Meet The Team!
Gemma Rose
Pronouns: (she/her)
Founder & Organiser
Gemma is incredibly proud to have created The PDSM Competition, which is the world's first and most SWer centric comp! First running in 2023, now into our second year.
Gemma is the person you'll be speaking to most of the time via DMs and emails!
She has been a Sex worker and pole instructor since 2018. You can catch her teaching locally at Off The Ground Sheffield , her workshops nationally and online class recordings on her Buy Me A Coffee. Gemma is also an activist (PDSM being a branch off of that), fighting to destigmatise and educate about our work. She is a proud member of Sex Workers United, who fight for worker’s rights in the sex industry.
You can follow Gemma on Instagram at @gemmarosepole
Leila Davis
Pronouns: (she/her)
Moderator & Consultant
Leila, AKA Cutie Whippingham is a SE London-born-and-bred pole performer, stripper, pole instructor, pole studio manager, movement coach, consultant, and Director and producer of Blackstage Pole, which she founded as a place for pole dancers of colour to perform as their authentic selves without fear of erasure, exploitation and maltreatment. CW has worked with the likes of Shygirl, Boiler room, Nike, vogue, and Diesel to name a few. Since having a great time working as a consultant and moderator for PDSM last year and enjoying the success of the competition, she is even more excited to be involved in both consulting and moderating on PDSM 2024!
You can follow CW on Instagram at @cutiewhippingham
Sabrina Jade
Pronouns: (she/they)
Judge & Consultant
Judging categories: Show & SS Twerk
Sabrina Jade, Authentics UK silver medalist 2021 and veteran sex worker legend has been doing pole (and sex work) for 7 years starting as a baby stripper in clubs in the uk before settling in Brighton and then taking pole tricks to stages all over the world alongside achieving a first class masters degree in biochemistry! They are known for splits, tricks and a stripper showgirl aesthetic inspired from their time spent in clubs worldwide. Although still passionate about the art of stripping (but not the UK SWERF and dangerous attitudes towards the industry) you can now find Sabrina on tv and web screens in the cam and adult entertainment industry. She was also awarded Stripper of The Year 2022! Sabrina is a part of the revolutionary Blackstage 2022 showcase and dancing on and off pole at various queer events. They are a an activist and also strives to stand for other POC, queer folk, sex workers and neurodivergent folk, actively trying to ensure everyone can find the safety and security that she was lucky enough to find in pole.
You can find them on instagram at @sxbrinajade
Cherry
Pronouns: (she/her)
Judge & Consultant
Judging categories: Show & Strip Tease
Cherry is an OG stripper and has been working in strip clubs on and off since 2007. She’s had the pleasure of touring most of the U.K. strip clubs including some huge names such as Spearmint Rhino, Platinum lace and For Your Eyes Only to name but a few. She also had the honour of working in Berlin strip clubs for a spell. She’s proud of her roots and comes alive on stage. The thing she loves most about stripping is being able to entrance an audience and seduce them with her hypnotic movements and eye contact.
She’s so excited to be judging this competition. When Gemma started explaining how the competition was going to run, Cherry knew she had to be involved. She shares Gemma’s passion of making judging more transparent and fair, and also stands strongly behind giving people a platform to be able to perform to their truest selves. Cherry will bring to the judges panel her experience not only in dancing but also in competing and judging for many years. She’s passionate about providing helpful and nurturing feedback as well as all of her attention when the performers are pouring their hearts and souls out on the stage.
She teaches pole and online and has an on demand platform full of pole dance tutorials, flexibility and strength tips, full pole flow classes and more. She also loves to travel for workshops so send her a message for her most recent workshop menu. You can find her on Instagram @activecherry and online at www.activecherryonline.com
Sarah Precious
Pronouns: (she/her)
Judge & Consultant
Judging categories: Sensual & Show
Precious began her pole journey in 2013 - starting with a passion for tricks in the studio, before starting work stripping in 2015 and falling in love with the hypnotic fluidity and raw sexuality she saw on stage from the dancers she worked with. Precious has been an instructor since 2017, is the creator of Filth Army classes, and now works at five different pole studios around the North. She loves the sheer variety of students she gets to teach and the platform this gives her to educate pole hobbyists on pole’s roots and to provide SWer students with a safe space and support.
She has worked at strip clubs large and small - from glitzy and glam with stage tips and 14 foot poles, to clubs with no poles at all. As a dyspraxic and neurodivergent dancer who initially struggled with coordinated movements and body language she honed her skills by closely watching other dancers and breaking down their movements to understand the key components of that authentic stripper eroticism, and then built her own style around these foundations.
She advocates for sex worker rights and a greater understanding of neurodivergent needs in the pole industry, and is fiercely proud of her own stripper roots and all the skills and friendships she is lucky enough to have grown from them. She believes that ‘sexy’ is whatever you want it to be, and that each individual brings something unique and powerful to their own dance when they fully embrace what sexy means to them.
You can follow and learn with Precious online on Instagram @sarahpreciouspole
Kitty Velour
Pronouns: (she/her)
Judge & Consultant
Judging categories: Strip Tease & SS Twerk
Kitty Velour is a pole dance princess, booty-popping showgirl and dreamy aerial artist from Manchester!
Kitty runs her own online school called Dance With Kitty which specialises in Stripper Style movement, and celebrates the Sex worker origins of pole with tutorials & classes teaching pole, floowork, twerk, chair and more! Kitty also hosts her own neo-Stripper style cabaret show called The Pussy Parlour, which showcases all things navghty & nasty, and to help inspire others to be unapologetically sexy in a world that often squashes sexual expression.
Kitty is a dynamic force of pink, bouncy, sparkly energy and is known for her heel-clacking, and split-popping performances. As a bisexual Filipina, she flips the script on narratives of queer/asian sexuality and advocates for these marginalised groups. Kitty has performed and taught workshops all over the world, having recently performed with Snoop Dog! Blackstage even described her as "an entire genre' - she is considered a household name and a pole dance icon!
You can follow Kitty on Instagram at @kitty_velour, @dance_with_kitty and @thepxssyparlour
Annie Norris
Pronouns: (she/her)
Judge & Consultant
Judging categories: Sensual & Strip Tease
Annie Norris has been in the industry since 2001, and is loving every single minute of it. She's been in the industry since strippers first started to teach in studios and her first teacher was a stripper.
After learning pole for 3 years, she set up her own studio and decided to audition at a skrip club when she was old enough.
After years of late nights she moved away from the strip club scene and decided to focus on teaching people- the same feeling she used to get when she was on stage in the clubs. Her absolute favourite thing to do is teach people through the power of dance to embody their s3xuality, sensuality and feel confident.
Annie is really looking forward to judging PDSM because of its authentic vibe and setting in a strip club. There are very few competitions out there that enable competitors to really express their sensuality in full. With Annie being in the industry since its conception plus her 8yrs+ working in strip clubs around the world, she feels she can bring a well rounded, knowledgeable insight to the judging panel.
In her spare time she thoroughly enjoys hanging out with her son Hunter and husband Kieran and going about finding dogs to pet.
You can follow Annie on Instagram at @annienorrispole
Lauren Elise
Pronouns: (she/her)
Judge & Consultant
Judging categories: Sensual& SS Twerk
Lauren Elise is a pole dance instructor and performer based in London, best known for her dynamic, fluid basework, her musicality and her attention to detail, all whilst wearing a pair of monster 10inch heels. She has been dancing for 13 years, and has competed in many UK and international competitions. She’s also the co-founder of Eden Pole Competition, and is a huge fan of people finding their authentic, individual, sensual movement
You can follow Lauren on Instagram at @laurenelisepole
Autumn Flame
Pronouns: (she/her)
Invigilator & Part-time Admin
Autumn is a baby stripper, performer and pole teacher at Off The Ground Sheffield.
A big fan of floor-play and deliciously filthy, Autumn came 3rd in the strip tease category of the first PDSM Comp.
You can follow Autumn on Instagram @autumnxflame