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“A USA Gymnastics Survivor on the Epstein Revelations” - Circuspreneur Podcast
27 Plays4 months ago
#EpsteinSurvivors #USAGymnastics #EpsteinFiles #CircusArts #PerformingArts
In this powerful Circuspreneur Podcast episode, Shenea shares her perspective as a USA Gymnastics survivor to unpack what the newly surfaced Epstein revelations really expose: the systemic failures that allow abuse to hide in plain sight.
Rather than sensationalize the headlines, Shenea breaks down the structures behind the story — the power imbalances, the institutional blind spots, the culture of silence, and the lack of oversight that echo across sports, education, entertainment, and the creative arts.
Drawing on her own lived experience and her work advocating for national safety reforms through the SafeArt & SafeCircus Act and the Circus Workers Act, Shenea explains:
- why survivor voices must guide policy change,
- how the Epstein files highlight the urgency of protecting niche and nontraditional environments,
- what circus, performing arts, and creative industries can learn right now,
- and why independent oversight is not optional — it’s overdue.
This episode is a reminder that when survivors speak, they aren’t just telling their stories — they’re giving us a roadmap for preventing the next tragedy.
A must-listen for performers, educators, leaders, policymakers, and anyone committed to creating safer creative spaces.
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction by Shanae Stiletto
00:00:01
Circuspreneur Podcast
Hey, Stoke Entrepreneurs. This is your host, Shanae Stiletto. And this is a special solo episode of the podcast. And I wanted to put out an episode that speaks to...
Courage of Survivors and Industry Reflection
00:00:18
Circuspreneur Podcast
the current situation around the Epstein files and the survivors of Epstein as a survivor of USA Gymnastics and as someone who survived the failures of USA Gymnastics, I know firsthand what happens when institutions don't have strong oversight.
00:00:40
Circuspreneur Podcast
So, you know, when I look at the Epstein files and the courage of the survivors coming forward, I'm not looking at the headlines. I'm looking at the systems. And those systems or lack of systems show up everywhere, including the circus and performing arts communities that we all work in, you know, every single day.
00:01:03
Circuspreneur Podcast
And, you know, I stand with the survivors of Epstein and, you know, the continued release of all of the files and holding you know, the folks that were involved in this
Need for Policy Shifts and Oversight
00:01:19
Circuspreneur Podcast
accountable. I know what it's like to fight so hard to want to see folks in positions of power that led to these horrific crimes happening, held accountable and how hard it is to exist in societies that want to make light of abuses of this nature or environments that, you know, want to stay under-regulated,
00:01:46
Circuspreneur Podcast
like you know sport wanted to and you know speaking to the entertainment world and the performing arts world and the circus world in terms of you know slowly kind of edging towards oversight and increased regulations and legislation and laws, which I believe so much in, in terms of policy shifts,
00:02:12
Circuspreneur Podcast
and guidelines that should be changed. And, you know, I'm not sure if if any of you listened to my most pre my most recent episode with Rebecca Johansson. She is an intimacy coordinator represented by SAG-AFTRA. So she's a part of the union. She's the union director.
00:02:33
Circuspreneur Podcast
intimacy coordinator and she has an intimacy choreography or intimacy choreographers program that she's just started. And, you know, we discussed of, you know, the importance of utilizing different strategies of of of instituting reforms inside of the arts and entertainment industries in lieu of legislative shifts, which for me, legislative shifts should always be the
Role of Unions and International Standards
00:03:03
Circuspreneur Podcast
goal.
00:03:04
Circuspreneur Podcast
But whatever you can do to move the needle without full, you know, legislative shift, I think is a win. I don't think that is the ultimate win, but I do think that that is definitely something to strive for.
00:03:20
Circuspreneur Podcast
i see the importance or, you know, the important nature of incorporating intimacy coordinators and choreographers inside of the arts. And I have for a very long time, i I've, you know,
00:03:36
Circuspreneur Podcast
discussed that adaptation, you know, started that a few years ago with different intimacy coordinators. And this is, you know, prior to their full involvement with SAG.
00:03:48
Circuspreneur Podcast
But now we could have folks that are represented by unions involved in supporting the entertainment arts and performing arts and circus arts industries, which I think is a great thing, right? Getting a lot of eyes and ears on our industries,
00:04:06
Circuspreneur Podcast
with folks that, you know, have oversight by other environments and institutions that do have policy shifts and do have legislative shifts within their environments. You know, obviously like union standards, you know,
00:04:21
Circuspreneur Podcast
are something that we're also vying for as the Circus Arts Guild of America for the circus arts industry. And so that you know environments don't have to fight to regulate themselves space to space to space. There can be some cohesive oversight for the industry in America. And then those you know things can also too start to be oversights that are international standards because we also need to continue to look at international standards. When I'm speaking about you know different oversights and things, I mean, I'm obviously based in America, based in Las Vegas and an American performer, but these are things that I feel like need to be international standards. you know Maybe there's easier access to grants and you know some levels of reformation in international circus, but
00:05:09
Circuspreneur Podcast
the international circus and industry, even with, you know, circus arts category recognition that doesn't come with circus laws yet. added You know, these spaces are now just starting to look in terms of like circus laws and and circus policies that will be effectuated by those governments. But, you know, these are things that I have seen are needed all over the world interim in circus.
Systemic Nature of Epstein's Crimes
00:05:34
Circuspreneur Podcast
And so again, Back to you know the Epstein survivors, you know again, I don't want to speak or say anything that sensationalizes these stories or my own story, my own personal experience. I did a small episode on P. Diddy, for example, as a prolific and career abuser that he was.
00:05:58
Circuspreneur Podcast
Again, looking at the similarities, in my own experience as a survivor of USA Gymnastics, and then also to now speaking to the similarities in the Epstein cases and Epstein survivors, which there are thousands of them, you know, over the course of decades. And if you have not watched the documentary that was done, there's now, you know, more than one, but the one that came out a few years ago, I mean, it's really stunning to go inside of,
00:06:27
Circuspreneur Podcast
you know, his ring of influence and everything he did to those victims in Florida, those young girls and how he, you know, set things up as, you know, this very, you know, big pyramid scheme of, you know, younger girls recruiting younger girls and, you know, even listening to survivors like Lisa Phillips, who has been making the rounds, you know, she's you know, in media and doing a lot of really powerful interviews about her experience as a young model being taken advantage of and abused by Epstein and, you know, being taken advantage of by her, some of them unsuspecting friends that were her same age.
00:07:07
Circuspreneur Podcast
and how quickly her life shifted and how she was promised things that would help her career and how she thought that these were people that, you know, meant her well and that now, you know, things that she was, you know, inspired to do.
00:07:24
Circuspreneur Podcast
in her career were now being, you know kind of harnessed by these people, all very similar to experiences that I had a survivor of USA Gymnastics, right, where they start to utilize the things that you love and that, you know, are things that you, you know, all of your hopes and dreams are wrapped up inside of. And,
00:07:44
Circuspreneur Podcast
how they start to use those dreams as a way to get you to, you know, do things that you don't want to do.
00:07:54
Circuspreneur Podcast
And I think that it's very important when we speak about our experiences where you make it very normal and real life.
Wealth, Power, and Abuser Accountability
00:08:06
Circuspreneur Podcast
in terms of how easily it is for people like Epstein to abuse so many young girls and then to get away with it for so many years.
00:08:18
Circuspreneur Podcast
and then also too, for the conspiratorial aspect to come into play so strongly that then it makes people think, but this is like so grandiose and so out of this world.
00:08:32
Circuspreneur Podcast
And it involves, you know, again, all of these, you know, very prominent and elite people. Very important to touch on that, obviously, to recognize how people in in positions of power literally just do whatever they want. And I've seen that for years in the entertainment industry and people that have a lot of wealth.
00:08:48
Circuspreneur Podcast
and They really just think that they do not exist in our society in the same way that you and I do. And, you know, the the the larger, the resources, I mean, it just comes down to like, you know, what can you ask for when you're, when you have a big budget for a show?
00:09:07
Circuspreneur Podcast
You know, I've done some really fascinating performances. for folks that have these insane amounts of budgets where they want to spend you know a few million dollars in one day. And what they ask for and what they want and what they think they can have access to is literally just unending.
00:09:23
Circuspreneur Podcast
And so those are people that are not being abusive. They're just trying to, in their perspective, have a good time. And you know placing that same perspective on you know, abusers in this way that again, are just operating on a different level. You know, it's like people, when you you're performing and they're like, you know, we want, you know, to have like 300 performers in one day, you know, performing in all these different capacities. And, and it's just, it's just, you know, it mirrors so many things within our industries.
00:09:52
Circuspreneur Podcast
And then also to just seeing inside of that. But I think the other, perspective that I wanted to touch on is how challenging and difficult it is to get justice as a survivor in these spaces of abuse and neglect and society conspiring on behalf of these predators and these pedophiles and these prolific abusers.
00:10:17
Circuspreneur Podcast
And how we don't take the abuse of children, you know, i serious enough and how we also too have to start putting the abuse of children to all these different categories as if that changes anything or makes anything, you know, better or I don't know, people just feel like they need to speak about these experiences in so many different ways to me. It's just very strange as somebody who was abused and, you know, you just wanting people to hear your story, make changes and be held accountable. You want to see people, you know, go to jail and go to prison.
00:10:56
Circuspreneur Podcast
And I think it's sad, you know, when you think about the Epstein case, how he, at this point in time, really only person besides, you know, and his co-conspirator that have gone to prison and have gone to jail and how there's, you know, so many people that are a part of this.
00:11:15
Circuspreneur Podcast
And, you know, again, it speaks to experiences in survivor fussy gymnastics and how few people, like no one went to jail, no one went prison, one went to jail. for any of the things that happened to any of us and outside of that main person, which is what I'm talking about, and how I hope that we're able to see more of the abusers that were connected to Epstein, you know, go to prison and go
Vulnerability to Trafficking and Exploitation
00:11:43
Circuspreneur Podcast
away.
00:11:44
Circuspreneur Podcast
You know, I was speaking also to recently to some individuals that, you know, know about my career, know about my work. And they were asking me, you know, they were like, you know, there's a lot of trafficking in a way going on right now. They didn't use that word, but they were like, you know, we see a lot of, you you know, things making it to the news recently about these scam jobs and how, you know, people are brought and flown over to different different countries and then their, you know, their documents are confiscated and then they are eventually, know,
00:12:17
Circuspreneur Podcast
You know, just like locked into a space where they have to do this job that they didn't think that they were going to do. And they're just literally trafficked and out prisoner and not getting paid and, you know, can't leave and don't have any means to escape. And, you know, they were like, we thought of you just because, you know, your industry sounds so...
00:12:38
Circuspreneur Podcast
vulnerable to things like this where people just post whatever they want online to get people to respond to a job. And then they do fly you out. They were like, but you know, have you heard of you know difficulties like this faced by people in your industry. And, you know, and I said, yes, I said, you know, that is an issue in our industry for sure.
00:12:59
Circuspreneur Podcast
i know, you know, people that have walked into jobs that did not exist, then they don't have a flight back home or they have a flight back home that has, you know, they can't use that flight back home. And the details of the contract start changing per day, or they do the contract and then the the the The people that brought them out don't want to pay them. So they're like almost forced to fly back home without any money.
00:13:25
Circuspreneur Podcast
And that, you know, they've gone to different, you know, spaces to get help. And, you know, no one will help them in the country. you They can't get help from the embassy and they really just have been trafficked and then released and sent back.
00:13:44
Circuspreneur Podcast
And, you know, this is just all making me think about, again, how our industry needs better protections and increased regulations and increased oversight through policy and through laws on a local, state, federal level and on an international circus and entertainment level as well, because we are all So vulnerable.
00:14:07
Circuspreneur Podcast
And with all of these cases that keep coming out, it's showing just how much more vulnerable we are because the social media and how there's not enough checks and balances out there.
00:14:18
Circuspreneur Podcast
on posts that people can make, on castings, on auditions as well, on so many, you know, on so many things where we can really just fall under the radar and putting down a perspective for people. Because when I was discussing this with some acquaintances, they were like, we never thought about it that way.
00:14:37
Circuspreneur Podcast
that's That's totally the language that we would use. If you thought you were going to do a job in entertainment and then it just like didn't work out. And that's what a lot of people will just end up saying like, oh, it just didn't work out.
00:14:48
Circuspreneur Podcast
and and It's like you, hopefully you got out of there Hopefully you were able to, you know, get some protections and get out of there and get back home. But, you know, there's so many different people that could be involved in keeping you in a job that you don't want to be in Or, you know, again, you are not in the position to say no to that job. And so you need to go anyway.
00:15:07
Circuspreneur Podcast
And then you don't get paid or you're like, maybe at least I'll get paid 20%. I really need this gig. You know, it's not easy in our industry to work and to make money and to keep consistent employment and done to move and exist within so many different countries and cultures that can, you know, no matter where you are, could take advantage of you. It's not even one specific space. I mean, you know, you could be in one of the best countries that you think has a lot of systems and things in place and still you know, end up very, you know, exploited. And that comes down to the lack of legislation and and and overall protections and information and education that we have in our industries and why that needs to change. And we've done so much in the space around youth and Olympic sport.
00:15:50
Circuspreneur Podcast
And we definitely need to continue to make those gains in arts and entertainment. you know so that we don't have to keep doing spot treatments or all of this incremental from space to space to space and hoping that other environments will take that on, even though that is very, very, very positive as well.
00:16:08
Circuspreneur Podcast
Because I have been, again, through the work of the Circus Arts Guilds of America, speaking in so many environments because I do hope that you know individual spaces will make these changes on their own and then influence other spaces to do the same thing and then use that to show the policymakers, hey, our industry is making these changes on their own, but we could really use your support in terms of a legislative ask and showing them that we are willing and we're all moving in the same direction is very important to harness their support. It does work and it does matter.
00:16:43
Circuspreneur Podcast
And so in coming back to my initial, you know, reflections on the survivors of Epstein and supporting them, and I hope that you're reaching out to your representatives and telling them to support the release of all of the files and and then looking into other ways that you can support survivors,
Support for Survivors and Exposing Abuse Networks
00:17:05
Circuspreneur Podcast
right?
00:17:06
Circuspreneur Podcast
We need so many voices in and around exposing these rings and exposing these networks of so that people like him don't continue to get sweetheart deals.
00:17:19
Circuspreneur Podcast
And, you know, for the folks that, again, you know, haven't watched the documentary and listened to, you know, the different interviews and the the books that have been released now,
00:17:30
Circuspreneur Podcast
you know in exposing these people, these high level people, which again, don't make them so high level, right? It's just like how it felt in USA Gymnastics. These are just people that are willing to throw whoever it takes under the bus to protect their own personal interest.
00:17:47
Circuspreneur Podcast
Don't make it so much of a conspiracy. It could be anybody. and, uh, and speaking again to the people that are the good ones, you know, and, uh, how many of those people have not been brought to justice whatsoever.
00:17:59
Circuspreneur Podcast
And, that helped these things to go on for so long. And I say that so much in my episodes that I do as a survivor, because I really want people to get that, that it's not about,
00:18:14
Circuspreneur Podcast
focusing on that evil perpetrator, even though even those other evil perpetrators, it's the people that minimize, that detract, that distract, and that are supposed to be there as the good ones to make sure that you still do okay.
00:18:33
Circuspreneur Podcast
Right. We don't want everything to like fall apart for you. right Like let, let those other ones take that on because you know, like, don't you take that on too?
00:18:45
Circuspreneur Podcast
Like those are the things that people should be worried about when people start talking to you like that, like, Oh, you don't want to be the one takes on all the change or you don't want to be the one that people like single out.
00:18:58
Circuspreneur Podcast
If you feel like that is what you're starting to say to yourself, watch out because it's, it's the fact that there are so many people that talk like that, that things like this continue to go on because I heard it. I experienced it firsthand.
00:19:13
Circuspreneur Podcast
You know, all the people that want you to keep your career, all the people that want you to shoot for your dreams, all your people that want you to do good in the next interview. You can start saying things, but wait until you're in a better position.
00:19:25
Circuspreneur Podcast
Right. i know people that didn't even get to that better position because there were other people that were seeking to get ahead of them, even in that way. Because so many people are are make are running a game around you and you don't know all the details and you don't know how many workings and dealings people are making behind the scenes that you'll never be privy to.
00:19:44
Circuspreneur Podcast
Even if you're holding back to get your chance to speak up, you may never get it because no one's going to let you in.
00:19:52
Circuspreneur Podcast
So I think that, you know, these are very difficult conversations to have. i always tell people it's not difficult for me to advocate for the circus arts industry because there's nothing harder than advocating for children that have been abused and been trafficked and been exploited for the personal gain of adults and people in positions of power. No one wants to talk about the sexual abuse of children.
00:20:17
Circuspreneur Podcast
i am, you know, I'm just proud of the survivors of Epstein and proud that, you know, this conversation, is a national conversation again, once again, but how many of these horrific and terrible cases do we need to have before we make long lasting and increased reforms, especially around environments that do not have a lot of eyes and ears on them.
00:20:45
Circuspreneur Podcast
So people continue to speak out, they continue to do what they can in terms of advocacy, but voices need to continue to be loud, to make sure that our representatives know that we care about holding people accountable for the abuses that they inflict against children.
Societal Reluctance to Address Child Abuse
00:21:05
Circuspreneur Podcast
against children I know it's hard to imagine certain atrocities just because you see people as adults now. And you know people start playing with ages. Oh, they weren't that young. Oh, they were old enough to know better.
00:21:19
Circuspreneur Podcast
oh they were this and they were that.
00:21:23
Circuspreneur Podcast
Apologizing for abusers is very sad, but I've heard it for years. So I am undeterred. I know what that feels like. I know what that looks like.
00:21:35
Circuspreneur Podcast
And hopefully within yourself, you know, you are not using that as a reason to not speak up or say something, especially if you're an environment right now that you feel like could really use a voice.
00:21:48
Circuspreneur Podcast
And, you know, i you know, get people moving in a direction that is conducive, that is constructive, and that is reformative in a legislative or lawful manner, because it is possible.
00:22:04
Circuspreneur Podcast
We've done it, we're doing it, and there are people that are really putting their own personal safety and things on the line to change the way that we allow systems of abuse to get away with so many crimes for so many years and so much neglect.
00:22:24
Circuspreneur Podcast
And, you know, especially with those that are vulnerable within society, you never know when you're going to end up in a vulnerable demographic in your life. Right. You know, you could be somebody, you know,
00:22:35
Circuspreneur Podcast
I have, you know, a friend that is involved in you know, the big case against the FBI and in harassment around that. And that's a case that is has gone public and they're doing more reforms around that. So, I mean, these are all women that were getting a job with the FBI.
00:22:53
Circuspreneur Podcast
and became vulnerable demographic. So in reminding you, you never know when you're going to be in a vulnerable demographic. You don't. Or in a demographic that people don't think is going to be vulnerable to being exploited or being abused.
00:23:09
Circuspreneur Podcast
So I think it's, again, important that we continue to rally around these conversations and as a survivor of fused gymnastics and as somebody that is in, you know, that does advocacy around this all the time. And here's the stories of survivors and victims.
00:23:28
Circuspreneur Podcast
And then again, who gets to watch and see how much of these experiences mirror my own And so for me, they are not conspiracies.
Exploitation Across Sectors and Podcast Mission
00:23:42
Circuspreneur Podcast
They're not conspiracy theories.
00:23:44
Circuspreneur Podcast
They are very real and they are perpetrated by very real, very normal people or people that just have positions of power, which again, they just exploit those positions. And it happens in so many different forms.
00:23:58
Circuspreneur Podcast
and in so many different ways. And you know again, devising new pathways forward is what we need to continue to do.
00:24:09
Circuspreneur Podcast
to make sure that those of us that are in these spaces use our voices constructively speak for those that maybe feel like they cannot speak for themselves, but you are more powerful than you think.
00:24:23
Circuspreneur Podcast
And that is why I do the podcast. yeah And that is what I hope the work of the podcast continues do. to support in terms of making our industry in the circus, entertainment and the arts safer, more equitable, more accessible, but with safeguards in place because just increasing accessibility, but not increasing safeguards, I think is,
00:24:54
Circuspreneur Podcast
is only opening us up to even more exploitation as an industry and as a community as spaces that are supposed to be nurturing and supportive. And again, equitable spaces of employment, right? Because not every space you're going to go into is going to be maybe the most nurturing when you're an employee, but it should be the most equitable a space that it can be.
00:25:18
Circuspreneur Podcast
so that you can do your job on the level that you would like to do it. on and having those safeguards in place so that you can do the job that you're qualified for.
00:25:31
Circuspreneur Podcast
And I think that's what we all just want to be
Conclusion and Gratitude
00:25:32
Circuspreneur Podcast
able to do. So thank you so much for listening to this solo episode of the Circus Buneer podcast. I'm your host, Shanice Stiletto. Thank you to our sponsors, stagelink.com.
00:25:41
Circuspreneur Podcast
And until next time, everyone, please stay safe and stay healthy. And remember to contact your reps.