‘Part of your world.’ Playing princess is a business model for this Olathe teenager

When she’s not at school, Jade Ratterman like to let it go and be part of your world. The 19-year-old Olathe resident has been dressing as various princesses for two years through her business, Once Upon A Princess KC.

Her work is a mix of birthday parties, personal visits and charity work.

At 16, she received her own trip to Disney World from the Dream Factory, which provides special experiences for chronically and critically ill children. Afterward, Ratterman, who has Type 1 diabetes, stumbled upon the idea of doing her own princess business while browsing Instagram.

First as a high school student and now a student at Johnson County Community College, it’s been a challenge to run her own business while also keeping up in school.

“A lot of times parents reaching out thinking I’m a huge company,” Ratterman said.

With just a handful of exceptions, she’s really a company of one, and she dresses and personifies a variety of princesses on her own.

Shawnee resident Terri Easley-Giraldo has hired Ratterman several times to be a princess for her daughter, Esmerelda. The performances are convincing enough that Esmerelda doesn’t know that the Elsa and Belle lookalikes she met at different times are the same person.

“My daughter and several of her friends are obsessed with ‘Frozen’, and from the moment she walked in (to the birthday party), she was the character for the entire time she was there,” Easley-Giraldo said.

Since the pandemic started, Ratterman has been doing video chats and messages in character for clients like Easley-Giraldo. Ratterman sings and chats in character for every appearance.

She has made a conscious choice not to portray characters whose ethnicities are different from her own. Ratterman has drafted friends to play some of those parts when requests have come in for Moana or other princesses.

“I think that children being able to see themselves in characters is very important, and I don’t think it’s appropriate for someone who is not black or Hispanic to play outside of their racial profile,” she said.

Elsa, Belle and Cinderella are her most-requested characters. Ratterman bills herself as a fairytale princess, rather than a Disney princess, so when a request comes for Elsa, she calls her portrayal the “Ice Queen.”

She does sing songs from Disney movies for the kids, however.

After starting with a $60 dress and a $20 wig, Once Upon A Princess KC has turned into a big investment for Ratterman.

She’s since put several thousand into costumes, makeup and wigs. “A lot of times people don’t understand why it is expensive to have a princess come to your party.”

Beyond the parties, her favorite experiences come from her charity work, where she partners with the Dream Factory to let kids know they’re getting Disney trips.

“I did not expect the kind of the feeling that I would get from volunteering and making dreams come true,” she said.

Ratterman has also FaceTimed with children as they’re going through cancer treatment to make the time pass a little easier.

One girl was having a stem cell treatment, she said. “I FaceTimed her as the Snow Queen. It was so amazing to be part of such an awesome moment in her life.”

With the pandemic, she misses going to the parties and seeing kids face-to-face.

“I prefer doing it in person, because I get to be with the kids and make that experience special,” she said. “It’s a challenge to keep their attention on a screen their mom’s holding.”

Next school year, when she goes to Kansas State University, she’ll take things a little slower, with just a few parties on weekends, saving most of her appearances for summer vacation. For more information about Once Upon A Princess KC, visit onceuponaprincesskc.com.

This story was originally published March 12, 2021 at 5:00 AM with the headline "‘Part of your world.’ Playing princess is a business model for this Olathe teenager."