Life & Work with Britton Spitler

Today we’d like to introduce you to Britton Spitler. 

Hi Britton, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
My journey in Cincinnati started in 2004 when I started my freshman year with CCM and University of Cincinnati. I was a ballet major and during my junior year, I also started performing with Cincinnati Ballet as well. After graduating college, and spending one more year with Cincinnati Ballet, I moved to Charleston, SC for a year to perform with Charleston Ballet Theater as a Principal Dancer. After realizing I wanted more, I started training on pointe and auditioned for the all famed Les Ballet Trockadero de Monte Carlo in New York City, I was hired by them in 2011 which is really where I began my journey as a drag queen as well. As the company is comedic in nature, we danced both the male and female rolls. Here was where I learned the brilliant art of makeup. After being with the company for 2 years and sustaining an injury to my spine, I left the world of ballet. After exploring what I wanted to do, I eventually landed back in Cincinnati and started doing small gigs here and there. Around 2017, Brock Leah Spears started getting more and more bookings. COVID obviously put a damper on for a while but now I am the Saturday host of ROUGE at e19 Lounge and Disco, I host the widely successful Station BBQ Monthly Drag brunch,and perform at multiple other venues and shows across the tristate. Some of the additional places I have performed are with DANCEFIX, Cincinnati Ballet, Hard Rock Casino, Music Hall, and many others!

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle-free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
Oh no, it’s never a smooth road. For my ballet career, the constant struggle was how little money we made and the lack of adequate medical coverage. It took me 2 years to recover from my herniated disc. Other struggles would be like cost of costumes, wigs, shoes, makeup. Drag is EXPENSIVE. Just one costume can cost anywhere from $50 to $500. Sometimes more depending on the outfit and creation! For instance, for Pride this year, my outfit, wig, and shoes will cost me $650! 

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
Outside of drag, I am an IT professional. I work as a Scrum Master which is essentially a Project Manager. After my dance career ended, I had no idea what I wanted to do. I started working for Club Med, the all-inclusive vacation company, and quickly rose to the top sales position. I loved that job but did not want to work in a call center environment and moved into executive assisting. After spending 2 years doing that, the CTO of my current company took me into her office and said, quite plainly, “Look, you are way too good to be an assistant.” So, I was moved to a Project Coordinator role for a little over a year. I loved that role. Eventually, this current role came about and it had my name written all over it! So, I moved into the Scrum Master role and have been doing this for 2 years now. 

To think that I have gone from a ballet career to an IT career is something I never knew would happen and I absolutely am so thankful for all the people who got me to where I am today. 

How can people work with you, collaborate with you, or support you?
People can always reach out for bookings to brockleahspears@gmail.com. I collaborate with lots of local photographers, companies, and artists. We have a great community in Cincinnati. 

Contact Info:

• Email: brockleahspears@gmail.com
• Website: https://brock-leah-spears-merch.myshopify.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brockleahspears/?hl=en
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brockleahspears/photos/

Image Credits
Cintia Villalobos
Amy Spasoff