Caesars Palace in the forum shops. And if you don't know what that is, it's a high end shopping mall in Caesars Palace Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. Caesars Palace used to be the casino that had big boxing matches, fights, um, concerts, nights, nightclubs in it, which I still think they do, but they definitely, it's not a venue for boxing matches anymore. When she was working there, she had met, uh, boxer Oscar De La Hoya. And I remember she was like, he's so short. I think she expected somebody a lot taller. Um, she had met Celine Dion and a few other celebrities, uh, working

in this high-end boutique one day she has this guy comes into her store and starts chatting and yada yada yada and I don't think she thought anything of it but he kept coming in and he kind of seduced her in the fact that oh I'll buy you some I'll buy you these shoes like come out with me just go have fun with me and at the end of the day I think she finally caved and he used to just loved to have girls around him and go gamble. And, um, he was a big shopper and she just like laughed at it. You know, she was like, this is amazing. She had never experienced anything like this before. So she started to go out with him to gamble. And then he took her to a strip club. Mind you, she is 17 and they were platonic, but really this is like, it's so crazy. I just,

I can't preface enough I wish I wish you could know my sister more but this was so not not in her her personality if you will so I moved to Las Vegas in 1998 I was newly married once again naive to the world and definitely anything that went on in Las Vegas one night my sister asked me let's go to a strip club and with my friend and I was like what wait what'd you say uh so my husband and I we agreed and we all went to this strip club called Olympic Gardens this was a club that also had a male review show on the very top floor like Thursday through Sunday or something and downstairs the ladies worked so it was quite interesting setup especially if you were going to see the male review show and you're a bunch of women you know this

bachelorette party would have to go through the women's section and then they would go upstairs so if you are a female and you've never been exposed to all these naked women it's a little like you're it's almost a little uncomfortable at first because you're not sure can i look can i not look you know it's just um it's so interesting the way that that was set up but anyhow um I mean I walked in and I remember I felt so weird so uncomfortable and I did not know what to say or to do so thank god my friend my sister's friend had a table that they were sitting at and had a bunch of liquor and the ladies were sitting down and it was just like this big party so uh we ended up having so much fun that evening but I tell people this story you know I mean they're

like, what's your sister took you? Oh, so it was just, it was so much fun. Um, but little did I know that I was really not happy in my marriage. Um, things started to unravel. Uh, it wasn't just the beginning of that, but, um, we would go back to the strip club, like maybe twice a month. Cause it was just so much fun. I mean, I was 21. My husband was 23 and we would go get some drinks and we would have some female ladies dance for us and just talk like it was just a lot of fun but this was the first time in my life that I experienced any attraction to another woman and for years I thought that it was just a phase that I was in my early 20s it's what this is what you do you experience your sexuality and I think that it's great to experience sexuality

at really any age because I think it's finding out who we like who we're attracted to and I discovered that I am truly bisexual and I never was uncomfortable with that I never felt that that um I was different well I guess that's not true I knew I was different in the sense that I wasn't traditional um but I didn't really talk about it that much I just kind of lived my life and did my thing. And, um, and I think this is another interesting aspect of having a show like this. I am able to talk about these things and obviously you can go to a strip club and not be bisexual. It's just, it can be a really fun experience. You can actually, you know, go on a date with your partner or lover and just have a good time. Um, so our, my marriage unraveled

and I wanted a divorce because I had started college. And I remember going to one of my classes and I would wear my wedding ring, obviously. And I remember that I wanted to leave it at home. I wanted to take it off. So I guess this is a clear sign that I wasn't interested in being a wife. So during this time, I think I talked about it on one of my last episodes or the one before I was enrolled in college. And I knew at this point in my life that there was going to be nothing that was going to take me away from my education. And because I had gone to this club and met a, I kind of befriended a girl. So I had called her and said, you know, I'm getting divorced. I need to make a lot of money in the next week, or I don't have

a place to live. And so she gave me the name to the manager. Long story short, I ended up working at Olympic gardens in 1999. And, you know, this was solely to pay my bills. This was solely to survive. This was solely that I could continue to go to college. So I had big goals and nothing was going to stop me. And working at a strip club is honestly, it's just a job. I mean, there's so much stigma around it that you know you're this you're that you're you know it's just a job so you know there is this ugly side of dancing and there is a slippery slope with drugs alcohol solicitation you know I know this because I lived it and I experimented with many things that I normally would never have done before so when I started working there like I said I was very naive I had

smoke pot a little bit as a teenager. Um, but all other like big drugs never interested in me. I didn't want to get involved in that. I knew that I had big goals. I knew that I wanted to do something with my life. Um, but I was slipped an ecstasy in my drink and that began a whole another level of experimentation in my life, uh, that happened in my twenties. I don't regret anything. I got to experiment who I am. And I went through many ups and downs, had a lot of fun. And I also knew that at the time it was time to stop. And because of that, I think there's a lot of people that assume, well, you're just a drug addict, whatever. You just work in a strip club. You have no values. You're not a person that's bullshit. So I just want to let everybody know

that these women all have stories there's all reason why they're there that's a job they need to make money but on that note on the other side um you can go and have a really good time I think it's very fun to go get teas strip teas and you know spice up your sex life if that's what you want or just get the attention that maybe you're lacking from your partner I mean it can it's really an innocent way to, it's, you know, have fun. I mean, it's kind of like your own little live porno show, if you will. It's not so, it's not so detailed like that, but it can, it can really add something. I just want to thank everybody for listening and for letting me be vulnerable and open up about my sexuality about my past work job if you will you know but but I

just want to really emphasize how strip clubs women working in there does not define who they are so please don't judge you don't know until you're in other people's shoes they could be a refugee from Cuba they could be you know someone was abusive to them and they need to provide for their children, or it doesn't even have to be that sad of a story. It could just be a smart woman knowing that she can make fast cash and hopefully do something great with it. Build a business like me, you know, anyone, any, any of those dreams. But I just want to tell you that you are not alone out there, anyone who's listening and that we should all support each other. And thank you for listening. Thanks for tuning in to today's episode. Come and hang out with me on Instagram

at Celeste Moore image. Let me know your thoughts on today's episode because I always love hearing from you all. You can find all the links and resources in the show notes of the episode on my website, Celeste Moore.com. Okay. That's all for now. I'll see you in the next episode. See you next time, friends.