In the last 24 hours, the world was introduced to Miss Priscilla Bow, a vintage burlesque beauty with siren allure and pin-up flair.

I was there for her birth of sorts.
In a sunny window seat of a coffee house, surrounded by my artist barista friends, in a whirlwind of afternoon lattes, black cat eye liner and stolen pens….her name was chosen.
By nightfall, Miss Priscilla Bow took the burlesque stage of the Slipper Room for the very first time as Marilyn Monroe sang over the speakers.
I was standing on the side of the stage – in awe, in near tears, watching this burlesque beauty do what she was born to do….

Priscilla Bow broke through all of her fears and OWNED the stage like the Queen she is. I feel lucky I got to witness it. People like Priscilla – the ones that dive into their wild adventurous dreams – always have my heart and my respect.
All my greatest heroes, both living and dead, had some kind of massive transformation in their lifetime, where they went from the person they were born to the person they were born to be.

Stage names have almost a mystic quality to them – the sound of the syllables of what you choose to call yourself is one of the most crucial parts to set the mood you want to create around you.

The perfect stage name is in itself a magic spell.
And here’s my tips to help you nail it!

Ask Yourself This Very Important Question First:
If your stage name is on a theater marquee without your photo…
does it still give the “vibe” of what you are about?

Make Your Name Tell Your Story.
Look at the “core” of who you are and who you want to be.

♦  Do you want to evoke a vintage charm to your name?
♦  Is your character playful?
♦  Do you want to rock that bad boy or femme fatale vibe?
♦  Are you looking to create a worldly and adventurous sounding name?

Pack Power Into Your Stage Name.
Make it meaningful to you.
Some ideas are:

♦  Take a name from your ancestors – you can use a first, middle or last name for inspiration.
♦  Take a name that originated from the country your lineage came from.
♦  Take a first or last name from an inspiring name in one of your favorite books, films, works of art or old myths.
♦  Play with names of some of your own inspirations and heroes. Change a letter up and create something special for you.
♦  Look at maps and search for interesting city and street names…there’s beautiful treasures in there for last names.
♦  Take a name from a song that had a huge influence on you.

Make It Unique and Make It Memorable.
There’s certain names that just “stick” in your brain, and certain names that are easily forgotten. Give yourself “sticking” power!

♦  If I google search your name, I want YOU to come up first. Don’t pick something so common that people will have to go through 5 pages of google to find you!
♦  Make your name easy to pronounce for all.   If someone is unsure of the pronunciation of your name, they won’t say it aloud – and you want the WORLD saying your name. Make it easy!

How I Found My Name
I wasn’t born Veronica Varlow, but I was born to be her!

I have always been obsessed with the films of the Golden Age of Hollywood and the classic femme fatales. I wanted my name to represent that and harken that vintage glamour.

I chose Veronica (inspired by the Archie Comics and also by Veronica Lake) and I chose Varlow because I wanted the alliteration of having my first name and last name start with the same letter (like Marilyn Monroe.)

I simply took “Harlow” of Jean Harlow and swapped the H to a V.
My name carries that vintage screen queen sound to it before anyone even sees a photo of me.
AND it subconsciously makes people think they’ve heard my name before….like the first night I performed and a man came up to me and said, “I’ve heard your name everywhere! So glad to see you perform finally!”

Now that’s magic!

Have you picked a stage name for yourself?
How did you come up with it?
From Backstage…

….to the Gutter –

the two of us raven-haired burlesque girlies send you our love.
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