Lessons I learned As A Pole Dancing Preacher Mom

T-Ann Pierce
4 min readFeb 4, 2020
Photo by @lisakathancreative

I didn’t set out to be an ordained, pole dancing mother of four, but in a colorful life, these things can happen.

Turns out, you can be a mother, passionately tend to the social, emotional, and spiritual health of young adults, AND swing from pole for fun.

Until now, I didn’t spend much time talking about my ‘off-brand’ hobby of pole dancing. Not many people knew, outside my family and close friends. I didn’t pursue these disparate elements in my life to gain social media ‘likes’ or to hustle for worthiness. I didn’t intend to taunt the pearl-clutchers or to raise eyebrows. I did these things for me.

A day after JLo’s Superbowl pole dancing performance, I’m deafened, if not a bit disgusted, by the tut-tuts of mostly women, judging JLo for her choices, dragging out their soapboxes in the name of women’s empowerment. When did we all get to be experts in what constitutes empowerment for women?

Our job in this life is to strive to become better tomorrow than we were today. Our job is to model living fully for those who are looking up to us for guidance. Our job is to get to the end of our lives without becoming a heap of bitterness and regret.

Some people just don’t understand empowerment or living.

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T-Ann Pierce

Cognitive Behavior Practitioner, Life Coach & storyteller. Linking arms with women who are ready to thrive despite circumstances and cluster f*cks.