When Helena’s mother passed away at sixteen, she found her drive to succeed in the arts became less about her mother’s wishes and more about her desire to prove everyone else wrong. Ballet wasn’t going to be it, and she was never going to be good enough to play in anything other than a third rate orchestra somewhere in Jersey. So her focus shifted to acting. Having lived the life of the consummate actress her whole life, the role seemed to suit her just fine. With the money left to her after her mother’s death, she packed up her bags after high school and moved out to LA.
LA wasn’t as easy as she or anyone else ever thinks it will be. Of course everyone tells you that, but Helena really thought she could rise above. She found a theatre troupe early on, but it wasn’t like anyone actually came to the shows that mattered. Family and friends of others was about it. Not to mention, it didn’t exactly pay. So waitressing it up was the way to keep the lights on. At work, she found herself bored, depressed, and drinking in the back alley with one of the cooks when things got slow. One of the other girls at work told her about the Burlesque show she danced for and they were always looking for new talent … so Helena auditioned and got in. This wasn’t so much a calling as a solid outlet. Unlike the shotty theatre she performed for, this was where real acting was required. Here the goal was to make every last man and woman fall in love her every night. So she auditioned and made it in.
However ... success in Hollywood just wasn't in her cards. With no desire to return to her family a failure, at twenty-three, Helena packed up her bags and moved to Denver.
At twenty-three, broke as fuck, Helena began to take odd jobs where she could. The plan had been to save up enough money so she could return to college, but that money usually went to pay off bar tabs and fund adventurous nights out. Forever bored by work, and without much direction, she found herself fired every couple of months and on the hunt for another job. At twenty-six she attempted to get her shit together, took up dancing again at Lannie's Clocktower Cabaret, found a secure desk job at an insurance company and began to attend the Community College at Denver. At twenty-seven she met the first real love of her life in John Landry. The two ran hot and cold the length of their relationship until he called it quits in 2012.
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