Forbes Profiles Jessica Drake

LOS ANGELES — Forbes contributor Susannah Breslin profiled multi XBIZ Award-winning superstar Jessica Drake in an article titled "Jessica Drake Is The Porn Entrepreneur Next Door.”

Drake, who is also the 2018 XBIZ Awards host, discusses the intricacies of being a woman entrepreneur in adult, her brand and the groundbreaking trans scene in “Jessica Drake Is Wicked." 

“With her most recent release, ‘Jessica Drake Is Wicked,’ she's caused a controversy by performing with three trans women,” Breslin wrote. “Historically, a ‘crossover’ scene like this one has been considered taboo in an industry that's hyperconscious about risk when it comes to sex.”

In the interview, Drake discloses that she got her start in the industry at 25 and approached adult as a business.

“I incorporated. I got an accountant that was used to my line of work. I approached things like: Does this help my brand?” Drake commented. “I was guided by what was fun, but I always took into consideration: Was this the best decision for my career? But back then if you told me I would be at this place, I would be very surprised. I never imaged it would get to this level.

“Things changed for me when I signed a contract with Wicked Pictures,” Drake added. “At that point in my career, I started looking at the bigger picture, in regards to the adult industry. What I was really interested in, what my passions were, what I thought I was good at. I was really interested in what goes on behind the scenes making an adult movie. I started learning about writing and directing.”

Following her Wicked Pictures contract, Drake was asked to attend a South African expo. Once in South Africa, she visited an orphanage for HIV positive children, which she said affected her on a “very human level, a very personal level.” It was that humbling moment that pushed her to be more openly involved in advocacy and activism. She stopped being afraid of the effects it would have on her brand.

When asked about the decision to perform in such a “controversial” scene, which XBIZ exclusively covered, with some of the industry’s top trans performers, Drake replied, “I would say this movie is controversial to some people, and at the same time I wish it wasn't as controversial. I've always wanted to do a showcase movie — when the performer is in every scene — and in the last few years they've become increasingly popular. And for the last four years, I've been interested in working with trans performers on camera. 

“And my whole career, until the past five or six years, I've done things as fans or consumers have expected me to,” she continued. “I feel like I've portrayed a particular type of sex for a particular type of audience. In reality, I identify as pansexual. I wanted to work with these women. I wanted to put it in a mainstream [adult] movie. I wanted people to watch these scenes as a whole.” 

To conclude, Drake said, “My goal was really to challenge people. I wanted to try and be an example to people, and I also wanted to let [other adult] performers in other areas of this industry know that we are all in this together. There is no us or them. There is no better or worse. We have to take the sex we have on camera and assign it to some degree of risk on the spectrum. Because all sex comes with some kind of risk, and then we have to make an educated decision about what's best for us.” 

To read the article in its entirety, visit Forbes.com.