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.
Performers, clip artists and cam models are the lifeblood of this industry. They are the stars, the dancers whose cosmic stardom fuels every mighty engine powering this billion-dollar global titan.
We’ve helped to provide free and low-cost therapy and support to nearly 400 performers since we were founded in 2018.
A constellation of exquisite beauty burns from their fingertips in every unfiltered performance, every perfectly cropped, carefully planned shoot, every private message sent to supporters, every drop of sweat, every cry of pain and pleasure, every dream come to life, laid bare for all to see as a fantasy come true.
With such bravery and incandescent brilliance comes a steep price. To be vulnerable before the world, utterly nude in flesh and thought, is one of the most courageous acts. And yet, in that openness, darkness can flood the light, ricocheting from stained glass shards with alternating flashes of rainbow hues and ashen blackness.
And these roses, unashamed of their thorns, desire great healing, no less intensely than mainstream professionals do, yet the options for sex workers are scarce and the stigma profoundly harmful.
Thankfully, our Woman of the Month, Leya Tanit, has built a non-profit organization that is equipped to deal with the mental health needs of this industry with unprecedented impact: Pineapple Support.
In the span of a year, Tanit has helped her network of therapists and listeners capture the imagination and acclaim of the adult entertainment community, winning much-needed funds and media exposure, helping hundreds of performers and scaling ever-faster to meet growing demands.
To illuminate her sacred mission, XBIZ sat down with Tanit for this exclusive interview.
XBIZ: Tell us about your adult industry career prior to founding Pineapple Support.
Tanit: I kind of fell into my career in the adult industry, dipping in and out over the years and it has always felt like a natural progression.
I’d been in the BDSM lifestyle from a young age — when I found myself at a fetish event in my hometown of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. In my late teens, I was dancing at strip clubs and doing extremely well from it.
By my late 20s, I was running an online boutique selling BDSM equipment, and began running my own fetish events. With this, I started traveling to international fetish and bondage conventions, and people kept asking me to model … and I kept saying yes. Photographs turned to clips, and performing for others turned into producing for myself.
Because of the love and acceptance I felt in the BDSM and fetish community, modeling and performing was always a wonderful, pleasurable experience.
XBIZ: What inspired you to create a non-profit support network for performers (and why did you brand it “Pineapple Support”)?
Tanit: I’d taken a year away from performing — my younger brother moved into my house — and I decided to make a comeback for the 2018 awards season. At the XBIZ Awards that year, I was shocked to learn how many people had passed that year, particularly the devastating number lost to suicide.
With my background in business and knowledge of the industry, I felt that it was almost my responsibility to do something. By mid-February, I’d come up with a loose idea as to what mental health service for the adult industry would look like, and on April 6, Pineapple Support was launched.
I used “Pineapple” because it’s one of the most popular safe words in the BDSM community. I wanted Pineapple Support to be a safe word for performers.
XBIZ: Discuss the initial challenges in getting this organization running, as far as securing funds and building a solid team.
Tanit: All in all, it feels like the universe has been as much behind Pineapple Support as I have. For the initial set up, I cleared out a large portion of my savings and made the first donation to Pineapple Support. It covered the initial set up, promotion and the first few therapy sessions for clients.
Raising funds was tough at first. We received lots of small donations from individuals, friends and performers, but when it comes to therapy, fees add up quickly. Understandably, most larger companies wanted to wait until we were officially registered as a 501c3 nonprofit. I think they also wanted to see that we were serious.
But early on, we were lucky to have a handful of companies who had faith in our organization and gave enough to keep us going.
Many other people and organizations have come forward and offered help and support with in-kind services, as well. Others have made introductions, or helped us reach influencers. Without these people, we could not have accomplished what we have today.
This past February, we were granted 501c3 status. This was a game changer. We need to have many more companies behind us to bring these resources to more people, but the response so far has been incredible.
The Pineapple Support team is made up of a number of individuals, most of whom I have known personally for years. People who have a shared vision and have faith in my ability to get shit done. I have so much love for every single person involved in Pineapple Support and could not ask for a better group to be surrounded and supported by.
XBIZ: What services can talent receive via Pineapple Support and how can they get in touch?
Tanit: Currently, Pineapple Support provides three support services.
The first is a 24/7 emotional support service, powered by an organization called 7 Cups, which provides “active listening” — meaning they let you talk through issues, and can direct you to resources. Pineapple Support has its own protected community within 7 Cups, meaning all volunteers who work in the service have signed up through us and are there specifically to support those in the adult industry.
This service is a baseline outlet for those who need to talk about an issue or problem immediately. It’s entirely anonymous. The volunteer listeners need not be professional therapists or counselors, just to have received training in active listening. I really want many more people in the industry to become involved, not just because we need volunteers, but because I think it helps raise awareness of the issues within our community. Anyone who wants to help can click ‘volunteer’ on the Pineapple Support website to sign up and begin training.
We also offer professional counseling, therapy and coaching. All of our therapists are licensed and insured. Applying for therapy is extremely simple. Visit the Pineapple Support website and click “Get Therapy.” You’ll be asked to fill out our secure, HIPAA compliant therapy request form. Each client is given a unique code, so all correspondence made regarding a client’s therapy will not have any link to the client’s identity. Safety and anonymity is of paramount importance to us.
We try to respond to all requests within 24 to 48 hours and to have applicants connected with a therapist in under a week.
Recently we have also started offering performers the ability to join performer-only, online support groups and training courses. These courses are completely free. More information and application forms can be found on our website under the “Support Groups” tab.
XBIZ: How do you approach mental health in a way that uniquely caters to the adult industry’s needs?
Tanit: One of the biggest issues for sex workers is finding stigma-free, kink aware, sex-work aware, LGBTQ+-friendly therapists. The therapists who have applied to work with us do so because they want to help — some of the top therapists across the USA and Europe have done so.
We also know that many performers cannot afford therapists, especially one who might specialize in the above. Health insurance in the adult industry is extremely expensive, and often doesn’t cover therapy. At Pineapple Support, we ask applicants to only pay what they can afford. We cover the rest.
XBIZ: What behind-the-scenes business partnerships have you forged to help Pineapple Support carry out its mission?
Tanit: Clips4Sale has come to our rescue so many times. They were one of the first to fund us at the beginning, and still cover all our travel and show costs.
Exxxotica has provided us with promotion and booth space. Silverstein Legal provides us with legal counsel, and xHamster provides us with press services. Brad Mitchell and MojoHost have provided webhosting and support.
Almost all conventions have provided us with free passes and promotion. The European Summit, for instance, was incredibly generous in providing us free sponsorship passes and accommodation to all shows.
XBIZ, of course, has been an incredible sponsor from early on.
Pornhub, Modelhub, Kink.com, ManyVids, Chaturbate, WankzVR, Rabbits Reviews — the list goes on and on. Sorry for anyone I have missed, but the support we have received is beyond humbling. I cannot begin to express my gratitude to every single person who has offered us any kind of support.
XBIZ: Tell us about your team, which consists of VP and Secretary Kellie Marsh, Director and Trustee Christina Carter, as well as a growing network of sex worker friendly, kink aware therapists?
Tanit: Kellie is our UK VP, and a friend of almost 20 years. She’s outgoing, a deal maker, always at the center of what is happening. She’s passionate, kind and incredible.
Lane Farin, our U.S. VP, has worked in the adult industry for a number of years providing payment solutions. Lane is all about details and highly organized.
Christina Carter has been a performer for almost 20 years and a close friend for the past four. Christina is hands-on and spends a lot of her time available for those in need of a listening ear on our emotional support platform.
Dr. Jena Field is a therapist and close friend. She provides insight into client support and writes articles for our blog and XBIZ.
And, of course, Kirsty, our therapy coordinator and my right hand.
Our Ambassadors — Goddess Brandon, Harley Marie, Black PIPE, Araneae Mactans — are our eyes on social media, watching for those in need of support and making us aware so that we can reach out and offer resources. We have nearly 50 therapists and over 200 active listeners.
We’ll also be announcing our Board of Directors in the next month.
XBIZ: How do you balance delegating tasks to trusted confidants with more hands-on involvement in a way that ensures smooth operational flow?
Tanit: As a natural born control freak, this is not something that comes easily, but it is a necessity.
Currently, I am the only full-time — by which I mean all the time — member of staff at Pineapple Support. In the past year, it’s become my life — something I’m trying to address in my own therapy! One should not promote self-care when failing to take care of one’s self!
Many things, such as messages on social media, cannot easily be delegated, because of the sensitive nature of the messages — I’m the only one who sees or has access to those accounts. But once the need is established I work with my team to connect them to services as quickly as possible.
We hope that Kellie will be able to come on board full time with Pineapple Support when funding allows. This will be a huge relief and asset, as time is often critical for connecting performers with services.
What I try to outsource are the things my ADD brain cannot cope with — like paperwork and compliance. I also depend on writers and content providers to manage our blog and other publications.
XBIZ: Discuss your “marketing” approach via such efforts as your Pineapple Sundae radio show, your social media outreach to performers and tradeshow participation.
Tanit: We have a presence at every show possible. Whether for fundraising or support services, it’s so important to have a face behind Pineapple Support — not just an online presence. Trusting someone with your mental health is huge, so being able to meet the team and get to know the organization you are putting your faith in is so incredibly important. It helps them to know that we’re real-life people who really do care about this.
Our marketing is less about us, and more about the services we provide. Whether it’s online support classes or drop-in therapy at a show, it’s critical that we alert the community that they exist. The more people who use them, the more other performers learn about them — or are able to drop their own stigma about seeking support.
We’ll be launching our first-ever online mental health summit this month on the October 30th-31st. The summit, which is sponsored by Pornhub/Modelhub, will include some of the top therapists and experts from around the globe, discussing different aspects of mental and physical health.
I think with a community like this, we really have to try many different approaches and learn what works for performers. So many of us have been ignored or mistreated by the medical establishment, so there’s often distrust. The first year of our existence, we had a radio call-in show called Pineapple Sundae, which I co-hosted with one of our therapists, Shelly, on Demonseed Radio. Each week we would discuss a different mental health topic and invite performers to join us on the show and share their experiences and opinions. Those are all available as podcasts on iTunes.
xHamster has been really incredible in lending us their PR team — the more we can be talked about, both in the industry and in the mainstream, the more we can destigmatize both mental health and sex work. We’ve recently launched our first newsletter, which will help people understand all the progress we’ve been making.
And, of course, we reach out to performers on social media who seem to be struggling.
XBIZ: What are your long-term goals for Pineapple Support both generally in terms of impact on the community, and as far as scalable expansion plans?
Tanit: Our guiding goal is to be able to provide therapy to any qualifying person who applies. Everything flows from that central idea. And in order to do that, we need to secure sponsorships to ensure that we never have to refuse a request. Which means that my job is to get the backing of every major company, studio and agency in the adult industry.
We’ve helped to provide free and low-cost therapy and support to nearly 400 performers since we were founded in 2018. And we’re growing rapidly. That means we need more therapists and a bigger support team. I also want us to be a hub of mental health — the first place any performer struggling thinks of. I want Pineapple Support to be a place where performers come to find resources, online support groups and training courses. We are a very spread out industry, so for a massive project like this to be successful, we have to engage the community.
We all need to learn the signs of struggle. We all need to learn how to approach someone who may need help. That means agents, producers, performers, crew — as well as people on social media.
I truly believe the adult industry can be a leader in mental health, just as it is now for sexual health. I’m awed by what we’ve been able to do so far — but I’m also awed by the work we have ahead. But given what I’ve seen, I know this industry is up to it.
