Tigerheart Burlesque | Kelley 'Tigerheart' Phillips

“Feeling beautiful has nothing to do with what you look like.”

In this episode, we explore the inspiring journey of Kelley 'Tigerheart' Phillips, founder of Tigerheart Burlesque. Kelley shares her personal mission to overcome imposter syndrome and her successful path to championing body confidence.

Based in Cheshire East, she blends her background in psychology with a passion for burlesque, creating empowering experiences for those seeking to build self-assurance. From beginner Showgirl Sass dance classes in Crewe and Nantwich to online confidence-boosting workshops, Kelley provides a safe space for self-expression and personal growth.

Join us as we uncover how her unique fusion of psychology and burlesque is transforming lives and fostering a community of confidence.

Explore & Book In Person & Online Classes—https://www.tigerheart.co.uk/

Spoil, surprise and pamper yourself & increase your self-care, and self-confidence—https://www.tigerheart.co.uk/happyeverafter

And find Kelley on Social Media
https://www.instagram.com/tigerheart.kelley
https://www.instagram.com/tigerheartburlesque
https://www.facebook.com/kelleytigerheart
Burlesque and Showgirl Sass Classes—TigerHeart Burlesque 
Self Gifting Hampers—Happy Ever After by TigerHeart 
The Media Maiden—Online Virtual Assistance 

If you would like to feature as guest on a future episode of This Place, Our Voices, submit your application via our form: https://bit.ly/podme

"This Place, Our Voices" Credits:

Host: Elyssa Germain
Produced By: OneZeroCreative https://www.onezerocreative.co.uk/

Transcript

We're joined by Kelley of Tigerheart, who uses the medium of Burlesque inspired dance to coach confidence and empowerment to people in the local area. Welcome, Kelley. Thank you so much for taking the time to speak with me today.

Thank you very much. It's nice to be here.

So, can you tell me the story behind Tigerheart and what inspired you to start this business?

Sure. So, I moved to the UK from South Africa in 2019, and I was an au pair. I was working in childcare way past that now. And in 2020, I moved to England, so I was in Northern Ireland. Before that, I moved to England. Obviously, there were a lot of changes in that. Yeah, Covid hit, so I spent a lot of time at home and a lot of trying to find out what I really wanted in life. Also going through a divorce at the time and trying to figure out my trauma and all of that. I was feeling very insecure in myself, so I was trying to find a source of confidence boosting and trying to get back to myself again. All through lockdown, I found a passion for burlesque over lockdown, because while I was googling it and I just loved it, and I thought, oh, well, that's exactly how I want to feel on stage. I'm a singer full time, so I sing already on stage, and I know what it's like to perform, but that was just on another level. So, I joined a group on Facebook, which is run by Kitty Campari. She’s a Showgirl coach. and she was running online classes for Burlesque. So, I just thought, what the hell? I've got so much time. I might as well just go for it. And I did classes every single day. And then I just developed this passion for it, and my confidence started growing. I could feel happier and more myself again. And eventually, I just thought after Covid, I thought, well, I know how much that helped me, and I just want to share that with other people as well. I was studying psychology at the time as well, so I felt like I could intertwine the two, use the Burlesque side of things to help people through their own traumas. So, yeah, that's where it all sort of started.

It's strange, isn't it, how, I mean, the people I've spoken to so far, near enough, everyone has got something that has either, come from COVID or led from COVID So it was a horrible time. And I'll have said this in another episode, horrible, horrible time. But actually, it has spurned quite a few positive things for people.

I think people found their true passions. They realised that they didn't want to sit around and do nothing or do the dead-end jobs that they were doing beforehand. Yeah, yeah.

So, what were some of the biggest challenges that you faced in the early days of setting up Tigerheart?

So, like I said, I a full-time singer, so I know how to market myself. So that was not a challenge at all. So, I just hopped onto social media and just started marketing. But the main struggle I think was imposter syndrome. Because I was so new to the industry, I didn't feel like I was part of the community yet as a whole, I'd only performed a couple of times, you know, in Burlesque and done a few Burlesque numbers. So, I was still considered a newbie at that time. But with the help of my mentor Kitty, you know, she really pushed me through and she's like, listen, you might be new, but you've got the passion. You know exactly what you're doing. You don't have to worry, you're not an impostor, just go for it. So that feeling of I'm teaching people these things that I've only learned a, year ago, which is crazy to think, but yeah, that was the biggest thing. I think I didn't feel as experienced enough to do it, but I did it anyway. So yeah.

I don't think there's a time scale that people need to work towards as say, oh, you must have done X amount of years to become a teacher. At the end of the day, if it's your passion and you've given everything to it, if you've got to a level where you are able to then pass that knowledge on, it just shows the skill that you have and the passion that you have for it.

Yeah. And when you start realising that you are actually good at your job, then all that self-doubt sort of just washes away. And when you start realising how much you're helping, people come to you and go, oh my gosh, that class really helped me. I'm gonna come every week and you're like, okay, I'm doing something right. So yeah, it was a challenge, but I pushed through it.

What are the future goals and projects that you've got bubbling under the surface for the next couple of months, years?

So, I've got a few goals within the industry itself. I have created so many burlesque acts in itself and I've performed quite a few of them already. But I'd love to improve them, invest in them, create better costumes. Make the performances bigger so that in the performance side of things, that's a massive goal for me. I'm starting an online school now as well. So not only am I teaching within the community, but I've got an online membership running. So, the goal is to get more people online and build the community online as well. I'd love to get my students to do more showcases because it really builds their confidence. They did one last year and the ones that did it just their confidence shot up like crazy because they actually pushed themselves and got on stage and did in front of people. So yeah, yeah, I'd love to have a larger scale of classes so that I can run my own shows and productions for my students. The main goal is just for the word to get around for people in the community to have a space to embrace their power, femininity, their confidence they wouldn't be able to do at home or at work, which would help them in everyday life as well. So, a major sort of milestone that I'm looking at. 

Your presence on social media. You're on it like there is so many posts literally every day.

Yeah, I run a lot of different businesses, so I have like a page for every business. But yeah, I'm super active. I'm m active on my personal page about my personal life. I'm active on my last page about my classes, my singing, about where I am singing on the weekends. And then I run a personal blog as well. So, every now and then I just write my thoughts down and post it on the blog and then rep post it on social media. So, I do a lot and that's sort of my spare time. It doesn't feel like work either because it's social media.

Do you get a lot of interest from the social media that you do?

It's the only way I've marketed myself. Oh, brilliant. So, all the business that I've gotten so far has been through social media. whether it's been through my personal page, through friends and family or even people that I've not met before within the community who have added me on Facebook, mutual friends or word of mouth saying, you should follow this girl on social media. And then I get followers community posts as well, like Nantwich Community and Crewe community. Reposting my posts on there has really, really helped. Yeah, social media has been a massive thing to for me. Oh, I don't think I'd be where I am today without it. So, I had to take my hat off to social media.

And it's great that he doesn't have any boundaries either. We're recording in the fantastic Wilbraham Arms. Thank you very much to the staff for letting us do that. It's a quiet afternoon, which is good for the podcast recording, but if you at a loose end of an afternoon, it's a good place to go and have a quiet little, Water? That's what we're drinking, isn't it?

Yeah, sure, we're drinking water.

Of course, if you're listening to this episode outside of the area and perhaps coming to one of your classes that you've seen on social media, they can do your online.

Yeah. So, I'm gonna be posting routines that I've done already with the classes, so people that feel like they've missed out on routines, they can go back as well and at them and do them. But, yeah, if you're not from the area, I've got a membership programme online that you'll have access to all the online classes that get posted once a month and they'll last forever as well.

They're up there all the time, so you can do them over and over.

Again, if you like, like five, six years time, when people go, I'm just starting. You've already done the work and other people can go back and benefit from that.

exactly, yeah.

Amazing. That's a great business model, isn't it?

Thank you.

You're also very heavily involved in the Pride community as well, aren't you?

Yes, yes. So, I'm bisexual myself, so I am quite sort of passionate about getting involved in all of that. I've always attended Nantwich Pride since I've moved here and I once got asked, just when. It was only when I started out performing, really, I got asked by the host of Nantwich Pride if I could perform a number at Nantwich Pride and I was like, wow, that's awesome. So, I did that, and I got a really, really good feedback and the word just spread. And ever since then I've been really, really involved in local Pride events, so I've done a lot of performances for them. Unfortunately, they have to be family friendly. you know, Burlesque is very. Well, it's strip tease based, isn't it?

So.

And Pride is a very family friendly event, so you can't sort of mix the two too much.

Yeah.

But the whole confidence and I mean, it is very camp, isn't it? So, it really fits in well. And yeah, I just built a relationship within the community with all the drag queens and with all the organisers and it's Just been lovely. I did a charity fundraiser this year for Sandbach Pride, which was called Burlesque, and I was the only Burlesque performer then, so it was a full show. I did all eight of my Burlesque numbers and they just slotted the most amazing drag queens in between my numbers. It was just such a great event. I've done Crewe Pride, Nantwich Pride, Sandbach Pride. And I'm hoping that next year I can get in into Macclesfield, Congleton and along the line, further down the line I can maybe get into something like Manchester, Liverpool.

That would be amazing.

But yeah, I think I'm gonna start focusing on the after parties. Cause I think that the Burlesque would do really well there.

Or doing workshops even with the after parties. Would that be less family friendly?

Oh, yeah, 18 plus. So, I can go full out and I'm happy with that.

A bit like Hollyoaks After Dark.

Exactly, exactly. And it's like the drag queens, you know, they go through a similar thing because a lot of the drag queens that I've worked with for Pride, they have to keep it very family friendly and they're just dying to, you know, crack some crude jokes or something and they just can't do it. So, yeah, we are looking into organising some more 18 plus events for the Pride events that people can attend.

Quite a few double, en tandres. I'm sure they get in there.

Yeah, I know, yeah.

What does your average showgirl sass student look like?

So, I mean, it's a bit of a complicated question because they vary. we've got different ages, we've got different body types, different genders. Some are older women that are going through menopause and have disconnected from their bodies, and they want to feel themselves again. So, I've got quite a few of those. I've got some new mums that have just had a baby, and their bodies have changed and all of a sudden, they feel weird. I've had a couple of gay guys that just want to get more in touch with their feminine side, which is great. And yeah, you don't even need to have experience in dance. It's just, it's all for beginners. It's not about the dancing itself; it's about the feeling that you get from the classes. So, I'm not that kind of teacher that shouts to them for using the wrong foot. If that's what makes you feel better about yourself, use the foot. I don't care. So, yeah, it's really. There isn't a look for the average student. Anyone can join the class. We do some sexy moves. So preferably people over 18. I do accept between 16 and 18 if they've got a parent there. But yeah, because it's very Burlesque involved and Burlesque themed. It's more adult themed, so I track more of the adults.

So, is it less of a dance class, more of a confident boosting event or class?

Yeah. So, we learn a routine over four weeks and the last week, the fourth week, is dress up week. So, we learn the routine with the aim of dancing that routine together on the fourth week, recording ourselves, recording solos if they want a video of themselves. Building friendships around this class of empowerment. And everyone cheers each other on. It's just such a great vibe in the class. So, yeah, it's not specifically about learning how to dance. I accept people with two left feet. There's no problem there. I always simplify the dance. If someone can't do something, I'm like, that's not gonna make you feel good about yourself. If you come into a class and you feel like, I can't do this. I mean, I've done that in pole class. I've attended pole class and gone, this is good for my confidence, but I cannot do this. And I'd walk away from pole class feeling just defeated and not good about myself. I don't want people to walk away from a class not feeling good about themselves. So, I make a point of simplifying things as well so that it's not too complicated for them and they can freely express themselves in my class.

So, what can someone expect from attending a showgirl Sass class?

The first class might be a little bit scary. A lot of people come in feeling a little bit insecure. They don't really know what to expect. But I try to reassure them, so they'll come in, I'll teach them like a first part of a routine, and we'll just run through that over and over again. And until I feel comfortable in it, we'll get to know the other students as well. And we'll learn that routine over four weeks until we complete the song. It's more about the connection, I think, within your own body and your own self, as well as the people around you. Because everyone in that class is experiencing the exact same thing. Not one person that comes to class has been like, yeah, I've performed burlesque before. Yeah, I think I've had like one person say, oh, I've attended a couple of burlesque classes. But everyone that attends my class is going through the exact same thing. So, they all walk into class feeling, oh, I don't know what to expect. And I always ask them at first class, always say, has anyone ever done this before? And normally people go, nope, never done that by week four. It's incredible. Like, just in four weeks of them doing that or rehearsing at home or having people cheer them on, the change is ridiculous. Like, I have a star student at the moment, and I'm gonna name her, her name is Kaye, and she started with me beginning of the year, I think it was. And she came in and she told me she couldn't even look at herself in the mirror while she was dancing. And she'd, like, stand with her arms over her chest, you know, while she was listening and could tell just lacked a lot of confidence. And now she's coming to every class dressed up. She doesn't even wait till week four. She comes to every single class dressed up. She's picked a burlesque name. She's, like, ready to perform. She's just amazing. She's doing so much with herself, and her confidence is just shot up. Her relationship has gotten better. She's a better mother. Like, just all of these things. And she's just, like. I call her my little ambassador. She's just done so well. And that's over a few months. So, yeah, that's what to expect, I suppose. That's empowerment.

It's nice to know that you're giving, that experience to Kaye, because I bet that's exactly what you went through.

Yes, exactly. And it just. It's really rewarding to have people walk out of your class or get a message after class and go, oh, my gosh, that was amazing. Thank you so much. You're like, okay, I'm doing something right. That's exactly what I want to happen. So, yeah, I'm not misfiring at all. I'm hitting the nail on the head. So, it's good. It's a good feeling. Yeah.

But the classes can be used just as a bit of fun or as, you know, you've taken that, something to do during lockdown, and you've taken it to, another level. And other people could do that as well, couldn't they?

Yeah. Yeah. Of course. There's a lot of people that could start out in my classes and then end up becoming an instructor at the end of the day. Do you know what I mean? Some people do it just for fun. Some people do it to build confidence in themselves if they're looking at becoming a performer. I'm really looking into mentoring other people as well. One on one sessions. I do offer one on one sessions on my website through zoom in person one on one classes. If they want to create choreography of their own that they might want to perform at a competition or something, that's something that I'm open to doing with them. So, it's not just about having fun. If they are looking at getting into the seriously and wanting to perform m someday, then I'll be there for them. I can mentor them into that.

You mentioned competition, I’ve seen from your Facebook post recently that you attended a competition. I did not know that that was even a thing.

Yeah, so it was actually on a whim. I wasn't going to. I never entered a competition in my life, funnily enough, because I'd been performing for so long. And I thought, well, what's the point? I'm performing already. Like, there's no need. But I found it so much fun. And even though I sacrificed a Saturday where I'd normally be earning an income singing, I drove all the way down to Portsmouth, stayed the night and entered this competition on a whim. And it was an alternative cabaret battle by Fox's Burlesque, and I came runner up second, which was amazing. So, yeah, I was not expecting to even place because it was a very new act, and it was just terrifying because I'd not done a competition before. But it was a thrill, and I've got a little trophy now. It's very exciting.

Are you gonna do some more competitions?

I hope so, yeah. Hopefully down the line, if anything pops up, I will apply. If I'm not losing too much income. Because it does. It's def. You don't earn anything from a competition, but I suppose you earn some street cred, if anything. You can say events a day or you've come second or first or whatever. So that's good for your business and your exposure. Exactly.

On social media and, physically as well.

Exactly. Yeah. Yeah.

I want to ask how do people find out more but just literally open Facebook and you're there.

Exactly.

You’re all over it?

yeah. If you're part of the local community, I'm very easy to find. I probably post like once or twice a week on the local community pages. So, if you see Tigerheart Burlesque pop up on there or showgirl sass dance classes, that's me. So, you can just click on there and see when the next routine is and join in. Otherwise, I do have a website which is tigerheart.co.uk so that has all my memberships on it, everything that I offer and then that will also have my online classes. But yeah, social media, Facebook, Instagram, my Instagram is Tigerheart.Kelley, that's my singing page. And then I've got Tigerheart Burlesque on Instagram which is my classes and my confidence coaching. But yeah, there's different ways that you can join the classes as well. So, I offered the monthly membership online if you're planning on sticking around for a while. So that's the best value. That's only £24 a month and you can attend any class you want, or you can pay per class if you just want to stick your foot in the water for now, that's £10 per class. Or you can buy four classes up front because we do one routine over four weeks and that's £30. So, it's all up to the person on what they'd like to do. The first month of the membership is free as well. So, if you feel like you don't want to spend that money time and time again, but you want to try it out for the first month to see how it goes, welcome to do that as well.

And even if it's not for you, say you've seen the posts. and although you may support it is maybe something that you're not ready to do or not of interest. We keep saying this and it is very true. Liking and sharing and following does not cost anything and you don't know who else may see your posts.

Exactly. Yeah. The word of mouth is huge on things. So if people know any friends that might be suffering with a bit of body confidence issues or anything like that, send them a link or just reach out to them and say, hey, I know a person that might be able to help or you know, if you're that person who feels I'm not ready to attend a class yet because I don't want to dance in front of other people, just pop me a message and we could probably sort something out. like I said, I offer one on one sessions as well, so that helps. And the online classes as well. And I'm happy to sit on messenger and have a discussion about what you're dealing with as well. I'm not gonna charge you for a conversation so I'm very open to hearing people's stories and how they're feeling and how they can improve and help them with that as well.

Do you do things for hen parties.

Yes, I do.

Oh, brilliant.

Actually, one of my students have just booked their hen party with me, so I have packages for hen parties as well, where I do workshops, but I've also got, like, performance packages as well. So, I can do a little Burlesque number, or I can do a mini cabaret, so I can bring, like, a drag queen in a magician or whatever.

Great.

So, yeah, I offer little hen party packages too, so if anyone wants to do that, that's also fun.

and Nantwich is a great place for the after party.

Oh, for sure, yeah. There are so many pubs. Yeah, absolutely.

Make sure you start the Wilbraham Arms.

Start at the Wilbraham Moms. Have some dinner here first. Actually, the food is incredible.

Thank you so much for taking the time to talk to me today, Kelley. It's been absolutely fascinating, and I hope that people get in touch with you soon and we can get those classes booked up for you.

Thank you very much. It's been a pleasure.

Thank you.