From the stage to the shops: meet Dawson City's rhinestone entrepreneur

Joining a burlesque class a few years ago opened Andrea Parent up to a whole new world.

She started performing in her hometown of Dawson City, under the name of Golden Goddess, and making her own costumes. Once she had whipped off her top and other performers caught a glimpse of her homemade rhinestone pasties, they asked if she could make some for them. Parent soon found enough demand that she started her own pasties business, Golden Goddess Creations.

The recipient of that gift is going to put them on and feel really good about themselves- Andrea Parent

In the summer months, Parent sells a lot of pasties at her table at the Dawson City Farmers' Market, her pasties are stocked at the adult store in Whitehorse, and she takes special orders through her Facebook page.

Her work has ended up on dancers in Ontario, and wherever burlesque dancers perform and take her work with them. Business is great, and this certainly isn't something that Parent expected to happen with her glittery and tasseled creations.

"When I started making them, I thought maybe I'd sell 10 pairs to friends," she says, "but I set up a table at the market, and people were just so encouraging."

Yes, lots of her friends bought them, but so did strangers. "It's the best part of my job when a stranger says, 'What's that?' and then it takes them a minute to understand what is going on.... The old ladies are the best — they'll walk away laughing, and some will even buy three pairs as presents for their friends."

Parent doesn't mind at all that her rhinestone pasties sometimes get bought as joke presents. "I like it in fact, because maybe the recipient of that gift is going to put them on and feel really good about themselves," she says.

Getting started was easy, Parent watched a few YouTube videos, ordered supplies and got creative making all kinds of pasties in her spare time. Her favourite recent designs include cat faces ("Kitties for your titties!" she says with great joy when showing them off), mermaid-style shells, lightening bolts, leaves, as well as feathered and tasseled styles.

"Every pair is unique," says Parent. "I make three different sizes, because we have different sized breasts and nipples, and I can accommodate." A pair of Golden Goddess Pasties will cost between $30 and $50, depending on the materials used and the intricacy of the design.

Got a pair of personalized pasties in mind? "Lots of dancers make special orders, and that's really fun. I can make anything. I love being challenged," she says.

Although Parent expected to reach a saturation point where everyone in Dawson City has nipple pasties, she still sells steadily at in town. She is expanding her business further, hoping to reach a wider audience through her Etsy store, and broadening her product line by making matching underwear too.

There are of course challenges with setting up shop somewhere as remote as Dawson City. All her supplies have to come from online stores — there's nowhere in Dawson City that Parent can run out to and pick up rhinestones. "Because of that I can't see any of my supplies until they arrive, they sometimes don't look the way they did online, or I'll face big delays getting my supplies," she says. This is the only real challenge she faces though, and everything else is easy and fun to deal with.

I can make anything. I love being challenged.- Andrea Parent

"The support that I've been getting is phenomenal. I never expected there to be such a big market for pasties. Everybody is so fun and free here, Dawson City is such a supportive and beautiful place," she says.

"It's given me an opportunity I might not have had in my amazing community. In a big city, I probably wouldn't even be seen." 

Parent continues to dance in Dawson City and is proud to be part of the burlesque scene there as well as the person that people turn to for their nipple adornments. 

Find Golden Goddess Creations on Facebook and Etsy.