Once upon a time, Allie Awesome was a budding theater scholar. After earning her bachelor’s degree in the thespian arts, she spent a year or so working as a stripper before starting grad school. Exploring this decidedly more erotic kind of stage introduced her to the sex workers’ rights movement, which led her to focus her graduate studies on sex work in performance.
Trying to develop a framework for theater criticism and dramaturgy from a sex worker’s point of view, she studied various theoretical and historical perspectives on the “porn wars” of decades past. However, she began to feel like grad school was a waste of time — and as it turned out, her fate would soon lead her deeper into adult entertainment.
With lawmakers trying to outlaw pornography and surveil private citizens’ viewing habits, I hope that we all take a broad stance on decriminalization because when it happens to one sector, it’s coming for all of us.
With artists, scholars and activists like Tim Miller, Carol Queen, Annie Sprinkle and Karen Finley as her role models, Awesome decided she wanted to try and make a similar impact. But having been raised in a conservative community, she still struggled to muster up the courage to get naked in public beyond the now-familiar confines of the strip club.
She returned to dancing after grad school and dabbled in tech as well, but found the 9-to-5 experience there traumatic, so she started doing phone sex on Niteflirt to pay the bills. This progressed into camming for several years, which led to requests from fans to make content, and the rest is history.
Equipped with both academic smarts and a genuine passion for sex workers’ rights, Awesome has since become a community leader and talent recruiter for ePlay. In this WIA Woman of the Month interview, she opens up about her aspirations and inspirations.
XBIZ: Discuss your role in talent recruitment.
AWESOME: Much of my job involves interacting with streamers and creators, which I absolutely love. I’m part of ePlay’s Special Shows team and nothing feels better than hooking my friends and colleagues up with paid opportunities. It’s a new program that was launched in May and it’s been really cool to be a part of an initiative that’s all about investing in creators. As a sex worker, I very much appreciate that ePlay is eager to hear my input and include me in discussions about the direction of the program.
XBIZ: As a sex worker advocate, how do you seek to fight against stigma and champion the rights of your colleagues?
AWESOME: To be completely honest, I don’t feel worthy of calling myself a sex worker advocate. I’m really just an opinionated loudmouth with a Twitter account, and sometimes people like what I have to say!
As far as sex worker issues that I’m particularly concerned with, my advocacy begins and ends with decriminalization. I have this radical belief that the state has no business in the sex lives of consensual adults — bodily autonomy and all that good stuff. With lawmakers trying to outlaw pornography and surveil private citizens’ viewing habits, I hope that we all take a broad stance on SW decriminalization because when it happens to one sector, it’s coming for all of us.
XBIZ: What’s a challenge you’ve overcome in your adult career?
AWESOME: At the height of my career, two to three weeks after being brought into ePlay’s exclusive creator echelons as a Key Club member, I could not get out of bed. This went on for days and months and I had to tell ePlay that I wasn’t going to be able to stream. Doctors told me it was just depression, but I knew that it had to be something else because I had numerous other strange symptoms.
It took eight months until I found a nurse practitioner who would listen to me. She tested me for Lyme disease and co-infections and sure enough, I was positive — even though I don’t recall ever getting a tick bite. I’ve done a number of gnarly treatments since then and unfortunately, part of treating Lyme involves feeling sicker before you get better. I’ve been slowly improving overall but I still have a long, long way to go.
Right now, I’m not streaming or filming as much as I would like because I’m still managing symptoms that flare up at the drop of a hat. One of my biggest benchmarks on my healing journey is being able to keep a regular streaming and content schedule.
I have been incredibly blessed because the ePlay team has been nothing but supportive through all of my ups and downs. They originally offered me the job doing talent recruitment and writing press releases for them because I was not able to stream. They have my undying loyalty for this reason. Because I’m part-time, I have quite a bit of flexibility. I have flare-ups that make working 9-to-5 impossible for me and head honchos Clem and Andrew were completely understanding of that.
My health issues are an ongoing battle, but in May I did something that was unthinkable a year ago: I attended XBIZ Miami. And not only that, I wasn’t stuck in my room the whole time! I actually participated and connected with people. This is such a big deal for me because last year I physically could not attend the show and even struggled throughout XBIZ LA.
XBIZ: Talk about your approach to marketing yourself.
AWESOME: I have an extremely limited amount of energy each day so I take a quality-over-quantity approach. I’m not interested in casting a wide net, but rather, I’m more focused on finding fans who will spend a lot of money on me and building friendly relationships with them. I’m not going to appeal to the masses, so why try? I’d rather be myself and build genuine connections with my fans and community.
XBIZ: What are your main ambitions for the coming year?
AWESOME: I want to see ePlay’s streamer community continue to grow. I truly believe in the ePlay team and the ways they’re investing in streamers. I also want to see my brand-new PR company, Hot Sauce PR, blossom. The goal with Hot Sauce PR is to help adult companies identify and tap the value that creators bring to their platforms.
I’m also trying to get Pepper, my grumpy, people-sour mare, to like me. An animal communicator told me that Pepper doesn’t know how to connect and it’s going to take a long time to earn her trust.
On both a personal and professional level, my main ambition is to continue healing from Lyme and co-infections. I want to be able to keep a regular streaming and content schedule and get back into the game!
Each month, 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.
