How did you get into the business?
After about 10 years in finance, I wanted to do something new, but I wasn’t quite sure what. I knew some people that worked at AEBN, who had just lanunched a brand new site. I went in to talk to them about doing some video uploading stuff for their new site part-time while I figured out what to do next, but during the interview, somehow it shifted to me doing some basic sales and promotion for them. Not long after I began there, I moved into a business development role and never looked back.
Of course, but I am incredibly lucky to have an amazingly supportive partner who understands that sometimes he has to come close my laptop and bodily remove me from my desk.
What in your background prepared you for what you are doing now?
Everything! Branch brokerage taught me the importance of relationship management and uncovering assets. Managing structured portfolios for a number of major financial institutions instilled the importance of being detail-oriented. Working in theatre for years helped illustrate the sheer numbers of people that can go into making something fantastic and grueling appear effortless and beautiful. Doing retail and food service showed me the importance of treating everyone you encounter well — people are mean to counter clerks! My recovery keeps me aware of the importance of humility and gratitude. I think all of these things are of paramount importance when it comes to the day to day challenges of our field.
What do you see as the challenges of working in online adult and how do you overcome them?
The biggest challenge is balancing my time — the Internet never sleeps. Like so many of us, I easily get consumed by work and lose track of time. Plus, I’m on the East Coast, and a good chunk of my clients are on the west coast, so that can present some challenges too. I have a complex system of alarms and schedules that I adhere to to help keep me balanced — without them, I will look up and realise it’s 10 o’clock at night, and I haven’t gotten up to eat or take the dog out or anything. Beyond that, I haven’t really had very many difficulties — my family views it as a business, and realises that I spend most of my time looking at spreadsheets and code, more than anything prurient. My mom has been known to tell people they should go to sites I’ve worked with, in fact, and — more than once — has begun lecturing a dinner guest about free porn!
Does your work affect your personal life?
Of course, but I am incredibly lucky to have an amazingly supportive partner who understands that sometimes he has to come close my laptop and bodily remove me from my desk. Because of the approach I’ve taken to the work that I do for my clients and that I did for AEBN, I have not experienced the porn-fatigue some complain of —I still like to watch stuff from my favourite performers, directors, and studios. And yes, I still buy DVDs.
Do you have a personal motto or slogan that you live by?
Doesn’t everyone? I actually have a few, and they are all my mantras. My grandma used to tell me “it takes a lotta shitty oysters to get enough pearls to make a necklace,” and my daddy always told me to “dawg it off.” Between the two of them, I can generally get through anything thrown at me.
Each month, industry news media organization XBIZ spotlights the career accomplishments and outstanding contributions of Women in Adult. WIA profiles offer an intimate look at the professional lives of the industry's most influential female executives.
