On Fours Years of #BBATX: An Interview with p1nkstar and Y2K
As we reflect on our upcoming fourth birthday, #BBATX community members and CYBERBABES collaborators Y2K and P1nkstar share their notes with #BBATX board member Jasmine Brooks on four years of resilience and future-building.
This interview was written, photographed and illustrated by Jasmine Brooks.
p1nkstar, illustrated by Jasmine Brooks
Y2K, illustrated by Jasmine Brooks
Jasmine Brooks: What do you do?
Y2K: I’m an artists, I’m a musician, I curate, and I create.
P1nkstar: I’m a performance artist, new media artist and a music artist. I’m also an event producer.
Brooks: What drew you to your current craft?
Y2K: Personally, I’ve been doing performance work since I’ve been a very young child. I have a theatre background so a lot of my original roots came from that area and it’s branched off into other things.
P1nkstar: For me, I was always artistic—I learned how to play the piano when I was three and also learned how to play the trumpet when I was really young, but then completely quit all art until I was a teenager. Then, I started making digital stuff on photoshop and then I went to school for art.
Brooks: When did you first hear about #bbatx?
Y2K: I had known about #bossbabesATX online, but we got more involved when we met Jane at the Museum of Human Achievement.
P1nkstar: Yeah, I had heard of #BBATX, but I never attended an event knowingly, but then Jane and I were cast in this play together (it was a musical with an all-femme cast).
Y2K: The first #BBATX event I remember attending was State of the Uterus and I had a really great time. It was a great environment—everyone there was there for a reason and it was very community-oriented and beautiful.
Brooks: How has #bbatx helped your business grow? How have you helped your business grow?
Y2K: #bossbabesATX is a role model in sort of a way. We started creating events and #bossbabesATX has given us so many tools and resources.
P1nkstar: Yeah, especially for me, I feel like I’ve been curated into #bossbabeATXs events a lot over the past two years, and just like working as an artist, I get to see the production team in action and how they organize and produce their events from conception to execution.
Brooks: What would you tell people interested in getting involved with #bbatx?
P1nkstar: Meet people. Just the people that revolve around #bossbabesATX, not even that are a part of bossbabesATX on staff, but the community that goes to events. Everyone is really supportive and there for each other. I think going to events is a great way to get started.
Brooks: What is the most important thing you’ve learned in the past 4 years that you’d want other
starting on their creative journeys to know?
P1nkstar: For me, I’ve realized that there are people in Austin, people out there who are interested in the same things you’re interested in. It took two years of living in Austin to really find my community. I was kind of popping around with art people, with people I knew from school, and when I first started performing, just meeting the people who were there and looking at them and seeing how they express themselves, I was like “Oh! I’ve found my people, finally.” I think that’s the most powerful thing for me about living in Austin is having found a community. There’s people here that are down to do what I’m doing and to collaborate with me and think that what I’m doing is important. Austin is a very special place in Texas, and there’s a place for everything. That’s what I’ve learned the most in the past four years… that’s why I’ve been able to do what I do. I’ve found a group of people who want to support that.
Y2K: A big thing that I’ve learned is time management skills and how much time you need to put into events to make them run well. Something that we’ve always been strong on is making sure our artists get paid and what they deserve. CYBERBABES (a collaboration with #BBATX) was the first event that we’ve actually paid ourselves for producing an event, too.
P1nkstar: Yeah, in Austin there is money to give. Build community and take care of your community. People are willing to give to artists—it’s just channeling it properly.
Brooks: What does #BBATX mean to you?
Y2K: All babes are welcome.
P1nkstar: #BBATX is a lot—it’s big. Not in a scary way, but as a force and I really appreciate that. The work that #bossbabesATX has done in the last four years and the power that it has—I’m always in awe. They have everything covered, and it’s literally five people. One of the things I really appreciate is that they’re open to giving people the tools to do what they want, and their values are great. I would like to thank #bossbabesATX for including me. It’s been great to be involved and to be considered. I really appreciate it.