Art & Life with Coco Rosé

Today we’d like to introduce you to Coco Rosé.

Coco, please kick things off for us by telling us about yourself and your journey so far.
I started burlesque three years ago on an ask. I was standing in the parking lot of a local Memphis, Tn restaurant and a friend looked at me and said: “I want you in my troupe.” And me being me I said Ok. At the time I was running my vegan restaurant and cupcake shop Pink Diva Cupcakery. So you can say that I went from baking cakes to shaking cakes!

Balancing owning a restaurant and being a burlesque performer was a task because I worked very hard to keep the two separate because of the stigma that is associated with burlesque. Shortly after being in the burlesque world, my passion for creating new cupcake favors diminished, and my creative juices for creating costumes overtook me, and I closed my restaurant and focused on catering only so I would have the resources to feed into burlesque.

The burlesque bug bit me, and there was no turning back. I started traveling and booking shows; I was in love! Then in August of 2017, I decided to produce my own burlesque show for my birthday. And of course, I aimed for the moon. I sent an email to award-winning burlesque performer Iris Le’mour to find out her fee. Once she signed the contract, I remember sitting on the floor of Dollar Tree, while securing the plane ticket, because I was shaking so bad.

After that show the producing bug bit me so along with performing I started producing a show every other month at Dru’s Place in Memphis. My travel started to pick up because I was applying to every show I could find and I was getting accepted!!! Then in the Spring of 2018, I was accepted to a monthly show in Atlanta, Ga called Tease Tuesday. I was so excited because this was the 1st show that I was booked and I wasn’t the only person of color in the cast. I felt so welcomed and comfortable at that one show that I kept traveling to Atlanta to see other shows, to attend a top surgery benefit for a local and I was even able to take a Healing through Sexuality Class with burlesque icon Perle Noire! Atlanta became a safe space for me, and I made a 6-month plan to move there.

While I was in the process of that move, I was accepted in a mentorship program with Egypt Blaque Knyle. She is the most decorated burlesque performer in history. The mentorship helped me grow in ways I couldn’t imagine. I was tasked with reading books, writing burlesque papers and perfecting my craft. But I didn’t go through this process alone there were nine other mentees, and we leaned on each other because Egypt expected nothing but the best of us. From that mentorship, I gained nine burlesque sisters and friendship with burlesque legend Shawna the Black Venus. Never in a million years did I expect ANY of the things I gained from that mentorship.

This move to Atlanta has saved my life and introduced me to people like Roula Roulette, Talloolah Love, Ursula Undress, Clyf Hanger, Stormy Knight, Stormy Chance, Flux Inqueerior, Ariel Allegro, Sunshine Devine, Oddles of Troodles, Bubble Bordeaux and Lola LeSoleil just to name a few. These people have help keep this little Unicorn together, and I am so grateful for the sense of community I have here.

Can you give our readers some background on your art?
Burlesque has been my outlet and activism for women, women of color and queer-identifying women. Although some have dismissed burlesque as little more than glorified stripping, neo-burlesque is about reclaiming society’s objectification of women. With every performance, my goal is to leave the audience knowing that I am not just a (POC), sex worker or marketing gimmick but a black woman that has a story to tell who has embraced her sexuality, curves and taken her power back.

My current passion project is an Inclusion and Diversity Fund for POC Burlesque Performers to help close the economical gap, when it comes to the financial weight that comes with burlesque, including but not limited to festival application fees, travel and lodging and other resources that may not be accessible due to lack of cultural resources.

For more info, to donate or apply for a membership contact [email protected] or donate via Paypal at paypal.me/glittergoddessprod.

In your view, what is the biggest issue artists have to deal with?
Resources. For some artists, we have to choose between following our dreams by working on our next project or eating dinner that night.

If you have artist friends send them gift cards for gas, groceries, Amazon, Lyft/Uber or even self-care places like the barber shop or nail salon. Because for some of us we would rather struggle in silence that reaches out for help plus when times are darker it’s nice to know we are supported. It gives us that extra push we may need to keep going.

What’s the best way for someone to check out your work and provide support?
I am currently producing shows every other month in Atlanta at Red Light Cafe and in Memphis Tn at Dru’s Place. My next production will be my 3-year anniversary show March 31st (Atlanta) and April 28th ( Memphis, Tn)
You can also support via PayPal at paypal.me/glittergoddessprod. And GoFundMe at https://www.gofundme.com/diversity-and-inclusion-fund

Contact Info:

• Address: Coco Rosé c/o Metropolitan Studios
  1259 Metropolitan Ave Se
  Atlanta Ga 30316
• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: Thecocorose
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CoCoRose81/

Image Credit:
Shelby Smith
Scout Lightbeck
Charles Bailey
Nat5urally Boudoir
Tim Hunter Photography

Getting in touch: VoyageATL is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.