The Wall Street Guy Who Moonlights As a Stripper

On paper, Andrew C., 40, looks like a pretty average Wall Street guy. He graduated from an Ivy League college, went to a top business school, and has a cushy banking job with a $300,000 paycheck. But in reality, he’s spent most of his adulthood leading a double life, performing at a male strip club in his free time. “It might sound crazy, but I just really enjoy it,” he says. “It’s my passion.”

A few years ago, Andrew left the strip club where he worked on weekends to start his own show, Exotique Men, which offers performances at private parties and venues. He hopes to grow it enough to leave Wall Street for good and pursue his business full time. Here, he talks about the economics of male stripping, hiding his second job from his Wall Street co-workers, and the next steps for his side hustle.

How did you get your Wall Street job? It’s not exactly easy to break into, at least for most people.
Growing up, I was always told to take the traditional path: Do well in school, get good grades, get a high-paying job, work my way up the corporate ladder. So I did all that. I studied mechanical engineering in college. Then I worked as an engineer for five or six years. It was a pretty unfulfilling job. I saw my friends on Wall Street making a lot more money, so I figured, If I’m going to be miserable working a nine-to-five, I might as well get paid better. So I went to business school at NYU. When I graduated, I was able to land a job on Wall Street making six figures a year. I thought that would be the definition of success, but the hours were long and the work was boring. I was just sitting there, analyzing data for traders, pretending to look busy. I felt like I couldn’t really grow. There’s just too much bureaucracy. No matter how hard you work, somebody else decides your future.

What gave you the idea to try working at the strip club?
I started moonlighting at the club in 2007, right after I graduated from college. I was 23 and I didn’t really know what I wanted in life. I got the idea to try it because I was into fitness and dance — I still am — and there’s some crossover. I worked out and I was in decent shape, and I’m six feet tall. Also, I’m Chinese, and there aren’t that many Asian guys in the industry. So when I applied to work at the club, my boss was really happy because he didn’t have any Asian guys, and sometimes when girls book dancers for private parties, they put down “Asian” as a preference. So I was able to fulfill that part of the market for him and increase the diversity of the show.

What’s the interview process like? Did you have to dance for anyone?
No. It was super-simple. I just emailed them a few pictures of myself and they asked me to come in. I went in and the owner told me to take my shirt off. He looked at me and told me I needed to lose a little weight. And then a week later, I started working. I kept doing it while I was in business school, partly to cover my tuition and expenses but also because I enjoyed it. It was just so much fun. It gave me a good opportunity to go out to meet people while making extra money. I’d work at the club on Friday and Saturday nights, so it didn’t interfere with my regular day-to-day.

Are you naturally good at flirting, or did you have to work on it?
At the beginning, I wasn’t very good. I was always very guarded and scared of rejection. But there were other guys at the club who were super-charming, and I tried to figure out how they did it. Some of them were aspiring actors and musicians, so they had charisma and could talk to women easily. For me, it wasn’t so natural. But I find that if I want to achieve something, it’s more about consistency and repetition. I realized that an important element of flirting is actually learning about yourself and figuring out your passions in life. That way, when you’re talking to girls, you can be genuine and honest about yourself. You don’t resort to stupid pickup lines. When you’re comfortable and having a good time, it’s easier to talk to anyone.

Give me some examples. What do you say to sell a lap dance?
When I approach girls, I always start by asking what they’re celebrating, how they all know each other. Usually they’re in a group with friends and co-workers. You throw in a few penis jokes, get everybody relaxed.

A lot of women aren’t used to paying for male attention. When I sell a lap dance, I don’t ask the girl to buy one for herself. I’ll ask her friend — does she want to surprise the bachelorette? Does the bachelorette want to give it to her maid of honor? It’s more comedic than sexual when it comes to male strip clubs for girls. They love taking photos. They love watching their friends get lap dances. It’s funny to them, a novelty. At the end of the day, we’re dancers, entertainers, adding to the girls’ party. Our job is to add value, whether it’s just being good-looking or flirting or making them laugh.

What kind of money were you making?
The pay can be very low. You’re out there hustling for $20 lap dances. When you perform onstage, the main performer gets $100 and the backup dancers get something like $30. A bad night would be the middle of the winter when it’s freezing cold and no one’s out. The least I’ve ever made was $16 a night. The most was $780. Most weekends, I’d make between $500 and $700. I tried to use that money for my living expenses and then save everything I made from my banking job.

A lot of the other dancers work at the gay clubs, too, and they make a lot more money there. So they’ll dance for women from 9 to 11 p.m., and then from 11 p.m. to 2 or 3 a.m. they’ll go to a gay club and dance for men. I think I would only do that if I really had to pay my bills.

How secretive were you about doing this? Do your co-workers know?
I was worried about people at my day job finding out, but none of them have so far. During the shows, when girls take photos, I always try to hide my face so it doesn’t show up on social media. I did have an instance when a girl from my business school came in. It was a little bit awkward, but she just laughed it off.

How about your friends and family?
Both of my parents have unfortunately passed away. When I told my other family members about it, they were initially shocked. They were like, “What? How?” I explained to them that it’s just a way to earn extra cash during my off hours on Friday and Saturday nights. My friends are just out drinking, so I might as well work and make extra money and be social at the same time. I grew up poor, so we’ve always been a very frugal family, earning and saving whatever we can.

When I’ve told other people, I always said that I did it to pay off my student loans, even though I paid those off years ago. It’s easier to say that than the real reason, which is that I like it. My main motivation these days is that it’s an opportunity to work for myself. Now that I’m older, I want to build my own business in the industry and not have to work for someone else anymore.

What made you decide to go out on your own?
The only person who makes a lot of money in male strip shows is the owner, because he sells tickets and packages for $500 a table. He doesn’t have to pay the dancers very much because guys will always show up for girls. So the profits from the tables and the ticket sales go to him. That really appealed to me. There wasn’t much opportunity to work my way up in management at the club where I worked; I had to leave and start my own thing. So at the end of 2021, that’s what I did.

How is business going?
There was a lot of failure in the beginning, and I was very disheartened. I taught myself how to build a website during my spare time on weekends just from watching YouTube videos. Then I started testing different marketing techniques. Should I advertise here? What about over here? Most people, they just search on Google when they’re trying to plan their friend’s bachelorette party or birthday party, and I had to figure out how they’d find me.

I do a combination of private parties and shows at venues. To find venues, I did the modern-day version of door knocking — I went on Google Maps and made a list of clubs, venues, bars, restaurants, anybody who might be willing to let me do a show, and I cold-emailed them. I’d say, “Hey, my name is Andrew. I’m starting this new male strip show in New York City. We’d be able to bring in ten to 15 girls, and we can ask to have them pay a two-drink minimum. Could we do this at your venue?” I’d be very transparent; it wasn’t going to be like Madison Square Garden or anything. A lot of people slammed the door in my face, but a few people said “okay.”

I wound up making about $23,000 through the business last year, so it was pretty good. This year I’m also doing about the same. I’m trying to promote my site and grow. I think I’d want to make about $100,000 from the business, consistently, to feel comfortable leaving Wall Street for good. But it’s more about quality of life than it is about money at this point.

Do you still perform, or do you outsource that to other dancers when you do a show?
In New York, all the dancers kind of know each other, so it’s not too difficult for me to hire performers. They’re all independent contractors. Usually I host a show and I’m on the microphone, DJ-ing, and then if it’s really busy I need to dance, I’ll dance as well. At this point I really enjoy choreographing the event, running things, interacting with the audience, and making sure the girls are happy.

Did you know anyone else like you who performs even though they don’t need the money?
A lot of them are personal trainers or models, Uber drivers. They work odd jobs. One guy was going to medical school, but he stopped after a while. I knew another guy who was a lawyer. But most of the guys with stable jobs don’t stick around.

How much do you make at your day job? Is it hard to walk away from that paycheck?
I make about $300,000 a year from my Wall Street job, and I save as much of it as possible. I was always worried that if the bank found out about my side hustle, they would fire me. So I have a pretty good safety net, about $2 million at this point. Most of it is invested in the market, which has also helped it grow. I’ve always kept my living expenses low. I bought my own apartment in Manhattan, and I don’t go out or travel the way a lot of my Wall Street co-workers do. I don’t have a family to support.

At this point, I’ve basically quiet quit my day job. I’m doing the bare minimum. Being able to work from home has been very helpful. Before COVID, when working from home wasn’t a thing yet, there were days when I was pretty tired from working at the club the night before. There were hotels near my office, and I would go in and pretend I was a guest and try to take a nap on the lobby couch. Now I get away with only going into the office once a week. I get my work done and they’re happy. It’s not what I want to do for the rest of my life. Everything I do on Wall Street belongs to the bank, and they can lay me off at any time. But my business has given me a lot more purpose. I have something of my own, that I can grow little by little. That has grounded me a lot.

How old are you? Is there an age cutoff that you’re concerned about?
I’m 40. There are some dancers in their 50s, and girls still love them. There’s no specific age when you have to stop. But I know from experience that if you show up and you don’t look good, girls will let you know without letting you know. When it’s time for me to hang it up, the market will tell me.

I have to maintain a certain look. A lot of my co-workers at the bank eat out all the time and have let themselves go, but I cook all my meals at home. I follow a very clean, high-protein diet. And I work out. I do look healthier and fitter than a lot of my friends my age.

Is it hard to date? Or easier, because you’re meeting women all the time?
Dating-wise, it is kind of difficult. In the past, I was usually dating girls I met at the club, so they already knew right off the bat. But those were usually pretty superficial relationships. Now, when I meet new girls, I typically don’t tell them right away. Once I get to know someone, I’ll tell her. Some of them are cool with it, and some of them are not. Right now I’m single.

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