Her Story
About Alexis
I started my career in 2011 with basic hula hoops, teaching myself everything from YouTube tutorials. My first performance was at Norman Music Festival, and from there I progressed to EDM music festivals and fire shows. I've been doing fire performance for about 12 years and circus performance for close to 15 years. I've learned numerous props and skills, performing everything from daycare shows to big fire shows for local resorts and casinos like O'Connor Resort, where I do fire shows every Friday and ran the lobby doing bubble art every weekend from February to December. I can handle just about anything performance-wise for the circus. Before starting my own company, I worked as a contractor for another company, but I didn't like how the performers were treated. I felt I could create a better environment for the performers I know who are also contractors, to make them happier and help them pursue their dreams instead of seeing it as work. My husband and I built this company together about 3 years ago, and we dove heavily into it this past year. Now it's an every-seven-days-a-week thing. I'm known as 'gig mom' because I bring snacks, liquid IV, and make sure performers have kits with band-aids and hair supplies, treating them the way I would my own seven kids to make sure they feel confident going into their gigs.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Alexis
01What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
My best advice is just keep going forward. Rejection is so a part of this field, no matter what range it comes from, whether it's your gender being discriminated against, or they just don't like what you have to offer because they think your weight is off. Those are two things I've dealt with. So I just keep going. You know, you're gonna put 10 applications out there, and you may get one, but that one is the one that's gonna believe in you enough to give you that boost to get you where you need to be. I love to help performers get into performing, and I want to give advice on a broad spectrum to anyone who's trying to come up in a business.
02What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
As a whole, I see women discriminated against a lot in this industry. I have worked for a company where there were 2 females and 1 male performers, and they only wanted 2, so they wanted a male leading it with a female as basically the assistant, even though they're both doing the same show with the same preparation, same training, and same injury risk. They're just being told two women can't lead because it doesn't have the same wow factor. Then I found out that the man was getting paid about $150 more for his performance than what I was getting. So with our company, everyone gets paid the same, no matter what. If there are two women that want to do a show together, by all means, two women go do the show. If you're the two right performers for it, then I see no reason to throw a man in there just to make the dynamic different. I'm actually in talks with a lady in Florida with a production company who wants to do a reality show based on women in the circus and the kind of struggles that we have to face.
03What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
Like I said, we have 7 kids between us, and I love to treat people the way I treat my children. I bring that into my work. I'm known as 'gig mom' because I'm gonna bring snacks, I'm gonna bring liquid IV, I'm gonna make sure that performers have a little kit with band-aids and hair supplies. The same things that I would do for my kids to make sure they're prepared to go out into the world, I make sure that the performers I'm working with are prepared to go out into their gig and feel confident. It's whatever they need - I want them to feel like they can just go out there and kill it. Seeing the reaction of making people happy with just something silly I can do is the best thing. I'm more about finishing a gig and being thrilled with that - if that's all I need, I'm seriously more about that than awards or recognition.
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