Welcome to the first episode of Season 3. I am starting the season off with a solo episode because I needed to be vulnerable with you as we head into 2024. In this episode I explain: * My absence and the absence of new episodes at the end of the year * Share with you some exciting news. (spoiler alert, I bought an Aerial Studio) * Get super vulnerable about my mental health over the holidays and my fears for the future * Share my thoughts about the new movie "The Color Purple" (spoiler alert its amazing) * And give you my new mantra for 2024 (spoiler alert its a song from the movie) I hope you like this episode and don't mind that I shared some personal shit with you. If you have been feeling overwhelmed, anxious or depressed please reach out and maybe we can help each other. Always remember I love you...you beautiful HEAUX

Can you be sexy in your golden years? Society tends towards a big "NO!" to that question. Is there a place for the Senior Community inside the wider Aerial Community? If you asked that question you might respond with an "I don't know". The answer to that question was unchartered territory until the beautiful and talented Mica Saunders came along, threw convention to the wind and began teaching Pole Dancing and Chair Dancing at her local Senior Centers in Baltimore, MD. But lets face it, as talented as she is, Mica would not have been successful if there weren't students willing to take her class. She brought Pole Dancing to the senior community in Baltimore, and that community said "Yes, please". From this the amazing dance troupe "8 Grannies and 1 Grandpa" was born. If you attended PoleCon 2023, you had the awesome opportunity to see these folks perform. They were amazing. I can't like, when the song "Brickhouse" came on, I thought the audience was going to come unglued. It was so much fun. This episode highlights all the wonderful dancers from the "8 Grannies and 1 Grandpa" troupe. They introduce themselves, tell their story and talk about why and how the decided taking a Pole Dancing class would be a good idea. The conversation is awesome and we laughed a lot. I hope you enjoy listening to them as much as I enjoyed interviewing them.

This episode is one for the Entrepreneurs. I met Sky Luna at PoleCon a few years ago and instantly loved her energy. She radiates light and love, and it all makes sense when you start learning about her company Pole to Glow. Pole to Glow is a business centered around events that bring us together as a greater Pole community. Sky Luna’s vision is that we cease to be from different studios, or practicing different apparatuses and instead we just come together, network and learn from each other. She understands that we are stronger when we are working together and supporting each other. This episode is about her personal journey to the pole and the how and why behind Pole to Glow. I know you are going to love her as much as I do.

We all know that Pole is a ton of fun and sometimes can get pretty CRAZY!!! That is why we love it, right? We also know that people find this sport for a bunch of different reasons and some of those reasons aren't very fun at all. Women come to Pole who are sad, lonely, and who are trying to find that inner light and peace. Pole has saved many women, and you have already heard how it saved me. This episode is how our sport saved my good friend Tamara. Tamara and I met at the USPSF Nationals just a few months ago and it was BFF status from the get go. She is full of light and life and this impish charm that makes you know immediately that you are going to have a ton of fun hanging out with her. And as we do, I asked for your Instagram so I could follow her. I was expecting a bad ass chick doing bad ass things on the pole, but instead I found a lovely Instagram page full of motivational quotes and videos. I asked her why? She told me that she was creating what she felt she had needed during some of her most trying times. In this episode, Tamara opens up about her struggles with weight, body image and self love, as well as her addiction to online gaming. It is a compelling story, and one I think will resonate with everyone. We have all been there, and some of us probably are still in that dark lonely place. Tamara agreed to tell me her story in the hopes that she can reach women out there who are stuck in the cyclone of self-doubt and let them know that they are not alone. She was very brave in her honesty, and I appreciate her for that. Enjoy the episode and please pass it along to anyone you know who is struggling and might need a little extra light and understanding.

Heaux Apparel has gotten the opportunity to sponsor some really cool events over the past few years, but when I was approached about sponsoring "Death Becomes Them" I was 100% all in. I was so all in, that I knew I had to get the producer of the show, The Betty Genesis, on an episode of The HeauXXXcast to hype that sh*t up. If you are in Tampa, FL on Friday, October 13th, then you are going to want to be at The Brass Mug for an extravaganza of macabre entertainment. Buy your in person and virtual tickets NOW at www.deathbecomesthem.com In this episode we talk about so much, not just this amazing show. We also get into Betty's background as a dancer, what its like being a Burlesque star and raising 5 children (that a huge juggling act that only a Pro could do) and her job as a Doula. We even spend a bit of time talking about my worst nightmare....alligators. But hey, its Florida so alligators are fare game.

This week’s conversations is with Ellie Klein, founder of Jelliebend. I was really excited to get to know Ellie because we have recently picked up her products on Heaux Apparel. Ellie makes a waist warmer that works beautifully to keep your core warm and protected while you stretch, warm-up or practice your skills. I knew the product would be Grade A when I saw that Ellie was also a contortionist, and that she put her skills into making the product that she needed for her own training. As with most of my episodes, we began by talking about Ellie’s background, in her case a long history of top tier ballet starting from when she was just a little girl. From there, we jumped into her career in the world of finance and then ended talking all about Jelliebend. Oh, and we go off on a tangent on Venture Capital, Angel Investors and how Banks basically suck when it comes to offering help to small businesses. I know you will love Ellie’s bubbly personality, and will resonate with the lessons she learned through her time in ballet. I hope you enjoy the episode, and if you do don’t remember to pop over to www.heauxapparel.com and pick up a Jellibend waist warmer.

Carolina Lemmer aka @shesabadthank123 (TikTok and Instagram) is out here doing all of the things. I originally wanted to interview her for the show simply because she is an amazing human and dancer. I asked if she could come on and talk about how to present your authentic self on social media and in performances. She was an obvious choice for this conversation because she is 100% always the shiniest happiest person you will meet. It didn't take long (in fact I think it happened in those few minutes before I pressed record) for me to realize just how much she does. She is an instructor at Lush Movement Company in Evansville, IN, she travels all over to perform in showcases and other revues and the is a professional dancer at Thickendales, a club for Plus size dancer in Atlanta, GA. I hope you enjoy this conversation, I know I did.

Poundcake is a pole instructor in Cali, the owner of Naughty GoddeXXX and a super bad ass human. We met at PoleCon in 2021 when both Naughty GoddeXXX and Heaux Apparel were brand new baby companies. Since then we both have grown, and it has been fun to grow together. Naughty GoddeXXX specializes in pole clothes for chicas that are a 1X or above, and the clothes are designed to enhance all the curves you have to show. This episode was supposed to be all about the company, but like so many times before, Poundcake has a profound story to share and I wanted that to come out. She is doing ALL OF THE THINGS and I am here for it. You will be too, because she is very much an inspiration. I hope you enjoy this episode.

This episode features my friend James Neidlinger.

Do you know what a Pole Circus is? I didn't. I mean, I knew all about The Pole Circus, the virtual competition that is held twice a year, but I didn't understand what it all meant. The Pole Circus is an virtual competition that makes space for EVERYONE no matter what your level or what apparatus you want to compete on. That is so cool. She has created a space with no exclusion....only inclusion. She takes that one step further as the curator of the Para-pole showcase at PoleCon for the last two years. She works tirelessly to create a space that is safe for everyone to dance in - no matter what your ability. And if that wasn't enough, she is opening her own studio called Girl Next Door Fitness. There is nothing this beautiful lady can't do, and she made that perfectly clear in this conversation. I hope you enjoy listening to her. You can find her on Instagram at @ThePoleCircus and @GirlNextDoorFitnessLLC

The newest part of my Heaux Apparel journey has been to begin teaching workshops called “Activate Your Pole”. Many of you have jumped on one of my free virtual workshops, and I have had the pleasure of working one-on-one with some people as well. I am hoping, that I will also be able to bring my workshop to your home studio, I believe that the techniques I teach are of a great value to our community. “Activate Your Pole” use a system called Be Activated, which was created by a crazy South African physical therapist named Douglas Heel. You can read more about Douglas and the system on his website www.douglasheel.com. I came upon this system 7 years ago with my then husband, we had heard that what Douglas taught, could help my husband work through the disconnect he felt after a journey through cancer and cancer treatment. I did not know then that the journey I thought was meant for him, would change my life forever. Before you can trust me to come into your studio, or into your life, I thought it would be good to walk you through what Be Activated has meant to me over the past 7 years, how it has changed me. Without Be Activated there would be no Heaux Apparel and no HeauXXXcast. The truth is, without Be Activated there would also be no ME, I was numb, disconnected and felt very alone back then but I am more alive than ever now. I hope you enjoy listening to my history, and I hope it strikes a chord in you to learn more about what I teach and how it can help. You can follow me on Instagram @ActivateYourPole or go to https://heauxxxapparel.com/pages/activate-your-pole to read reviews and look through my workshop menu.

In this episode I had the pleasure to speak with Alex Kikel about female sexual dysfunction.  I started following Alex on Instagram (@alex_kikel) several months ago and I find his work fascinating.  He works with clients to help fix biological dysfunction.  The breadth of issues that he tackles is amazing, and the results his clients get are even more amazing.  He works to make these changes with diet and exercise as a base, but then his forte’ is working on the biochemical side of the body.   He made a progress post on a client who was dealing with sexual dysfunction and he detailed what they did to fix the issue. Having faced sexual dysfunction in the past, and knowing that there are virtually no resources for women who have issues in this area, I was intrigued.  Thus, this podcast was born and it is a doozy.  He talks about the female anatomy, the brain and all the chemicals that are needed to produce orgasm and intimacy. There is a good bit of science involved so I have created a cheat sheet to help you, and if you have any other questions please feel free to be in touch at heauxxxapparel@gmail.com.  I hope that you enjoy this episode.  Hopefully, it will be the first of many, as this issue is of vital importance to the health and well being of all my beautiful Heaux’s. To get in touch with Alex follow him on Instagram @alex_kikel or visit his website www.theprepcoach.com Check out the Show Notes.

In this episode I was finally able to capture my magical friend to record with me.  You have heard me mention him in previous episodes, though not by name.  I usually refer to him as The Magic Man, because he is the one who brought me to Be Activated.  I have known JL for around 20 years.  I first remember meeting him at a powerlifting meet.  He beat was in the same weight class as my boyfriend and he was just this HUGE, angry ball of twisted steel and sex appeal.  Years later, in 2016 we met up with him at a conference in Toronto and at dinner he was telling us all about a system called Be Activated that he had been learning.  He had written an article about it, my husband at the time had read the article and signed us up for the next 4 day workshop.  At dinner that night JL did a little bit of work on my husband and got his arm from a shoulder that could barely raise up to being able to touch his nose with ease.  It was amazing voodoo stuff (and the backbone for the Activate Your Pole workshops I teach) and in the past 7 years Be Activated and JL have completely changed my life.

In today’s episode, I have the opportunity to sit and speak with my friend from Be Activated, Stephen Ladd. He is the author of the book Spiritual Constipation and is a certified CHEK Corrective Exercise Kinesiologist. He is a Level 2 Be Activated practitioner and a Reflexive Performance Reset practitioner. He holds multiple certifications for coaching golf. Other coaching he participates in at the Level 2 Holistic Fitness is his jam, and he will talk us through his vision for HF and the culture around it. Fun facts about Stephen: -His house is run by felines. We have that in common. -His favorite exercise and least favorite exercise are one and the same! To check out Stephen’s Renegade Transformative Life coaching, you can visit https://renegadelifecoach.com/

In this episode I had the pleasure of speaking with Arlisa Rosser about a very important topic. It took me a while to decide who I wanted to bring on the podcast to start the discussion on plus size women and pole. One day I was scrolling through Instagram and saw a video of Arlisa and just knew she was the one. She shares her wisdom while boldly telling her story. We are both in agreement that pole is for every BODY. That message is one we stand by and have to put out into the world. We hope you enjoy!

This week's The HeauXXXcast brings you a solo episode with your host Susan Bartley. This episode is all about accessories - those things we use to make our pole/aerial journey more accessible. I chose to have this be a solo episode because everyone seems to have a different view on how and when students should be allowed or encouraged to use accessories. The first part of the episode is me waxing philosophic and the second part is me talking through some of the more popular products on the market.

On the last day of PoleCon 2022 I had the good fortune to start talking to a beautiful woman who was browsing in the Heaux Apparel booth.  We instantly connected and had a long, wonderful talk about mental health and well-being and all the things we wanted for the women in the Pole Community.  A friendship was born, and I did not realize until a little while later that I had been in the presence of greatness.  I had the absolute good fortune to meet The Sho Stopper.  Color me FLOORED when I realized who I had been speaking with, and just how beautiful of a human she was. Fast forward to 2023 and The Sho Stopper agreed to be on The HeauXXXcast and I was so excited for our conversation.  Y'all it was better than I could have expected because this lady has an EPIC story to tell.  She has been through trials and tribulations that would make most anyone else crumble, but she rose victorious.  Her resume says it all about her work ethic, but all you have to do is talk to one of her friends to see that she shines past her work. I hope you love listening to this conversation as much I loved recording it.  You can follow her on all social platforms just look for @TheShoStopper

The  intention for this episode was to talk with Denise, aka DanceLegz about  how she got into skating. However, as you’ll hear we got distracted and  talked more about life, dancing in general, and her background.  Obviously, we will have to have her back on for an episode dedicated to  skating, but where’s the problem in that? We loved having her on! To show her some love, check out her resume below and follow her on Instagram @dancelegz. 2018 - Current Urban One Honors (Hip Hop) - Doug E Fresh official rollerskating performer (TV One) Brick TV - Roll Call  ATLANTA skate feature Tyler Hubbard - “Baby Gets Her Lovin” official music video main roller skater Lil Boosie - “Weekend Bday Bash” Official Skate Assistant Midnight Market ATL Food Festival - Official Roller Skate Instructor Netflix Series “Insatiable” featured skater STARZ series “VALLEY” featured skater / background actress HBO United SKATES Documentary - Tricks and Splits Chicago Scene featured skater Co Author - “The Evolution of Skating Vol #IV” ITS OUR EXPRESSION ABC Good Morning America “National Skate Day” Music video release / Atlanta Skater Dance Studio featured - Pole & Skate Entertainer / Instructor

On this episode Heaux Apparel speaks with Adriane Wilson, a professional athlete  in the Highland Games and a personal trainer at Athlete’s Arena in  Ballentine, South Carolina. Adriane is a longtime friend of Heaux  Apparel and a legend in her own right. In this episode, we explore  various lessons she has to offer as a professional athlete for both  beginner and advanced pole dancers and how the worlds merge. Adriane is  an expert in structure training for sports that are multifaceted, and  let’s be real - pole is multifaceted. Pole is an all-encompassing sport  that requires strength, flexibility, mobility, and dance. To  show some love for Adriane, you can follow her on Instagram @adrisue,  and check out @athletes_arena to see how the magic happens. To learn  more about the Highland Games, search #highlandgames on Instagram and  follow @ihgfoffical.

In this episode I speak with @Boobtionary’s J. Marie, a certified  sexologist and coach. We have an intimate discussion on self-esteem,  sexuality, and how the two can enhance AND hinder each other. We explore  specific issues women have with intimacy and the pursuit of a  fulfilling sex life. Heaux Apparel found this gem on Instagram and we  are not looking back! Prepare for laughter, insight, and too much  information (or is it?). @Boobtionary’s objective is to embolden women  to take control of their sexual needs and desires.