“And now, for the final attraction,” the MC announced to make the crowd wait in anticipation, “our precious, y, exotic Black Pearl!” The MC leaves the stage and the light dims. One spotlight flashes to a pole in the center of the stage and Kwon Yuri struts to her spot. All the men jeer with disgusting libido. The music starts and Yuri starts dancing sensually. She owns the stage and soon walks down to the lounge. All the men are lining up to get a , but she knows who to go to: the big payrollers, the ones who have been making it rain in the club all night long. She begins her service and she knows her limits. They get their dance as long as they pay, but they don’t get to touch. She’s been bribed for a ‘little extra fun’, but she always declines. The guys in the club always wonder if any lucky man gets to bed the ‘Asian Invasion Black Pearl’ since as soon as she clocks off, she disappears. Little do they know, she goes home to her lover, Tiffany Hwang.

Yes, Tiffany Hwang. The famous ‘underrated’ artist in LA. The opening act for multiple singing acts for their West Side leg of a tour. The known back-up singer for artists such as Kim Taeyeon and Park Bom. The LA Dodger’s go-to National Anthem singer. She had released a demo which was very satisfying, but she decided to focus on her studies before delving into the music industry. Yes. Tiffany Hwang was dating the regular Kwon Yuri.

Well, regular.

Clear your mind about any stereotype about go-go dancers, cocktail servers, or pole dancers. You don’t know their whole story.

Kwon Yuri may be a pole dancer on weekend nights, but during the day, she’s your typical UCLA senior. In the mornings she teachers yoga and on Tuesday and Thursday nights, she teaches an intermediate hip hop class. She’s a biology major and she actually wanted to be a doctor. To put things euphonically, her current financial status is just not in favor for her. During her sophomore year, her mother had been diagnosed with liver cancer and months prior, her dad had been laid off. Her brother had to quit his current stable engineering job to take a lower-paying IT job just to stay close to home and her dad worked at a grocery store. Yuri, with no degree and little work experience, was unlucky and took on multiple obscure jobs ranging from being a waitress at a Korean BBQ grill to being a zookeeper at a local zoo to being a tour guide at her school.

She had met Tiffany when she too