Check Out Rebecca Seaver’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Rebecca Seaver

Hi Rebecca, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I was born into a musical and creative family. I have been performing and creating art since I could walk. I grew up dancing on competitive dance teams, modeling locally, designing my own costumes, and singing in various projects with my family. I knew when I became an adult that I wanted to be in the entertainment industry in some capacity but I just wasn’t sure where I fit. In my early 20’s I was performing in local bands and trying to get a record deal. I quickly learned that I didn’t want to be part of mainstream music. It was a machine that left me feeling hollow, so I switched gears completely when I went to my first burlesque show. I saw Panty Raid in 2008 at The Cannery Ballroom and my life changed forever. I started performing with Music City Burlesque at The Belcourt Theatre in October of 2008 as Truvy Trollop. I continued with them until they disbanded in 2016. It was some of the best times of my life and some of the worst. We went through a lot of changes and the scene did a lot of growing up in those later years. I continued on with my next creation, The Rhinestone Cabaret, which launched as a live band show at Exit/ In in 2016. It’s absolutely one of the things I am most proud of. The Rhinestone Cabaret is Nashville’s longest running queer founded burlesque show and I am proud that we were the first burlesque show at Nashville Pride this past June. About a year ago, I retired my stage persona, Truvy Trollop, and adopted a new drag queen moniker, Mx.Mona Von Holler. It has been a challenging and exciting journey to say the least and I am very excited to see where Mona will take me.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
It has not been a smooth road as anyone in entertainment will tell you. I have dealt with lots of egos, rejection, self doubt, misogyny, and more. It’s all been worth it but it’s still hard. I have lost friends who were not on the same growth journey as me. I have become someone who is very active and vocal about the current times we are living in and how we need to collectively work together to eradicate the hate in this country and beyond. A lot of folks don’t want to acknowledge the responsibility artists have in this fight and that’s ok but for me it’s very important. All of my art has some kind of baseline or foundation that’s a protest. Just being the type of performer I am is a protest. You wouldn’t believe the incredulousness I deal with as a “woman” doing drag. Even from inside the LGBTQ community that preaches inclusion. Even though I identify as a non-binary person, I still get it thrown in my face all the time that I am a biological woman doing drag and I don’t feel welcome in the vast majority of the drag scene. I make a lot of my own opportunities to perform because of this. I produce the kind of shows I want to see. I book the types of performers that interest me. It’s exciting to show people a different side of the underground arts. I am very proud to be who I am and make the kind of art that I make.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I think my professional endeavors are just as exciting as my artistic ones. I am very lucky to work for my aunt and godmother who just happens to be Dolly Parton. She and I are very close. I consider her to be like a second mom to me. I have a bedroom at her house that looks just like it did when I was a little kid. Needless to say, when I came back from living in California she offered me a job as a production assistant in her company and I have wound my way through Dolly Parton Enterprises for the last 12 years consecutively. I have been her managers assistant, assistant creative director, and now I am the director of museum and archive services. This means that I oversee her collection of artifacts which spans her entire career. She and her assistant Judy Ogle, meticulously saved everything from her career. From instruments and costumes to movie scripts and gifts from her co-stars over the years. We are always archiving new things that she’s working on, displaying items in various museums and exhibits, and I even co-authored a NYT best selling book with her last year titled, Behind The Seams, My Life In Rhinestones.” This book showcases her journey in the entertainment industry through all of the incredible costumes she has worn. We are currently working on what will be her new museum in Nashville inside her new hotel downtown next to the batman building.

What matters most to you?
Family, chosen and blood related. I think building community is the most important thing we as humans today can do. We have to help each other, We have to be there for each other. The world is getting crazier and if we keep getting divided it’s just going to make it harder. I try to be there for people when they need it. I feel truly held by my family, blood and chosen, and I hope for everyone to have that feeling.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://instagram.com/therhinestone.cabaret and https://www.instagram.com/rebeccaann.seaver/