EP 11. | Valencii: Defying Taboos, Betting on Your Magic, and Acid R&B

What happens when you refuse to let the world shrink your vision? This week on the Kenlo show independent artist, dancer, and advocate Valencii joins  to break down her journey of radical self-trust. From studying communications to shifting paradigms through global residencies and shamanic plant medicine, Valencii proves that true empowerment comes from setting your own rules. Tune in as we discuss winning creative grants, pushing musical boundaries with "Acid R&B," and her ultimate blueprint to build an entirely independent, inclusive nightlife empire from the ground up.

00:00 - Intro & Meeting Valencia
 00:18 - Quick Fire Game: Playlist & Persona 
03:26 - Backstory: College Life & Studying Communications
 04:01 - Growing Up in South Jersey vs. Moving to Philly 
05:31 - Afro-Latina Identity & Incorporating Roots into Art
 06:24 - Travel Experiences: Artist Residency in Colombia 
07:15 - A Gift from the Mayor & Her Ayahuasca Journey 
10:11 - Getting into Exotic Dancing & First Club Gigs
 11:39 - Leaving a Bad Relationship & King of Prussia Days 
12:40 - Club Culture: Themes, Cosplay, and Safe Boundaries
 13:40 - Creating Characters on Stage 
17:50 - Creating "Valencii’s Seductive Secrets" & Community Mission
 19:00 - Facing the Critics: Staying Authentically Unapologetic
 20:00 - Humanizing Sex Work & Navigating the Taboo 
21:00 - Journey as an Abolitionist & Community Organizing
 21:50 - Supporting Mutual Aid Orgs (Philly Red Umbrella Alliance) 
22:15 - Game 2: Tropes & Tease
 24:00 - Her Music Style: "Acid R&B" & Future Projects 
26:30 - Collaborating with Producers & Artists in Philly 
29:15 - Announcing Her Grant & Next Music Era: "La Tosca" 
32:30 - Five-Year Goals: Performance Circuits & Launching a Food Truck 36:10 - The Ultimate Vision: Opening a Trans-Inclusive Strip Club 
38:15 - Crucial Professional Advice for Dancers 
39:50 - Where to Find Valencia Online (Social Handles) 
40:44 - Bonus Masterclass: Valencia's Top 2 Exotic Dancing Tips




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Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:06

Hey everybody, it's your girl King Lope back at it again, the people's platform for the creative community. And tonight we have the beautiful Valencia.

SPEAKER_01 0:14

Hello, everybody. I'm Valencia. I'm an exotic dancer and a singer, and I curate Valencia's seductive secrets. Period. Yeah. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 0:25

So we're gonna get right into a game, Valencia, okay? You ready? Okay. Alright. Playlist and Persana, okay? So the first question: first song you ever performed to?

SPEAKER_01 0:37

Um, first song I ever performed to, it was Wow Thoughts by Brianna. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 0:44

Rihanna. A song that instantly gets you in your body, that gets you ready for the stage.

SPEAKER_01 0:50

I'm gonna say Lovely by Brent Fayez.

SPEAKER_03 0:55

Period. That's like my twin brother, y'all.

SPEAKER_01 0:58

Yeah, that's my feature. Hello. Period.

SPEAKER_03 1:04

Strip club stage or live music stage.

SPEAKER_01 1:15

That's a rough one. Hold up. I think I like I may like dancing alone a little more than live music performance.

SPEAKER_04 1:26

Okay, okay.

SPEAKER_01 1:27

Yeah, I've been doing that a lot longer.

SPEAKER_03 1:30

I see it, I see it. I see your vision. One word that describes your performance style.

SPEAKER_01 1:38

Dancing or my music performance style.

SPEAKER_03 1:44

You got me. Either one. Hmm.

SPEAKER_01 1:47

Okay. I would say my dancing music style is definitely, I mean my dancing performance style is definitely real slutty. Um the music performance style, it could be, it could get there. Okay, but I think I just try to have like more of a fun, like carefree vibe when I'm doing music performance.

SPEAKER_03 2:13

We bang with both. We bang with both. A lyric you wish you wrote. Hmm.

SPEAKER_01 2:21

I wish, oh, I wish I wrote Lil Wayne. Karma is a bitch, so make sure that bitch is beautiful. I don't know. I remember it was.

SPEAKER_03 2:32

I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_02 2:33

Clocked it.

SPEAKER_03 2:36

Or no, what's the one he said? Real G's move a silence like lasagna. Lasagna. Oh, yeah, that was a good one too. It was. I wish I could have said it, but you know, I'm not a rapper, so. Yeah, I be trying my best.

SPEAKER_01 2:49

Jersey energy or Philly energy? Like which one I like better or which one do you like better?

SPEAKER_03 2:57

You better say Philly.

SPEAKER_01 2:59

You know I like Philly energy better. That's why I'm here. Okay, okay. But um, I am from Jersey. Okay. You know, I lived a good portion of my life there. Is this okay? Okay, alright, alright. Jersey niggas.

SPEAKER_03 3:15

Well boom. And that brings us into the story. About you. Bow. Okay. So who were you before your creativity in dancing and music?

SPEAKER_01 3:26

Oh wow. I was I was I was a college student. I was like school you go to? I went to Arcadia.

SPEAKER_03 3:38

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 3:44

What you go to school for? I went, okay, so I combined print and corporate communications for my major and then I did um uh Spanish minor.

SPEAKER_03 3:54

Period. I went to school for mass communications.

SPEAKER_01 3:57

Period.

SPEAKER_03 3:57

Oh, we ate that up. I'm starting. Let's go. Okay. So tell us how it was growing up in Jersey and then coming coming to Philly and just getting a whole new structure of life, whole new vibe.

SPEAKER_01 4:11

Okay. Growing up in Jersey, it was real where where I'm from in Jersey, it's real country. It's in South Jersey. It's is like, you know, go around the corner, your neighbor got a horse. Wow. Or there's turkeys in somebody's backyard or something. There's deer running. You if you run at night, you might almost run into one at night, actually. Yeah. We look I was looking at him and people's like, It was like somebody gotta go. Like, I'ma go back. Yeah, you can keep going, deer. Okay. But yeah, it's like really, it's a little bit boring. But you know, it's chill vibes if you wanna relax. When I got to Philadelphia, I you know, it was a lot of new shit. I was excited. It was lit. I had to learn a lot of stuff about how to operate, like what to do, what I need to be doing. But it's I like it here a lot. I like it here a lot better. There's a lot more going on here. Everybody feels like no shade, a little bit more real.

SPEAKER_03 5:16

Like oh, I love Dick. Yeah, you know, be they gonna be hating on this for real, but you know.

SPEAKER_01 5:21

I can't hate Philly forever. My mom is from North Philly, so Oh, period! Yeah, your mom from North? Yeah, period.

SPEAKER_03 5:28

Okay, okay, North. So I remember you telling me you're Afro-Latina. Your mom is Trinidadian, right? So how do you hold on to that in your creativity?

SPEAKER_01 5:41

Um, so I kind of have been incorporating it a little bit more lately, the past couple years, like adding a couple Spanish lyrics into my songs, and like recently my song Columbian Sunset has more of a like Caribbean vibe. Yeah, so I think like I'm kind of trying to figure out how exactly I want to keep incorporating it because I'm like I don't want it to feel forced. Right. And sometimes when you're trying to like incorporate a part of yourself that you're not used to having in your art, it feels a little like that's not me. You're doing too much. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 6:24

Speaking of Colombian sushi, you got that song for being in Colombia, right? So tell me about your residency there. How was that?

SPEAKER_01 6:31

Oh, okay, so it was lit. I actually went to this residency in San Bernardo. It's called Arte Suma Paz. Shout out to Artesuma Paz. They are sweet, they're sweet as fuck. Like, I did a volunteer opportunity there in the town, and I was there on their finca, like on their property, they had all of everything you would need to create art.

SPEAKER_02 6:54

That's dope.

SPEAKER_01 6:55

And if you wanted to, like they recommended staying in Bogota for a little while just to like get in the city life a little bit more. I kind of prefer the country life. I went to a lot of places, right? Uh met a lot of people from different places in the world. This the mayor gave me his machete. I saw that, yeah. That was really nice. I love knives, so that was the perfect gift for me. He literally was like, Oh, you think this is cool? You can have it. Wow, like a machete from the mayor. That's decent though. Yeah, I like sang for the town. It was like a small town called like Cabrera on the bottom of this mountain. I think it was like near Alto, no, Bajo Ariadi. Don't get me saying the wrong thing.

SPEAKER_03 7:46

It was fucking lit. They fucked with me heavy in Colombia. I believe, like, I was looking at your stories, I was looking at your posts, like, what okay, so why there's so many questions I had to ask about Colombia. Okay. So what were the tools that you received? What did you learn about yourself and the people out there?

SPEAKER_01 8:04

Oh man. Um, I learned uh Colombians for the most part, they're very polite, very sweet people, even if they don't necessarily like you. Um kind of reminded me of the South. Um, and I was there during Easter and I had like an ayahuasca experience there that oh, what's the ayahuasca? Ayahuasca, okay. So it's like it's like a plant medicine, it's like kind of it's a psychoactive sort of situation. They combine two different things. It's like DMT is one of the properties. But uh I went out there with the shaman and like she had this really cool Hobbit House with all these animals, and like it was like crazy. Like you we had to like process our emotions and have intention for the time that we were doing the experience, and it really changed my outlook on like everything. I don't I came back here and I was just like, who am I? Right, right. I don't even feel like the same person anymore. Like it was crazy. I just feel like I learned a lot from being on that trip, and I learned a lot from being on that trip on that trip.

SPEAKER_03 9:24

No, that's decent though. That's odd. Now, what other trips do you want to take in the future that gives you that kind of similar experience?

SPEAKER_01 9:31

Um, I think like I would probably want to go to more like Latino countries just because it's easier for me if I can communicate with them in Spanish, like conversationally. But um, I want to see if there I can do more artist residencies there and maybe also like check out Barcelona here is lit. Like, I wouldn't mind going over there.

SPEAKER_03 9:58

Like see, I only know Barcelona lit because the cheetah girls went. That's just me. Exactly. That's just me. I was trying to be a cheetah girl with the amiga cheetahs. She ain't did it. Okay, let's get to the nitty-gritty of things. Boom. Okay. Tell us about exotic dancing. Like, tell us the pros, the cons, your first time getting into it, everything.

SPEAKER_01 10:20

Okay, all right. So I'm gonna tell you first how I got into it. Okay. Um, I was like, I had just left school, like I left the school a year early. This is after my junior year. I was kind of like, uh, not really feeling the jobs that I was doing. My friend Skittles, shout out to Skittles. She came by. She was from she's from the Poconos. She came by and she was like, hey, like, if you want to go with me, I'm traveling to Rochester to go work at this club. And I'm like, Alright, like, I'll go with you. Like, it's an adventure. I'm really kind of like a kind uh I'll try anything once for the most part, okay. Kind of person. But um it was kind of cool. Like, I went in there, it was a small club, we were making really good money. I wasn't like it was it, it just kind of came naturally for me to really twerk. I mean, I was already twerking everywhere. You know, it was easy to just be like, all right, I'm gonna do this on stage now, like in this small club in Rochester.

SPEAKER_03 11:36

So, how did it grow from yours? You was like, Okay, I could do this for real.

SPEAKER_01 11:39

So Yeah, I was like, I could do this for real, and then but then I stopped. I stopped for a little while, and then I got into this terrible relationship situation. Uh another one of my friends was like, You need to get the hell out of here. Come live with me, and we're gonna hit the strip club and we're gonna get what you need. So I left that person, disappeared, took everything, went to my friend's house, and I started working at a club in King of Prussia, and that was how I officially like started was I started working in King of Prussia.

SPEAKER_03 12:14

Now, how was the vibe in King of Prussia? Because I heard it got money out there. Oh it was it was popping.

SPEAKER_01 12:19

Tell us about that. Yeah, it was a good John. I was like, I don't know, how old was I like 23 at the time? So like I came in there, I was just like, I don't know what the hell I'm really doing. But there the old heads came, they they helped me. Thank God for the old strippers. Not old, let me say older strippers. Okay, because they're not old, they still think it's down, yeah, yeah. They look good, they look young, they make money. I'm not calling them old, they they season. Yeah, like yeah, they season. There you go, there you go.

SPEAKER_03 12:57

So, how do you get yourself prepared for a show? Like, how was that like get your outfit, get the makeup, how do you prepare for that?

SPEAKER_01 13:06

Um, I would say usually if there's a theme for the show, I'm like, okay, let me think about the theme. Like recently we had like we've had like a Caribbean theme, we had like a cosplay theme.

SPEAKER_03 13:19

Oh, yeah, cosplay, yeah. That's the one who eats that up every time. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 13:24

Thank you, thank you. I did a z I did Zenitsu that day, the boy from Demon Slayer.

SPEAKER_03 13:30

Oh, we love a Demon Slayer. Everybody talks about that. Okay, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:34

No, no, no, no. I didn't do the Zenitsu. What did what did I do? I did The nigga with the fire. Why do I forget his name right now?

SPEAKER_03 13:43

Yeah, I I like anime. I just don't be knowing the names. I just what's the boy with the head? Um, the little one with the head. Uh what's the one with the little the one with the little boy with the strong head? That's the only one. Oh, Luffy. One piece.

unknown 13:56

Yes!

SPEAKER_03 13:58

I love him, y'all. That's the only, yeah, that's the only one I get into because of my little brother.

SPEAKER_01 14:02

Shall I love the fuck with my piece so heavy? You ever see the live action?

SPEAKER_03 14:07

I've never seen a live action. Well, I seen a little bit of it. Yeah, I seen a little bit of it. It was cool, but it just didn't hit me like the cartoon, like the egg, you know.

SPEAKER_01 14:14

Yeah, yeah. The first episode was it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 14:17

But but I like when you did. I like when you did. What's her name? Harley Haley Quinn. Harley Quinn. Yes, Harley. That was a good that was a good genre. You ate that up.

SPEAKER_01 14:27

You ate that up. I mean, like, just randomly wanting to dress up as a character, like, so however, I won't do exactly how they will do it, but I'll just do my interpretation of whatever about characters.

SPEAKER_03 14:41

Like, see, like your outfit new. Like, we love the pink shoes from the whole skirt with the tie to mesh.

unknown 14:48

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 14:50

What are some of the challenges that you face within the clubs or outside the clubs?

SPEAKER_01 14:55

Um, so I haven't worked in a club since 2023.

SPEAKER_03 15:00

Oh, really? Okay.

SPEAKER_01 15:01

Um I think a lot of the issues that a lot of people face have to do more with the conditions, working conditions. Um, and you know, the lack of I guess protection sometimes. So like I would say the pros are you can make a lot of money. Like you can make a lot of money. But like, I would say there's just uh there's a there's a like a list of rules that differ to each person, but I would say like it probably you'll do better if you dance sober or or a limited amount of intoxication. Uh you know, because then you'll be paying more attention, not just to get money, but also to like have more of an eye on protecting yourself. Um, you know, it's cool because you can create a whole new character. It's not even necessarily you. And then you get to act a little bit, you know. Like, I'm a dom, I'm a dominatrix today. I'm gonna wear leather. Her name is Demi, you know, and she talks to men like crazy.

SPEAKER_03 16:28

Like a dog. Like they like it, like they not shit.

SPEAKER_01 16:30

Exactly. Yeah, yeah. It's like, yeah, I had one Demi and then I had Angel that was like, I'm a sweetie pie.

SPEAKER_03 16:38

Don't you wanna tip my titties like but I think that was cool though, because you can really be anybody you want and you can make you know good money from it. Yeah, so you can like I would say you enjoy the actor aspect of it.

SPEAKER_01 16:50

I really like the acting, yeah. That was my favorite part. Okay, no, the money was my favorite part, but the acting was my second part.

SPEAKER_03 16:58

No, that's what's up, though. You can you know, being a stripper is cool, guys were just sad, but it was it just wasn't for me, but yeah, that's why we had beautiful people like you to tell us all about it. But well, um, yeah, we can get so much, but let's see. So acting the outfits, what would you say your favorite outfit is?

SPEAKER_01 17:21

My favorite outfit that I've ever worn, I still wear it to this day. I got it from this like um Brazilian woman that was a house mom at one of my old clubs, and it's just this like pink lace, like deep V, like high waisted, like thong situation with just like straps on the sides. That sounds decent. Yeah, I probably would have worn it.

SPEAKER_03 17:45

Yeah, that's just me though.

SPEAKER_01 17:47

Yeah, and that's the fun part is a lot of the house moms or like whoever comes into the clubs, they'll make you a custom, they might make you a custom fit. Oh, for real. So like it'll be your exact measurements, like it's made for you. I like that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 18:01

Now back to the clubs and everything, right? So was there any any time where you had to advocate for somebody else that might have been like in a sticky situation?

unknown 18:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 18:12

How was that feeling? Like, how did you approach that situation?

SPEAKER_01 18:15

You know, I was really young at the time, and so like there was a situation where one of the customers was out of line with somebody, and it was a customer that I recognized because they also were out of line with me, and they I think this person, they got fired by the manager, and so when I came in and I was explaining the situation, I was like, yo, like this man is definitely out of line, like, you know, this is a hot mess. Like, don't do not fire her. This is graceful. Like you know, some of these people are drawling. Let's not pretend like they don't happen, but no, that's true. Yeah, like it's it's you know, there's certain levels of danger that comes with doing stripping or any kind of like sex work camming just because there's crazy people.

SPEAKER_03 19:12

No, that's true. No, you're right, you're right.

SPEAKER_01 19:15

But I think like it helps sometimes if you have a decent manager or you have decent security, like it makes it all the more worth your while. Like then you can actually work comfortably. Because otherwise it's a bad drawing.

SPEAKER_03 19:35

It's a bad draw. It's a bad draw. Is that how you got into your own brain? Which I we we're about to talk about. So, because of what you saw and what you you know advocate for and how you know being a dancer yourself, that's how you started your own brain. Um tell us the name too. We all want to know.

SPEAKER_01 19:54

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, like, I left clubs, I wasn't really feeling a lot of the situations happening. Um, I was helping with some like stripping and sex work organizing at first, and I realized that I it was my time was over in the club. And then I made uh oh no, I was in Fires Femme Fatales, shout out to fire. Um, and that was a that was a trans femme strip group. Oh, okay. And then that ended, and so I started Valencia Seductive Secrets shortly after to continue it on. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 20:39

So tell us about the format of so you said Valencia's Valencia Seductive Secrets. Okay, so tell us about the format of Valencia Seductive Seductive Secrets.

SPEAKER_01 20:52

Um so it is a we prioritize trans, uh, black, indigenous people of color. Um just because a lot of times there's not really a chance that you'll you will see a trans stripper that's like you might see one, you might see two, it's just certain standards that they have that aren't necessarily accessible for everybody, or like that not everyone doesn't necessarily want to meet those standards, you know what I mean? So um, I just really wanted to make that a serious focal point.

SPEAKER_03 21:33

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 21:34

Also, like consent, like being super important in the space, just because I know a lot of times in different strip spaces it's not necessarily a priority. Um also just like making sure that there's no hatefulness in the space whatsoever, like not homophobia, no fatophobia, none of that shit. Like, 'cause you gotta go. Yeah, not go for that.

SPEAKER_03 22:00

Now, how have you handled, you know, situations where they where you might have heard or saw somebody that was doing that to the people, especially in your brand? Like how have you dealt with that?

SPEAKER_01 22:10

Thankfully, I haven't had to deal with that. Okay. Because That's even better. I'm, you know, I don't know how I would personally how professionally I would be able to deal with that. That's real. That's real. Um, but I'm just really grateful that the audiences that we have so far, they're really respectful. They're loving, they're generous. Shout out to the audience. Yes. Okay, we love you so much.

SPEAKER_03 22:40

Now, how about the people that say, oh, this is too much, you may hit the demand down. How do you respond to that?

SPEAKER_01 22:47

Respectfully suck my dick. But I'm not sanitizing it to make it comfortable for anyone. The point of it is to be authentic, and if you have an issue with it, then there's something that you need to like reflect on within yourself. Because if I genuinely feel like transgender people that dance, especially that do exotic dancing, need a platform. Like, this is not something that's common, this is not something that's easily accessible, it's not something that's even accepted in any capacity, especially present day. Like, so it's like important for me to stand up for the people that I love and respect because like they're not causing any harm by wanting to be themselves, just for the existing, right?

SPEAKER_03 23:40

Yeah, that's why I'll be love Valency. Yeah, you go Valency, Neil. What does the future hold for Valencia's seductive secrets?

SPEAKER_01 23:54

Oh, okay. So I think for Valencia's seductive secrets, I would like to see myself lean more into like a sole proprietorship or LLC with that. And maybe I'm actually starting to just rent venues so that I can do things exactly how I need them to be done without any interference or any sort of outside opinion on the situation. Um, I really want it to be more of a club vibe, specifically for strippers and sex workers, because I have done variety shows in the past and I love my you know friends that don't do sex work that don't strip either. But I really feel like maybe it's time for me to really focus on giving sex workers and strippers their spotlight.

SPEAKER_03 24:46

Yes, absolutely, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Can you tell us more about sex work? Because we hear the word a lot, but we don't really know what it means.

SPEAKER_01 24:56

Yeah, okay, period. So, like sex work is just any form of work that kind of has a sensual connotation around it. It could be you're selling feet pics, you're camming, you're like stripping, you're doing full service work type shit. Um, you know, it could be it doesn't have to necessarily always be like you're specifically engaging in a sexual act with somebody, like it's just work that relates to sensual stuff.

SPEAKER_03 25:37

So how do you help people get that like mindset? Because you know, when people hear sex work, they think, oh, this might be prostitution, but it's not necessarily, you know, how they picture it.

SPEAKER_01 25:49

Yeah, um I mean I don't really like the word prostitution because it's just like like it's sex work. Yeah, you know what I mean? Like, if we're talking prostitution, like we could really say that anyone working any job in a capitalist society is prostituting themselves because they're not getting that excess uh money from their labor.

SPEAKER_03 26:12

But we start preaching for real.

SPEAKER_01 26:18

But I'm sorry, what can you no?

SPEAKER_03 26:20

I was saying, like, how do you get people to change their mindset about sex work? Because you know, like you like I said, like people think, oh yeah, this is prostitution, but yeah, it ain't gotta be all that, like prostitution.

SPEAKER_01 26:30

Yeah, it doesn't have to, it doesn't have to be all that, but at the same time, if it is, like, I want people to think about like this, these are still human beings, like they still have normal lives, they're exactly like you. They just chose to do something that you may feel is taboo for work, and it's like maybe what you do for work they think is taboo, you know what I mean? You it's I'm just saying, like, if you're just you know selling it, you aren't harming anybody else. Sometimes if you're doing a normal job, whatever a part of that process of that normal job could be hurt harming other people, really. So personally, I think when you put it like that, it's kind of like okay, this is not causing harm. This is someone that is just doing a job, they're a person just like me or you, and when you think about that, it kind of puts a face to the I think the profession. So it makes it a lot more difficult to dehumanize the situation. Like, that's actually something that really means a lot to me is like humanizing sex workers regardless of what level sex work they do.

SPEAKER_03 27:50

Okay. Now tell us about being an abolitionist. Like, I like how you I'm just saying, like, you do it all, babe. I just want to know, like, how do you how can I put you advocate for the people? That's what that's what we love about you. So do my best. Yeah, you you really do. So how what how how is that work? Like, what do you do in being an abolitionist? Because it's new to me. So you I'm learning a lot from you.

SPEAKER_01 28:13

No, I feel that I'm it's new to me too. Like, I recently just started learning more about it. Um, I always kind of had this idea of like, I don't really believe that like these institutions that are not helping you probably shouldn't exist. I'm just saying, like, there's a lot of people that are like, hey, do these people help you? No. Do you think you should get rid of these people? They'll say no. And then I heard my friend say that when I was in an evolution school, and I was just like, that's crazy. These people don't help you, but you don't think that you should get rid of them is like some really insane kind of like brainwash. Like I feel like I'm unlearning a lot of stuff, like as time goes on. I started kind of learning that through working with different uh sex work organizations, but now learning more information and reading more literature through abolition school, like this is my third week. So yes, I'm like, it's really opening my eyes to like how we're all connected and how all of our struggles are connected. Yes.

SPEAKER_03 29:25

Okay, so that's so decent. Wait, like, so what organizations do you want to work with, like as far as sex work or just in general?

SPEAKER_01 29:37

Um organizations that I would want to work with. I okay, so I kind of get a bit choosy. I mean it because I've you know have had issues in the past with aligning myself with certain organizations that I didn't realize all of the values were not aligned. And so specifically right now, um I'm just kind of trying to find more organizations that have exactly the values that align with what I believe in. Like, you know, sex work is work, decriminalizing sex work, um abolishing, you know, abolishing uh state violence, we'll say. Yeah. Um you know, um intersectionality.

SPEAKER_03 30:44

Absolutely. Love day one.

SPEAKER_01 30:46

When you have all of those things put together, a lot of times some organizations don't meet all the criteria.

SPEAKER_03 30:52

But we need the ones they do, we all know. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 30:54

Um I shall you know, I love uh organizations like Philly Rua. Amazing. Philly Red Umbrella Alliance, support them. They're amazing. Like they actually are a mutual aid organization that gives money directly to strippers and sex workers, camp girls, you know, all of the people that fall under the umbrella. And um I really respected working with no humans involved. I did uh I was really proud to be a part of an event that they did a couple years ago. Um just highlighting how when sex workers are murdered, they're not really counted as a human person. Or they're not really people don't really blink an eye, they don't really pay attention as I mean, as much as they would if it was someone who I guess they felt deserved their respect in their mind, which is like every human being deserves respect.

SPEAKER_03 31:56

So that's I mean, let's see, that's why we love you. But see, what I like about how you advocate is that you know what aligns with you. You know, you know that if it doesn't fit, it can't just be just enough. You know, it's just like it gotta fit everything. Like, no, it can't be like, oh yeah, we can do this, but we can't do that. Yeah, no, no, yeah. But let's see for the people, but let's see for the people.

SPEAKER_01 32:17

Yeah, I'm not having it.

SPEAKER_03 32:20

I'm not having it, serious. Oh, but let's see, we love you so much. We're gonna get into another, we're gonna get into another game.

unknown 32:29

Okay, wait, wait, wait.

SPEAKER_03 32:32

Okay, I like this. This one is called Tropes and T's. Play the fantasy or break it.

SPEAKER_01 32:46

That's the first question. Play the fantasy? I'm gonna play it.

SPEAKER_03 32:53

Come on. Be the VIP room sweetheart or the closer who owns the or the person who owns the main stage.

SPEAKER_01 33:02

VIP sweetheart, you're gonna make money.

SPEAKER_03 33:05

See, make that money. Smile pretty or stare them down.

SPEAKER_01 33:10

It depends because like I think certain personalities appreciate different things. If I see like a jolly old guy, I'm gonna smile pretty. He's gonna like that. He's already smiling. Right. He wants to smile some more. The stoic guy, I'm gonna start off with the stare, and then I'm not gonna smile, but I'm gonna make a cheeky joke and wait till he smiles, and then I'll smile pretty.

SPEAKER_03 33:36

See, I like that. I like how you ate that up. The strategic be the muse or the mastermind.

SPEAKER_01 33:44

Mastermind.

SPEAKER_03 33:45

Ooh, that was too quick. Why?

SPEAKER_01 33:49

Because I feel like there's more value in for me personally in running things than being the object of what is it inspires the thing.

SPEAKER_03 34:01

Okay. I like how you put that. No, that was that was good. That was good. Okay. So boom. Let me stop. Let me stop. All right. Let's talk about your music. What would you say is your style of music?

SPEAKER_01 34:14

Um, so specifically, I call it acid RB just because I like to make RB songs to psychedelic beats. Um, and I'm super inspired by Chancer Rappers, Acid Rap in college, and I just was like, fuck yeah, I'm gonna be like you, my nigga.

SPEAKER_03 34:36

Like What was it about the album that you liked?

SPEAKER_01 34:42

Um, I think it just kind of put it took psychedelics out of a negative place in my mind.

SPEAKER_05 34:50

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 34:51

Kind of normalized it a little bit more. So I was like, I used to think, oh no, people do psychedelics something wrong. Like they must be smoking something.

SPEAKER_02 35:02

Right.

SPEAKER_01 35:02

But then I was like, I kind of started to take the idea of harm reduction more seriously, I guess, a little after I heard acid rap and realized like, oh shit, no, there's literally people that are drug users, it doesn't make them a bad person. Like some people use it as a tool to help themselves. That's okay.

SPEAKER_03 35:23

That's okay. What was what was it like creating your first home?

SPEAKER_01 35:30

Oh, creating my first song. I literally was like, I was definitely tripping ball somewhere. Somebody's house in Jersey. And I was singing my song, I just randomly made it, and my friends was like, You gotta record that shit. I was like, Y'all stop. No, I don't need to record it. So then I did, I did record it. I was just gonna record it one off thing, and then the producer at the time was like, you should like keep doing this. And I was like, Alright, I guess.

SPEAKER_03 36:07

So when was that when you realized, like, okay, I could sing for real, so let me kind of take it serious. So when did you realize you could sing? Like, really good.

SPEAKER_01 36:16

I guess I was like, I always kind of just sang like in the background, like musicals in high school and shit, or like choir and stuff. So I was just like, yeah, it's just you know, something that people do for fun.

SPEAKER_05 36:30

Okay, okay.

SPEAKER_01 36:31

And uh then in like 2020, I guess, I was like, wow, pandemic is crazy. Maybe I don't know if the world's gonna end. I should probably do things that are fun, that I enjoy, and then I just started doing that.

SPEAKER_03 36:51

Loved it. But or so you and Philly now, boom, right? Cool. So who did you start working with in Philly? Because you know us. So we get down with the music. Yeah. So actually, when did you get introduced to Hashland? Like, how did y'all become best friends and start doing music together? Because y'all make great music together.

SPEAKER_01 37:07

Yeah, thank you. Um, so the first producer that I worked with was through uh Newports and News. It was an arts collective. Um, I was worked was working with Berlin or Smooth Waffle. Okay. And that's what I made my first, like, I think my whole first project with it was called Delusions of Grandeur.

SPEAKER_02 37:27

Yeah, I hear he's a great producer too. He is a really good producer.

SPEAKER_01 37:31

And then um I started working with Hash shortly after. Um we just like kind of knew each other in passing. And like basically we kind of just hit it all. We were making recording music, and then we started doing stuff with like Homegrown Network, and like then we just started creating more together and doing like different business stuff together. So I guess that's kind of how we became closer, honestly. Like, we just ended up spending a lot of time together.

SPEAKER_03 38:06

Oh, that's dope, let's do who else have you worked with, um, other than Berlin uh Haysman?

SPEAKER_01 38:11

Oh, um, I've worked with uh Rugratnami and J Ed. They are amazing. I love Rugrat, I love J. Ed. They actually help with uh org called Pam Frequency Productions, okay, which is an amazing org that helps younger kids like learn to do music stuff. Oh, I didn't know they did that. That's dope. Okay, shout out to y'all.

SPEAKER_03 38:37

Do it up for the kids, y'all! That's amazing. That's amazing. So, how far do you want to go with your music? Like, where do you want to take it?

SPEAKER_01 38:46

Um, I think like I'm just kind of going with the flow with it and seeing what works because I'm like not a hundred percent sure as far as music goes, because I've been dancing for way longer than I've been doing music. But um, I kind of wanna just go different countries and see who I need and what they need or what I end up doing there, and like just kind of traveling with it and having fun.

SPEAKER_03 39:13

That's dope. Are you working on something right now?

SPEAKER_01 39:15

Oh, yeah, I did. I actually I just got a grant from Oh, shout out to you, yes.

SPEAKER_03 39:21

So you got oh, so you what one of the people that got the grade? Yeah, stop playing.

SPEAKER_01 39:25

Come on, yeah, and I did start working on my new project. Um, it's gonna be called La Toxica. Oh, what that means that means like essentially it's toxic women or femme. But we with this shit. Yeah, this is my I would say this is kind of like my toxic era. Um we all have one last one was more of like uh, oh, this is like my healing vibes that I wrote in Columbia, and now I'm just like, wait, just because you're working on yourself doesn't mean that you have to be a certain way, like it doesn't have to be all love and light, like there's different parts. Or say that again.

SPEAKER_03 40:10

Yeah, like exactly. So you in touch with your your dark and your light side. Love that. So we about to get into the dark side. Oh no, no, we can do that. Yeah, we can do that, yeah. We but you about to get to the toxic side. All right, say that, say that. All right, I'm ready for that. Okay, so like what can we expect when when you say toxic?

SPEAKER_01 40:31

I'm gonna, I guess it's gonna just be more of me like with an attitude in the like I'm giving a little more attitude. Usually I'm giving chill vibes, like or sexy vibes, and I'm like, let's give a little tooth.

SPEAKER_03 40:49

Okay, so you're coming at your show.

SPEAKER_01 40:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 40:52

Oh, I love it. I loved it.

SPEAKER_01 40:54

Okay. Ooh, maybe rapping a little bit more.

SPEAKER_03 41:00

You you doing something new new.

unknown 41:02

Doing a little, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 41:03

Okay.

unknown 41:04

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 41:04

Because you could really sing, so I'm like, okay, like when I saw you at your last show and you were singing, I'm like, all right, like, but let's see, I push this, you know, push this out some more. So I'm glad you're working on that. Like I say, we're proud of you. What do you stand for right now?

SPEAKER_01 41:21

Right now, what do I stand for? Yeah. Um, intersectionality, period. Like intersectional. I feel like intersectionality really covers it, but you know, uh, like I believe in uh, you know, anti-racism principles, you know, like anti-homophobia, anti-all of the hatefulness in the world. Uh, what I stand for is reducing harm and uplifting the people that are marginalized.

SPEAKER_03 41:59

I love that. Yeah. What do you want people to understand you, stay understand about you beyond um exotic dancing?

SPEAKER_01 42:10

Um, I don't really not okay, this sounds crazy, but I don't I don't really care what people think about me. Um, because I kind of put everything out there, pretty honest about everything, and like if there, you know, if there is some confusion or misunderstanding, like that's an intentional thing.

SPEAKER_03 42:32

Like oh, we love this. Fuck y'all. What does success look like to you in five years?

SPEAKER_01 42:42

Um, five years, you know, it's crazy. Okay, so I just want to be able to like travel with my dancing and music. Like, I'm looking into going to different states and countries, and also I want a food truck. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 43:03

What makes you want to get one?

SPEAKER_01 43:05

I love cooking.

SPEAKER_03 43:06

Like, you do, you got your own cook.

SPEAKER_01 43:08

Yes! What's some of the meals you'll be making? Um, I like to make a lot of like, I would say, it ends up being either soul food or Puerto Rican food, or like a combination of both foods.

SPEAKER_03 43:23

I know somebody likes Puerto Rican food. Yeah, yeah. Well, that's dope though. So, what would you call your food truck? Like, what would it be called? What would it look like?

SPEAKER_01 43:33

I think I would call it Valenti's cucci frito. Yeah. Yeah. Cause we fry it, no, just kidding. No, we just it's just gonna be like, it would be all like fried Puerto Rican treats. That's so good. So like, but I want it to be like more of a dietary restriction. Restriction-friendly thing. So it's like, okay, if you are lactose intolerant or you can't eat gluten or something, like we can make it work.

SPEAKER_03 44:11

Okay. Yeah. Neil, what would the truck look like? Like, would it have like a bunch of lights? Like, you know, like the big booty, like, you know, what we got on here. What does it look like?

SPEAKER_01 44:20

I'm not gonna lie, like, if I had it my way, what I mean, I will, but I would just have like my face on the side, like, hey, and with go ahead. Yeah, you know, or I could, you know, my signature picture of what I really like to do is squat and then look back.

SPEAKER_03 44:45

Right on the side. On the side. So people seen it, they like it.

SPEAKER_01 44:48

Yeah, they'll be like, oh, what's up with that?

SPEAKER_03 44:50

We gotta go see about it.

SPEAKER_01 44:52

We gotta see what's happening with that.

SPEAKER_03 44:53

And they got food, they got good food.

SPEAKER_01 44:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 44:56

Like they got soul food and Spanish food.

SPEAKER_01 44:58

Yeah, and they might want to take a picture with the truck.

SPEAKER_03 45:00

Exactly. See, you think in marketing. Now, all right, so we got a food truck. Now, five years, how the music gonna look?

SPEAKER_01 45:11

Music, I think like I'm not as like tied to the outcome of music. Okay. I'm just really like more of like kind of I I wanna like use it more of as a some like practice to like help me process emotion and like show growth in my life. So I don't know really like tied to the outcome of it, but I would like to be able to travel to different places with music.

SPEAKER_04 45:46

Okay. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 45:47

Yeah, just like maybe singing in different venues, like it could be I'm singing in a jazz club or I'm singing at a resort or something.

SPEAKER_03 45:57

Yeah, it's kind of odd. Yeah, real cute music performance. Oh, what about exotic dancing? What about your brand? What could when you see that in five years?

SPEAKER_01 46:10

You know, ideally I would like to have my own club.

SPEAKER_03 46:15

Yeah, we need it.

SPEAKER_01 46:16

I would we need it. Yeah, and so like then I could have all of the paperwork and law shit together and I don't have to worry about any of this pro stupid problems. But yeah, I want to have my own strip club for people that are trans people of color, and like that can look like a non-binary person, it can look like an agender person, it could be a transgender person, like whatever gender, you know.

SPEAKER_03 46:50

We need all aid in the club.

SPEAKER_01 46:52

All of the or lack of gender, I guess if a gender.

SPEAKER_03 47:00

No, I understand, but but what I like about it, it's it's super fun is free. That's what that's what we're gonna go up in the club. Yeah, like I can see it now. So we got Valencia's club, like, are we about to go to Valencia's club? Like, yeah, we're gonna be there. Everybody gonna be there, bro.

unknown 47:16

Exactly.

SPEAKER_03 47:17

Like, you we need that. You might have to, we might need that uh, yeah, like I said, five years. Yeah, you might have to open that up for us. Uh-uh. You can't, you you can't go to another country till you till you get that open for us.

SPEAKER_01 47:29

I'ma be just going maybe a month here and there different places.

SPEAKER_03 47:34

I could see that. I could see that.

SPEAKER_01 47:36

Yeah, like I'm going back to Columbia uh in December.

SPEAKER_03 47:39

Oh, for real? For the second for the residency? Oh yeah. Yeah. Oh, that's gonna be decent, especially with you having a new music and everything. So the new music is gonna be already done by the time we get to the residency. Oh, yeah, it's already done.

SPEAKER_01 47:54

I'm starting in like April to start finishing up recording. I want to do like sessions where I'm like having my friends take shrooms with me, like some shit. That's gonna be a lot of whatever happens. I'm putting it on the record.

SPEAKER_03 48:11

Oh yeah, then we gotta get ready for 2026 thing. Yo, like then let's see outside.

SPEAKER_01 48:15

Like, yeah, oh yeah, good morning.

SPEAKER_03 48:19

What would be your greatest advice to anyone in your field?

SPEAKER_01 48:23

Um, I would say prioritize your mental health. That's a good one, y'all. You know, um, spray deodorant, baby wipes, smiths are your best friend. Um that was no good, though. That was no good though. Um, you know, have an understanding of your boundaries and enforce them strictly.

SPEAKER_03 49:01

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 49:02

You know, like that's that's number one, actually. Like, you need to know what you want to do and what you don't want to do, and don't do it if you don't want to do it, regardless of the situation, regardless of the day. Don't matter how slow it is, you can make it back the next day. Just make sure you not sitting around on your phone in the locker room.

SPEAKER_02 49:22

Right.

SPEAKER_01 49:23

Make sure you're on the floor. You can peep whoever comes in. If there's one person in that fucking club, you can take, keep, take that one person and take all their money.

SPEAKER_03 49:31

Period.

SPEAKER_01 49:32

And then whoever else they can do it next, they're gonna be there until their money going. That's what they came here for. You could convince them to give you all their money.

SPEAKER_03 49:42

See? See? Strategy. Well, I want to say it was great advice. I also want to say thank you for being here with me tonight.

SPEAKER_01 49:51

Thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_03 49:52

And tell everybody where they can find me everywhere.

SPEAKER_01 49:55

Oh, shit. Um, you can find me at it's Valencia I T S V A L E N C I I. Or you can find me at Valencia's Seductive Secrets, or if you want to check out my food page, it's Valencia's Caribbean Comida.

SPEAKER_03 50:17

That sounds so cool, y'all. Well, make sure y'all follow that food page too, because I know y'all be hungry. And with that being said, you already know it's your girl Ken Low back at it again, and we will be back at it again soon. But before we go, we got some exclusive tips from Valencia, so stay tuned.

SPEAKER_01 50:44

Hello everybody, it's Valencia here, and I want to give y'all my top two tips on exotic dancing. So, number one, this is something that I learned recently, it's sexier when you move slow. When you dance to a slow song, you could do a little whine. If you want on the floor, you really could do something to make people pay attention. So if you move slow, it's an attention grabber, and it probably might get you more money. Uh, my second tip is don't be afraid to talk to everybody. Like, you don't just have to be like, oh, I talked to this one person, I'm gonna go back to the locker room, they didn't want to dance. Talk, go around, go around, talk to every person. You're gonna make more money if you actually act like you're at work and you talk to everybody in the room, and also ask everybody for a tip. They're all there at your job, and you you making you giving them entertainment. So you need to ask every single person for money, you need to ask every single person for a dance, and don't spend too much time talking to one person because they're gonna waste your damn time. All right. That's my tips for Isody Dancers, y'all. Thank you.