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Pole Lot of Fun

My Story – Terra Hackett

Karyn wanted me to write about my experience with TGR. So this is my shot at attempting to do the studio its fair justice, you will realize by the end how I believe in this one endeavor I have failed. The Girls Room is not something you can compare to anything else, similar to its creator TGR is a breed all its own. Karyn, nothing I can every say or do will ever be enough to thank you and yours for what you have shown, taught, and helped me become. I realize by the end I will be Transformed.

Let me start out by saying that I have been a dancer and musician my entire life. I have always been active in one form or another. From Martial Arts, to gymnastics, and actually teaching Jazz-ballet in High School, I have really tried it all. I didn’t do all of this because I was ashamed of how I looked, no no no. I did all of that because no matter what I tried or did, there was something missing. Not enough music in the world could come out of me at one time, and it felt like being trapped. Something inside needing to come out and couldn’t. I was always at my best teaching. I loved it, was my life. But, music was my life more than anything else, and I shared this muse with my beloved Grandmother, my Mother, and my Father.

Now that’s in the past, I basically grew up, went to college and real life hit me. I moved to Dallas; unfortunately quit dancing and the music died for a while. I studied psychology and criminal justice in college and knew I wanted to be a cop. In fact I was headed right for the Federal Marshalls bureau and Dallas Police Department was going to take me there. But... Still missing something.

Let me start this next part of my story by stating that I work during the day for a company called Mercer, (nights and weekends are spent with DPD, if scheduled lol). I am contracted out to American Airlines which is where my Step-Mother works. Needless to say, I soared with my knowledge with AA for Mercer. I love my job and I will be sad when I finally leave it. I have a friend there, Brandy... “The Barbie Doll” I call her. She is the spitting image of what my Barbie used to be. I had been down, and couldn’t really figure out why. I was tired of the gym, tired of boot camp, tired of all the typical workout drama. But I loved to work out. I had looked at teaching dance again in my area but there wasn’t really a call for it and I wanted to get into the harder stuff, stuff that was more for those that had been dancing Awhile. So I was down, I was also upset because since I had started my internship with the DPD I had noticed an odd and annoying occurrence. My boyfriend was treating me more like one of the guys, and umm that was no go. I needed something to help me find my feminism, make me the woman that I wanted to be and saw myself as such. So, since Barbie and I are alike in many ways, we had grown close and I confided in her my issue. I wanted something that would really rev the woman up and get me into the Fem-fetal that I wanted to be. Due to all of my work and also the work with DPD, my relationship had suffered and I was not comfortable with that. I didn’t want to loose something I had worked so hard on for so long due to this. Brandy then told me about this really neat place in Dallas called The Girls Room. Now she said it was cool, but she actually hasn’t been. Even now, she has not been and I keep trying to kick her butt to go.

I drove down to TGR on lower Greenville, a place I had never ever been. When I went at first it was late and kind of creepy.

I walked in and realized I was in the wrong part of the building. I did get to meet a really nice photographer that said he did the photos for Karyn and TGR and said it was the other door. He was cool about it, though I was embarrassed as hell and quickly switched doors.

When I walked into TGR, I knew right then I would never leave. I was welcomed by everyone and three of the girls I met that night, are some of my best friends today. I have never felt like an outcast, or less than what I am or want to be.

I signed up that night for six months and joined Karyn’s F.I.T. Challenge. I really had absolutely no intentions of winning the thing, or believing that I would even have a chance. I had a couple of goals; 1 – I wanted to better my body, physically and internally. My diet needed to change, and I wanted to look like I did when I was teaching in high school again. 2 – I wanted to feel and be sexy, and after just a few minuets of being there, I knew I had found the girls to teach me just that. 3 – I wanted to dance, and I don’t mean dance around. No I wanted TO dance, the passion that I had was still there and I wanted it back. 4 – I wanted the man in my world, my better half, my mate for life, to look at me the way he used to and more. I wanted to be the sexy beast that apparently all men want. And who better to teach me this than the ones who have lived it, know the Art of Taking what they want Away. I guess I also joined the challenge because it was a challenge to and for me. I wasn’t up against anyone else; all that mattered was my health and my body and everything I could do to make it all better.

It was actually more surprising that I joined the F.I.T. Challenge that night more than just that I joined TGR. I am a very skeptical person and if I join something it is usually so I can prove either other people wrong, or the actual product wrong. I am very happy to report that after the end of January I was proud to see just how wrong I was for a change. I started TGR on January 11th 2010 and by the middle of February there were some of my pants that wouldn’t really fit anymore. I could make them fit, but that was more trouble than it was worth. So at the end of February my favorite pants left me, and I discovered something more amazing. I could fit into my old high school jeans again. That wowed me more than anything else. No trick I learned, no new body roll, nothing could compare to that, however small, accomplishment. Ok so now I couldn’t argue with Karyn’s methods anymore, or say how it will never work and the body I want will never happen without surgery. That was a big blow to my small ego, because all workouts are supposed to fail, all diets are supposed to suck and all entrepreneurs are supposed to lie to you and just not give a damn at all.

Karyn and her Girls Room, well they were nothing like that and so I was blown way off guard. Karyn does give a damn about every single person who walks in her door, and not because she can make money off of you... because she can. It’s because every woman, girl, female has this thing inside of her. She has a beast that wants out. Every day we are told how to look, how to act, how to be, and we never just get to be... well us. The world has this preconception of how a woman should look and behave. The corporate world has not helped us here either. Every day I find that more often than not, the one thing that causes unhappiness and depression is not someone else. It’s me, its you and it’s all the other women out there that deny one thing we all need. Ourselves. If we could just learn to be happy with ourselves, then that would like giving permission for the rest of the world to do the same. Then all of a sudden, our eyes are brighter, our hair shinier and our bodies more in tune with how we really are. That is the secret! The secret to being beautiful and attractive is not really the outside but how we see ourselves. I know it’s a well known concept, however until you have been there and done it, you will never know the power you feel.

I had been to my very first strip club one night in November, prior to TGR. I couldn’t believe what I saw. I saw and felt raw power; it was in ever woman’s face there. She owned that room, she owned everyone in that room and she would get what she wanted before the night was through. I saw that and said, “Man, I want that”. The girl up at the club I talked to, Niko, she said then go get it. She told me, its amazing how more woman want to hide who and what they are. Every single woman on the planet has the power I do, I have merely learned how to harness it and use it. It may sound sleazy but I am not and I don’t feel that way. Men look at me all day whether I am at the club or on the street and you know what, I don’t care. I have my man, and I know he cares for me, he also doesn’t judge. But, even if I didn’t have him, I still wouldn’t care. Because I know all I need is me, and I am ok with that. I also have one thing that every woman has but no woman can master, her own self confidence. Women can be confident in certain places and situations, but in themselves and their body, that’s when we all fail. Don’t fail”. I went home feeling empowered and also confused. It was a few days later that Brandy told me about TGR.

I have told my story not because I wanted to be in the light about it. I actually don’t think I have told anyone the full story and it would most likely take more than a few pages to get it all in. I told my story because I believe now more than ever that Niko was right. I know I will never be a stripper, however I can make it so that my guy doesn’t have to go, he can choose to, and I can go say hello to my new stripper friends. I also wanted to get it into everyone’s heads that just because I can pole dance, and lap dance and all the really nitty-gritty stuff doesn’t mean I am a whore, slut or stripper. It means I could if I wanted too and I would be damn good at it. You don’t walk into TGR and say, “I want you to teach me how to be a stripper”, because you will be right back out the door. That was not what Karyn ever wanted, and no one else wants that for you. TGR lets you be who and what you are, if you are a monkey and just want to climb the pole, go for it. If you are a dancer and want to make little petals on the floor with your butt, do it. Heck if you are a yoga person and just want to work the body on the floor we have mats for you too. TGR is about taking what you know already to be true and tweaking it. Taking your mind, body and soul and putting them together so they can work together instead of apart. Because when you are one inside you will be hot outside and everyone will be able to see it and say, “Wow, that is the most beautiful and sexy person out there”, and you will finally see that yeah, they are right and yes... You are!

The wolf has come out of the closet and the kitty has come out to play. I can be anything, I can do anything and I will look damn fine trying. Not because I have a perfect body, but because I can make you think I do, just by looking at you... Nico.

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