‘Growing up all I had were my siblings. It was hard for me to make friends, but I have five sisters, so who needs friends when you have an army?’

Farmingville

“I’m an entertainer at Gossip. But I am not a stripper. What people don’t understand is I am actually an exotic aerialist. I put on an actual choreographed performance where I hang from the rafters. I’m actually deathly scared of heights. But for some reason, you can put me 25, 30, 40 feet, in the air while I do this, and I’m fine. But if you put me on a roller coaster, I am passed out from screaming.

“I have a regular day job too. I’m a flagger, so I go from construction work to my night job where I come out with hoops, straps and climb up to the ceilings. They are two completely different worlds. I also have a hairdresser’s license and make all my own cosmetics. It’s New York. You need more than one job, especially during COVID. You weren’t putting makeup on people. There was nothing open. No live entertainment. But I still had work, thanks to my construction job. We weren’t near anybody, so we didn’t have to worry.

My younger sisters are triplets. They still live with me, and I helped put them all through school.

“I am always looking for what I can do next as a performer because if you keep doing the same show over and over again, it gets stale. I’ve gone out to Brooklyn and Manhattan for circus classes and have even taken some private pole dancing classes with male instructors.

“I’ve also appeared in movies and shows. I was a background dancer in the opening scene of an episode of the Showtime series, “Billions,” and was the main background for J-Lo’s “Hustlers” music video. That was cool. They kept me for all five days of the shoot. Most girls only got two. I got all five. But every day on set they had to cover up my tattoos with make-up.

“Growing up all I had were my siblings. It was hard for me to make friends, but I have five sisters, so who needs friends when you have an army? My younger sisters are triplets. They still live with me, and I helped put them all through school.

“I also take care of my 78-year-old grandmother, who lives with me. She’s fabulous. She’s the cutest little old-school Italian lady from Brooklyn. I offered to start taking care of her when COVID hit because I didn’t want her placed into a nursing home. She’s very proud of me from what I can understand, and she always waits up for me at night. I love my grandmother.”

Interviewed by Dan Offner