Tiffany Starkey
Tiffany has been dancing for as long as she can remember. "My mom put dance shoes on me as soon as I could walk!" she says. Growing up she went to various dance schools around the area and also taught ballroom in her teens! Tiffany then got into the world of exotic dance during college and became a successful entertainer for 3 and a half years.
After college where she earned her degree in Commercial Music Production, life got serious. A full time corporate job took time away from dance and art and Tiffany soon found herself gaining weight and experiencing depression. On their one year wedding anniversary Tiffany's other half surprised her with a membership to Vertical Fitness in August of 2012.
Because of her history in exotic dance, Tiffany had wanted to try pole fitness for a long time, but never took the plunge. The fear that she had gotten too heavy or too weak from her time away from dance got in her way and she put it off over and over, telling herself "I'll do it when I lose more weight, when I feel stronger" etc. But now it was too late, she had the membership, & she had to use it! It didn't take long for Pole Fitness and the amazing instructors at Vertical Fitness Studio (VFS) to completely change Tiffany's life for the better. Over the next 6 months she gained incredible strength and lost over 25 pounds!
After attending a workshop on exotic dance and lapdance entertainment, Tiffany realized she had an old skill that could possibly benefit VFS. She talked to previous owner, Valerie Rush, about starting her own lapdance workshop & the first "Damsel Delilahs NaughtyShop" was born! Once that was on the schedule, she was asked to sub a few pole classes in Valeries absence, and was then asked to teach permanently.
Tiffany taught happily alongside Valerie, Kelly and Jenn for nearly 2 years, and through her entire pregnancy! (She even taught a lapdance workshop at 39 weeks!) Valerie began to have some health concerns and was out for 2 periods of time where Tiffany slowly entered into the manager role at VFS, making sure to keep the studio running smoothly for when Valerie returned, and even fielding phone calls and emails. Tragically, on February 3rd, 2015, Valerie passed away unexpectedly in her home, due to said underlying health issues. The entire VFS team was devastated, as she was like a mother to so many of us, but Tiffany did not want to see Valeries dream die with her. Tiffany & Kelly worked closely with Valeries incredible family, and negotiated a sale of the business that worked for everyone. It took over a year of hard work, but Tiffany & the VFS team persisted. Tiffany & Kelly became the official owners in September of 2016, and continue to host a memorial showcase in Valeries memory every March.
Tiffany specializes in getting beginner students excited and confident, exotic pole flow, floorwork, and in the last year, extreme flexibility. Her Sexy Flexy class is where splits come to life, and stiff spines go to perish! She also teaches the ever popular Climbs & Inverts class, that gets new students up in the air for the first time, and regular students to the next level of many tricks. Tiffany is halfway through her National Academy of Sports Medicine training, and will soon be offering Personal Training Packages. To add one more item to her basket of abilities, Tiffany is also a seasoned professional photographer, & offers special rates to VFS members, as well as photo packages for our private parties. Hit her up the next time you want to look beautiful.
Here is a quote from Tiffany's first instructor bio:
"I am so excited to be here and inspire students in the same way that VFS has inspired me! I love to watch the progress from that first chair dip to the first invert and beyond! I am a great example of how much progress can be made if you just keep trying and I want to show that to all of my students. I also love how my lap workshops empower women to be confident, sexy and embrace their inner fierceness!"
What Tiffany's students are saying:
Had a great experience getting comfortable with being sexy. Lots of "moving sexy" too. ~ K. Dietrich
Tiffany's lap dance class was fantastic. Very professional and fun as hell! Definitely be back for more. ~ J. Andrade
Loved this Class!! Tiffany is an amazing teacher! ~ Anonymous
Thank you so much! I loved it. Great learning class! ~ Anonymous
Awesome class. I like that the schedule was flexible and we progressed as we wanted and she was of great help and support. ~ Anonymous
