Dancing, partying, and now reflection for former exotic dancer

In a past life, Kelowna’s Corey Hilton saw and did things an average guy will never do.

He spent 25 years as an exotic dancer and is now talking about the journey that took him around Canada and the United States. But that life also came with struggles to be authentic and to find his self-worth.

He told Kelowna10 his book Take it Off has turned into a lot more than just a memoir.

“After it was completely done it turned into a personal development book to help men over 30 in general who struggle with a lot of the same things I struggled with: lack, unworthiness and emotional disconnection,” he said.

Hilton’s often raunchy, and attention-grabbing story reflects what he calls a partying, ‘free bird lifestyle’, that he started at the age of 17, but he also wants readers to know there’s more to his character than a bare, gyrating torso.

“That’s the entertainment side of it. But for me, its moreso where I’m going now in comparison to where I was when I created this story,” he said. “A lot of the stories are from 20 years ago in a life I don’t lead anymore. It’s just in a different realm.”

For the last five years he’s been documenting all the moments he wanted to put to paper. But he didn’t have the belief there was enough value to try and make his story relatable.

Over the last two years his story started to take shape. Hilton sought out the help of a publishing company in Ontario, and it was there that he was able to tell the story he wanted to tell.

“I was coached by them to inject emotion into my writing. When I did that, it changed everything about the book,” Hilton said. “I’m proud of this book, because it is truly based off me; my authentic self, not the guy who was taking his clothes off before.”

Hilton said it was hard to stick to his authenticity when writing the book, but he knew it was a key element that was needed.

“Those other people out there that might be interested in hearing what I have to say, I just want them to know that a lot of the struggles I went through are relatable,” Hilton said. “Just because I was on stage doesn’t make me any different than the guy collecting the garbage everyday. They go through the same struggles: divorce, addiction, all those things.”

After retiring from the exotic dance world at the age of 42, he moved to Kelowna in 2000.

Hilton has since worked in the corporate realm, and now is an authenticity coach while starting his own publishing company called Take It Off.

Hilton will be doing a book tour in June across B.C. including a signing at Kelowna Indigo/Chapters on June 18th, at 9:30 a.m.