Well … my name is Stanley Escobar … I’m from Venezuela … I’m also an artist … I’m a dancer … burlesque performer and a pole dancer … I kind of mix both of them together … That is when … I left Stanley Escobar aside … and I become Anghell … It’s kind of like my alter-ego … that character that I love … and I created … to be the other side of me … to do … anything that I don’t usually … do in real life … trying to be sexy … sensual … People say … Oh … you’re super sexy and what not … but I think … I’m not … I think Anghell is sexy … Anghell is that character … that brings all that sex appeal … on stage … Anghell sells fantasies … Anghell misbehaves … Anghell just does anything he wants to do on stage … He likes to break the rules … And that is something that Stanley sometimes does … He doesn’t do it that often … Stanley is super organized … He likes to follow the path that he thinks is going to take him somewhere … And sometimes it’s so funny because … sometimes I think that even though Stanley can have  little bit of Anghell … during that time … So I guess … It depends on the situation … and it depends on who am I in that type of environment … It’s kind of like two persons living in one body … This body allows them to be who they are … individually … Where am I exactly from? … I’m from Caracas Venezuela … the capital … I come from a family … I was raised by my mother … a single mother … My dad … he died when I was two years old … She didn’t engage in another relationship … she didn’t get married again … So … I was raised by my mom … and by my aunts … and my … grandmother … I was raised by a few strong women … that … taught me … everything that I know … in life … Because of them … I am who I am … Because of them I have the values that I have … Because of them … I care about people … They shaped me … They weren’t very lucky with love and being around men … So … there was me … a product of whatever they thought it was to be a nice man … I do care for people … my friends … my family … They gave me a wonderful childhood … even though there was a piece missing … I think everyone should have a mother and a father … or two mothers or two fathers nowadays … Two people in a child’s life … is very important … In this way the child can learn from both of them … I think … if I could go back in time … I would have loved to have had a dad … but … they did a great job … They educated me … They prepared me for the world … All of my friends … my real and close friends are from Venezuela … Nowadays … they’re spread out all over the world … It’s not the best thing ever … but at least I get to plan my vacations on my free time to go visit them … I would say … growing up in Venezuela … I wouldn’t change it for anything … It was happiness … It was a lot of learning … It was family … It was friends … It was building me up to what I am now … I’ve been in the States for six years … it’s going to seven by the end of this year … I miss my country terribly … every day … especially for the things that are happening everyday … I wouldn’t change anything … Even though I feel I have to adapt to the American culture … for example … send a text before calling them … That was something I never did in Venezuela … when you wanted to talk to someone … you just called … Here … there are things that are hard for me to understand … But when in Rome … you need to know what Romans do … I learned to do that … I know that everyone needs their own space … If you ask me … one thing that I really miss … when it comes to Venezuela … It’s the spontaneity … You text a friend … You call a friend … You’re getting out of work … and say … “Hey … what are you doing?” And they say … “Oh … I’m doing nothing … Let’s get a drink” … Here … everything’s so planned … so many days in advance … or weeks … but … it’s part of the culture … and there’s something that we kind of change … When it comes to family … I miss them too … even though … we are a super close family … They raised me very independently … My mom was a very independent and strong woman … For me … moving to the States … wasn’t that difficult because … first of all … I’m an only child … I wasn’t dependent on being with someone … even though I love company … I love my friends … I don’t remember a time I got homesick … or anything like that … that might sound like … Oh … this guy doesn’t have a heart … I knew that my family was supporting me … from Venezuela … That kept me strong … and helped me … be able to get out of my comfort zone and meet people … and make a life here … to get to a country that was all new … and to start from zero … I’m very proud of myself for doing that … It’s been a long journey … There’ve been a lot of adventures … there’s been a lot of disappointments too … But … if we put everything on a scale … I’d say it’s more the good thoughts … good outcomes … The best parts … are more of what I’ve experienced … I wouldn’t change anything … Well … when I was in Venezuela … I need to thank my mom … I believe I was six or seven years old … she took me to a casting call … and it was for a TV commercial … to give incentive for young people to vote … the elections of Venezuela … I got selected … and I had a blast … and ever since … I’ve been involved in the entertainment industry … I have done plays … I have done dancing … modeling … I did more acting and modeling then dancing in Venezuela … When it comes to dancing … unless you’re part of a group … or a back up dancer for a singer … there’s not a life there … Even though I support … and love the entertainment industry … and the arts … It’s hard to live a life out of that … to make a living out of that … that’s why I went to school … and got my degree in advertising … I started working … and did the art thing on the side … even though I enjoyed it so much … it was my getaway … from the corporate … I like to have both jobs … both sides of my life … the balance … try to make them work in order for me to enjoy both of them … So … it was at the time in Venezuela when I was getting out of a relationship … which wasn’t very healthy for me … I knew the social situation wasn’t getting any better in Venezuela … It wasn’t as it is now … I was happy that I was born there … and that I had my childhood there … I knew I didn’t belong there … to that culture … when it comes to dress code … or the way that people act … I knew that wasn’t the environment I wanted to live the rest of my life … So … I started doing my research … and in the beginning … I really wanted to go to New York … I think it’s the capital of the world … I went too NewYork one time with my family … and I came back by myself … it was around  New Years Eve … and I enjoyed it … I completely fell in love with the city … and I thought … New York was the city that I’d love to go to … to learn English … because I wanted to improve my english … I went to a private school … back in Venezuela … I would receive english lessons … once a week … which wasn’t enough … but helped me to have a good base … So I decided … why don’t I go to the United States for three … four months … to improve my english … I had a good base … but I need to improve it … So … I did research for going to New York … The numbers … didn’t come out very well … because it’s a very expensive city … I’d end up with no job … because I couldn’t work … I’d only have a student visa … and it was like … well … I think I have to start looking for another city … I always wanted to come to Chicago … so then I started to investigate a little bit more … about the city … and what not … and it turns out … I was really involved in marketing and the advertising industry … that industry was very high in demand in Chicago … I said … Oh … Chicago is the city I might want to go to … So I started doing my research … I signed up for a school … they accepted me … I quit my job … I was already an account supervisor at BBDO in Venezuela … It was kind of like … Ah … because I was super young … I had this position … I was one step away from being an account director … I was making decent money …  I was like … Wow … I’m going to quit this … So I quit my job … I moved to Chicago … initially for three or four months … and then I was … I like this … I started making friends here … I went back to Venezuela for four months … to work on my papers … then I came back for good … and one thing led to another … I ended up staying … everything has been great … but … it took a lot … especially when it comes to the weather … I didn’t investigate that much when it comes to the Chicago weather … and I think … Uh … thats the only thing I don’t like about the city … But other then that … it’s a great city … I’m very grateful and thankful … Chicago has been very kind and nice to me … So … I was living on savings … and I was living with roommates … one day a person came to me and said … “Hey” … they were visiting my roommates and I had my stripper pole in the living room … and she asked … “Who … who pole dances?” … They said … “Oh … its Stanley” … she said … “Oh … there’s a show in Chicago that is basically for bachelorette parties … and maybe you should send them an email” … So I did that … and I sent them a little clip of what I used to do when it comes to pole dancing … because I took pole dancing lessons in Venezuela … and that was it … they said … “Oh … we would love to have you in the cast … I was … well I can not work … buy I would love to volunteer … so that’s what I did … I went there … sometimes I would dance … I would help them … and I started to meet people … One day I was on my way to a show … and I ran into this guy on the train … and then we started seeing each other … and dating … A year after we started dating … we got married … and we’re still together … We’ve been married for over five years now … We needed to apply for all the documents … I was legal here … but I wasn’t legal to work … We did all of that … and then I started performing with them … I will say that it was an accident … but it wasn’t an accident that I got into that … Ever since … after I got all my documents … I started working with them … performances … And now … I perform all over the country … I do … lot of shows for big events here in Chicago … Pride … Market Days … which is super fun … I didn’t think that this would be appreciated here … and it was going t be paid … here … Its’ something that blows my mind … there are people that dedicate their lives to that … they’re only dancing … or burlesque performers … For me … it’s something I do on the side … to get away from the routine … What I love … I put a lot of effort into it … pour my heart into it … burlesque … and performing … My day job? … I try to keep everything separate … it was impossible for me … I used to have … so I have my Facebook profile … as Stanley … as I always have had … and then I created a Facebook page for Anghell … and it was going so well … blah … blah … blah … It was one and a half or two years after … it got shut down … because Facebook came out with rules … unless that is your legal name … you’d get shut down … and I got super annoyed with that … so I deleted it … I didn’t try to save that account … So … what I do … when I’m performing … I post on the Stanley page … “Hey … Anghell is going to be performing” … I have some friends at work that know what I do … So … the word spread from mouth to mouth … some of them have gone to the shows … and there like … that is a completely different person (laughter) … But when it comes to Instagram … I decided to create my account … and my account is @stanleyanghell … So … sometimes I post things about Stanleys life … and sometimes post about Anghell’s life … For me … it works … I can not separate both individuals from one body … And … for me … Instagram is easier … I like it … It’s very easy and I’m a very visual person … and I really enjoy it … I think it’s not so … gossipy as Facebook can be … it’s getting more and more … they’re adding more features … So for me … to be honest … my favorite between Facebook and Instagram … it would be Instagram … I used to have a Twitter account … but I stopped using it … it’s a crazy world … and it’s all about this bad news … even though I need to be informed … I just don’t look at it as often … It’s kind of like an addiction … once you’ve seen one … you start seeing the other ones … But yeah … I only have Instagram and Facebook …but I enjoy Instagram more … And Instagram … It’s been more then adding followers to your handle … It is a great way to connect with people all over the world … that have the same interest as you … I have gotten some gigs through Instagram … It’s a good opportunity to cast to other markets … I would say … Since I started doing my burlesque life here in Chicago … burlesque is completely different in a city … like New York … It’s completely different when it comes to the crowd … Performers … in Australia … It’s really … I think Instagram … has helped me keep my feet on the ground … and to see how burlesque is in different countries … and to connect with new performers … Performances … I’ve performed in St. Louis … San Francisco … Los Angeles … Miami … recently I went to the Winter Party … and I performed … The crowds are different … reactions are different … I would say … right now … one of my favorite … of course I love performing in Chicago … but San Francisco is a city that really appreciates art … It’s a city that the crowd … just gives it all … I mean they are really into the shows … I recently performed in a show called Black Manifest … It’s all about … all Black performers … which … I think … I was super interested in when they hit me up … The producer got my information through another performer … and he hit me up to perform with that  … so I did that for the first time last year … in August … As soon as the show was over … he immediately booked me for the next one which was … two months ago in February … And I’m going back again next month … to San Francisco … So … I think it’s completely different … the reaction from people in different cities … those are the only cities I’ve performed in so far … I think San Francisco is the closest one … in my heart … Other places? … Italy … would be one of the places where  I’d love to perform … Vienna … The Vienna burlesque festival … I’d love to perform there … and Germany … That is something I would love to do … The shows are completely different … more kinkiness … there are more sexual concepts that I would love to see … Besides that … I do travel a lot for fun … and the is something I’ve been doing since I was a kid … My mom loved to travel … My family loved to travel … We used to do that a lot … The outfit I wore … That is my newest act … It was inspired by the Phoenix bird … talking about this comeback guy … that has been beaten … mistreated … He’s now this beautiful piece of art … very colorful … and I created this costume in collaboration with Serena Star … She’s also a burlesque performer … She doesn't perform that often anymore … She does more outfits … I would say … she’s the one that makes almost all of my outfits … because we have such a great connection … We came up with this idea when I was talking with her about this outfit … I talked about red … black … and she was … “Stanley … I think you have enough black … and enough red … why don’t we try something different” … and we both came up with this concept … and then … I knew the song I wanted to do for this … but I hadn’t edited to yet … I started working on the song … and I was … This is going to be perfect … So accepting work that we both did … Of course … she was in charge of doing the hardest part … putting everything together … make it work … Since I combine burlesque with pole dancing … the outfit has to fit … and allow me to do my moves … you know … climb on a pole … do some tricks … So … we thought about everything … Also … a few years ago … I started performing wearing heels … that was something that I added … and I think is super fun … So … sometimes … I have such … thick thighs … that sometimes the heels of the boots … because I prefer boots … doesn’t fit my calfs … so … she will alter them and tailor them in order to fit me … I think with this new costume we created … it’s one of my favorites … I really enjoy it … It’s an act that means happiness … it means color … and it’s an act that represents the Latino culture … I’m a huge supporter and advocate for Latino culture … The response? … I’m always open to getting peoples feedback … Of course … no-one likes negative feedback … right? … In my opinion … yes … this might sound a little bit cheesy … but fortunately I get more positive reviews then negative … When it comes to negative … because there is something personal behind that … there are some people … especially people from my country … where they don’t like me when I use heels … I respect that totally … So some them of the will comment about …  “Oh … I don’t like you in heels” … and I accept that … But I accept that once … after that time … like a second time … a third time … come on … I mean … You already told me … and I respect that … but you also know that I love heels … and I’m not going to change … I think negative comments … they’re always going to be there … you need to learn to deal with it … you need to learn … to not let them effect you … For me … I prefer constructive comments … For example … there is an act that I do … that is very artistic and very classy … people love it … but they also came to me … and they were mad about it … because it was not long enough … They say … they love it but wish it was longer … I tell them that I’m going to make it longer … but I never will … because it builds up interest in the people … So … that is something that is it’s main purpose … it’s so short … Usually my songs are six minutes … five minutes … But this one is so short … I usually use this song when I’m performing on venue where I’m going to do two acts … to build interest … But … in general … I will receive positive and negative comments … It’s more positive then negative … I don’t let them get into my head … I know that in social media … we need to accept good and bad … not everybody is going to love what you do … If there is something that’s not going to effect your life … then why … I’m a very fluid person … I like changing things … I have gone through different looks … Not long ago … I dyed my hair … I was blonde … Some people like it … some people didn’t like it … I don’t care (laughter) … Because at the end of the day … it’s my body … And years ago … I let my hair grow … I relaxed it … and I also got extensions … There were some people that didn’t like it … and they would make mean comments … especially on social media … “Oh … I don’t like you with that hair” … Before … I used to not say anything … to keep my mouth shut … and I was like … “why”? … this is my look … There’s a very thin line between respect and disrespect … especially when you are commenting on the look of someone … I had that head piece for about a year … I didn’t intent to keep it for a year … I kept it for a year because people were saying I don’t like how it looks on you … I said … now I’m going to wear it more … You know what I mean? (laughter) … If a person wants to look a certain way … we need to respect that … Though … If you ask … how do you think this looks on me … I’ll give you my opinion … My future? … I’m very organized … I’m a planned … man … When it comes to the future … I see myself performing more … In different States … I like the stability … I see myself living with my husband … It’s been five years … We’re having a great life … I see myself with more culture … travel more … We want to by a house sometime soon (laughter) … so … we’re working on that … For Stanley and Anghell … I see in the future … more knowledge … Even though I’m pretty confident on who I am right now … what I project to the world … I want to keep building that … I want to keep trying to be a better person … not for the people … but for me … Even though they say people don’t change … I want to keep changing … for the better … be more conscious of my surroundings … be more conscious of what I am bringing to the world … I just want to keep living a happy life … My life has been very happy and blessed … I want to keep enjoying my family … even though they’re not with me … I’m very ambitious too … so