Interview: Karen Pentecost of The Girls Room in Dallas

by Tammy Coleman of Red on Greenville

Pentecost talks about why she started the pole dancing studio, her exotic dancing history, and what to expect when taking a class.

Interior of The Girls Room

Walking through the teal door at 1921 1/2 Greenville Avenue, I made my way up the stairs to The Girls Room. Having gone there a couple weeks before to indulge in my first pole dancing class, the large room with floor to ceiling slick silver poles didn't surprise me, but the chat that later ensued with founder Karyn Pentecost sure did.

Like most civilians, my knowledge of the stripper world was almost entirely informed by the stereotypes surrounding the industry. Strip clubs and the lifestyle encircling them are generally depicted in a very limited and two-dimensional way. Karyn Pentecost, on the other hand, represents the true dimension that is never divulged. She's a strong, intelligent, and beautiful woman who spoke to me honestly and from her heart as she discussed her life in a nutshell and the inspirational safe haven she has created on Lower Greenville known as The Girls Room. She sat across from me in sweatpants and a tank top with a huge smile as I dug through my purse for a pen...

Red: I read in an article by the Observer that you were an exotic dancer for seven years. Can you tell me a little bit about that?

Karyn: I started when I was 20 and I stayed in it for seven years because I loved the positive aspects of it. Many girls have a different perception of it but it’s all relative. I wasn’t a drinker; I didn't do drugs. That wasn’t a habit that I created to be able to make it through the night. It was so remarkable to me how men will pay for a possibility and that’s it! They would spend thousands of dollars on a possibility. And I thought, this is great! It tests your boundaries but it was really where I developed my self-confidence and my self-esteem with my masculine side of myself.

Red: What else did you learn about yourself when you were an exotic dancer?

Karyn: Actually, I learned a lot from the guys in there. I learned that there’s no such thing as a "type." I went from making $300 a night when I first started to $1,000 a night. When I started, I had size A boobs, braces, I had never worn a thong in my life and I was a complete tomboy that started out with one inch heels from Payless Shoe Store because I had very little money. I always thought I was short and was considered cute but thought I would never be considered sexy. I thought I was always going to be cute, but that’s not reality. I realized I am sexy. It’s not being 5’3”, it’s not about having small boobs or big boobs, it’s not about a big butt or a small butt, it’s an energy you wear, it is about being sensual. If you personify the fact that you feel sexy, when you get up on stage, the room will feel that you’re being sexy. If you get up there and you think, “I feel fat today,” then the room will look at you as if you’re fat that day. Your reality is based on how you feel, it is a mindset. So it was great for me to learn how to manipulate my own energy and use my energy and thoughts to create my reality. Through exotic dancing, I started to learn what being sexy was for me, but most importantly I learned boundaries and how to love my body and being me!

Red: And you posed for Playboy, correct?

Karyn: Yes. I was all about presenting nudity in a classy fashion and Playboy is a great avenue for doing that. That was when I was 23, twelve years ago.

Red: Were you ever worried about who would see it? Like your Dad?

Karyn: You know, I wasn’t. You don’t think about that before you do things like that. I was very selfish. I set my mind to something and I would do it. Everybody was okay with it, I think. My Mom doesn’t really even know what Playboy is about or what goes on in strip clubs. She just thought I loved to dance. But that’s okay, some things are better left unsaid! Playboy is a way in our culture to say: This is me and I love my body! Here I am, completely nude, in a beautiful and sensual way for all of you to see that it’s okay to love your body.

Red: Why did you quit exotic dancing?

Karyn: I quit stripping because I fell in love. I finally had that balance of love and acceptance without going in there to get it, without going in there to get the power, the ego fill. I definitely got that with the relationship I had.

Red: At what point did you come up with the concept for The Girls Room?

Karyn: Well, let me go back a little bit. The relationship that made me quit stripping was very controlling. He told me, “You need to quit stripping, you need to not tell anybody you did Playboy, you need to cover up” and so forth. I chose to allow myself to not be who I am and in that I lost parts of who I am. If you don’t embrace every part of yourself, you’re going to feel scattered. I felt totally fragmented. I felt like I didn’t know who I was, I didn’t know what I stood for, I didn’t know anything, which is what controlling boyfriends and husbands prey on. You become their cheerleader and their only support system. We were together for seven years and I recognized that he was a Wharton graduate and I was not a graduate from college. I was considered a "former stripper" and he would reinforce those things to me to help his ego overpower mine. But, at the time, I was the breadwinner and I wasn’t stripping anymore. I had a business, I had a job and he didn’t. When I recognized that, his ego went down the tubes. At that moment, he had to go and rediscover himself and I had to pick up and move on.

I left that relationship when I started my day spa. I became a massage therapist. I massaged people for six hours in a day in a dark room and during that time, I was able to sort out myself. I tried to figure out who I was and what I stood for. If I’m a "stripper" does that mean I’m completely a stripper? Does that make me bad? Why do people judge strippers when every woman wants to secretly know how to strip? Why does it have to be a secret? So I really had to go back and figure out when it was that I shut myself off. Through the spa that I had for four years, through massage therapy and through becoming more spiritual, I started recognizing that stripping is part of who I am, not all of who I am and it’s great to know what I know.

I created The Girls Room to show girls it’s okay. It’s okay to love your body, it’s okay to have consensual sex, it's okay to be in love with your femininity, it doesn't always have to be for a "man," it’s okay to have boundaries and to set boundaries. I teach girls how to set boundaries in here. It’s not about just putting your body out there; it’s not one-dimensional. It’s not teaser pleaser give it away; it’s teaser pleaser take it away! It’s not about dancing for the man. It’s about dancing for yourself. It’s about being feminine and free. I took something that I felt that the community thought about me -- stripper, shameful, negative, a threat to others boyfriends, Playboy and so on -- and I made my experiences into something positive to teach others.

Red: Were you worried about opening The Girls Room in Dallas where people can be pretty conservative in many respects?

Karyn: I was worried about how Dallas would take it. I knew I needed to make it "girlfriend" oriented and I knew I had to make it to where it felt unconditionally loving. That’s why it’s called The Girls Room. It’s a safe place where girls go to just be a girl. I needed to make it a place where girls could come and have camaraderie and feel safe expressing themselves. I think Dallas really embraces male camaraderie with football and other sports and a lot of the pubs and bars, but there’s not a lot for girls. I wanted to create this safe place for girls without alcohol and without anything that’s drug-induced. I wanted it to be fitness-induced. At The Girls Room, you get your camaraderie, you get your girlfriend time, you get your "me" time and you’re getting fit!

Red: I have to say the first time I came to The Girls Room for a class I was intimidated. I didn’t know what to expect and I had no idea what I was doing. Even though I was a stranger, the girls in the classroom immediately opened up to me and supported me! I found it to be a huge confidence booster.

Karyn: A lot of girls say there’s no place like it. There’s no place they can go to in Dallas to where they feel the energy of acceptance as they do here. I want people to be able to talk and be able to express themselves within the class. The Girls Room teaches you how to be. It teaches you how to be comfortable with being a girl, to be comfortable with being feminine, to be comfortable being YOU.

Red: All women want a better butt. What is your number one butt exercise?

Karyn: Lunges.

Red: What do you do with your spare time?

Karyn: I read books and watch movies. They’re both great ways to escape. I also love trying to figure out new ways to work certain muscles through Pole Dancing and Exotic Flo exercise.

Red: Who’s your role model?

Karyn: My Mom. I know everyone always says that but my Mom has learned how to make it work. We grew up very poor. My Mom now finds treasure out of trash. She literally sells things she finds as someone's trash and sells it on eBay and she makes $45,000 plus a year. I learned from my Mom that you can always make something out of nothing … you can always make it work.