When Jessica Wang was 14, she found herself in a position that many dancers find relatable: Dance felt like her whole identity. “When I introduced myself, the first thing I would say is that I’m a dancer. It got to a point where I felt like dance defined me too much,” she says. Wang, now 17, studies at Etoile Dance Academy in Houston during the academic year and with the Atlanta Professional Dance Academy each summer, and she participates in ballet competitions like Youth America Grand Prix.
“I struggled with feeling comfortable with my own dancing,” Wang continues. “I constantly compared myself to other people, and I felt like if I wasn’t the best, I wasn’t a valuable person.”
Something had to change. In an effort to connect with other creative sides of herself, she picked up crafting again, which she enjoyed as a child. But her love of ballet crept back in. “I was inspired by one of my favorite ballerinas, Maria Khoreva,” Wang says. “Her sister designs and makes [costume] tiaras. Before I learned that, I had thought they were all produced in factories.” Wang decided to try her own creations, and her custom tiara business, Bluebird Tiara Boutique, was born.
Her first design was for her own performance of the female Harlequinade variation, made out of a Party City hat. “It was absolutely terrible,” she says. Still, the process of designing part of her own costume gave Wang more confidence in her performance, and she kept going. (She says she hopes her tiaras can help share confidence with other dancers. “Once I put on a costume, I become the character, and that helps me escape from the thoughts of not being good enough.”)
As with dancing, Wang’s skills improved with practice. Now her designs are both beautiful and comfortable. “Headpieces can be really heavy, but with more exploration I was able to find ways to make it lightweight but still intricate.” Wang weaves each tiara out of hand-coated wire and places beads and rhinestones in her designs. She fulfills custom orders on weekends with the help of her mother, spending five to seven hours on each.
Most of her current sales come from Etsy, but her early customers were by word of mouth, like a moon headpiece she made for one of her teachers’ students, who was dancing the variation from Diana and Actaeon. (She has since created designs for La Bayadère, Le Corsaire, Sleeping Beauty, and more.) She has also turned her business into a positive force for another cause she cares about; she aims to donate 10 percent of sales from Bluebird Tiara Boutique to Houston animal shelters.
As her business has grown, Wang says, her mindset as a dancer has shifted. “I’ve been able to feel more at ease onstage, and I’ve been performing better as a result. My goal now is to find the joy in dancing, and for it to be something I stick with for the rest of my life.” She hopes to continue pursuing entrepreneurship in the future, and to one day create a business that can support dancers’ mental and physical health.
Her advice for other dancers who want to start something of their own? “The first step is the hardest, but everything can happen if you’re brave enough to try.”