Today we’d like to introduce you to Bama Babii.
Hi Bama, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
Well, it all started for me 8 years ago. I was fresh out of the military, and I was unsure of what was to come next. I was suffering with Mental Health issues due to an assault that happened to me while I was in the Navy. At the time, I would rarely, if ever, leave my house, but when I did. I’d often pass this pole studio in San Diego called Fun Pole Fitness. I decided to take a class, and I’ve never stopped, lol. Pole dragged me out of the house, and it dragged me out of a lot of other things as well for the better.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The road has definitely not been smooth lol. It’s been a lot to deal with, but as one of my favorite songs says. “Anything worth having at all is worth working for and waiting for.”- No Pain Betty Wright. No Pain, No Gain, and I stand by that. I’m growing every day because I’m learning from this experience we call life. I’m loving it now, but it took a lot of overcoming my own fears. One struggle I’ve dealt with recently was feeling inadequate at times. Sometimes, we can tend to hold our own selves back from an opportunity or anything in life; luckily, I have a great support system around me. Mainly my mother, who has always encouraged me to be the best I can be and to go for my dreams.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I’m a professional Pole dancer, Aerialist, and Pole Instructor from Alabama and Mississippi, but now I’m based out of LA. I’ve been dancing for 8 years now, and I absolutely love what I do. Most people know me for Pole, of course, but many may also know me via a documentary I did in 2020 called Stripped: Los Angeles. Recently I had the amazing opportunity to dance for Usher in his Usher My way The Las Vegas Residency for 2 years. It was blast, but it was also one of the most challenging gigs of my life. It opened my eyes to a whole new world of opportunities as well as personalities. I made many friends along the way, but I gained a new appreciation for my craft.
What does success mean to you?
I see happiness and fulfillment as success. If you’re waking up, doing what you love doing, surrounded by the people that you love and care about, and you’re breathing, I’d call that a success. So many people struggle every day, unhappy with their jobs, family, and life situation. I’m learning to take a look at what I do have and what I have done and not what I don’t have and haven’t done. Finding the good and accomplishment in what I’ve already done has been very beneficial, I’d say, to my mental health and how I see myself. I used to feel like if I wasn’t doing something right now that I was a failure, never mind the fact that I’ve worked with Grammy award-winning artists and that I’ve been on television multiple times. It wasn’t enough. Now I’m learning that it is, and it has led me to moments like this, being interviewed for the first time by a major magazine. I’m honored, and this is what success looks like to me.
Contact Info:
Image Credits
@kiwicraigr
