Not every successful performer can tell you the exact moment when they finally felt like they’d “made it,” but Zariah Aura can. For her, it was making her Brazzers debut at the beginning of this year.
“I’d been wanting to shoot with Brazzers for so long, because they’re the top of the top,” she tells XBIZ. “Accomplishing that just made me feel like a star.”
Working for Brazzers was a goal she had set for herself back in 2022, when she first made the leap from independent creator to studio performer.
“I’d nearly worked with Brazzers years ago, but then they stopped doing trans porn for a while” she recalls. “Thankfully, they finally started shooting trans models again, so they hit me up last year, and I was so excited to make it happen.”
When the big day came at last, Aura found herself paired with male talent Jayden Marcos.
“I was supposed to bring him some work documents in a briefcase, but really, I wanted to fuck him again after sharing a one-night stand,” Aura explains. “It’s a really fun scene, and everyone was so professional on set. I looked so good and felt so good, it was just a dream come true.”
Though Aura was already working for Brazzers sister site TransAngels, she felt that there was something different about working under the main Brazzers banner.
“When you tell someone you’re a Brazzers girl, people know what you’re talking about, and everyone wants to get to that point,” she reflects. “I still have so much more that I want to do in this industry, but that was one of the big goals that I had for myself — and I did it before my five-year anniversary, which made me really happy.”
'A Meteoric Rise'
Aura first began creating adult content in 2020, collaborating with her partner at the time.
“Like most people, we were locked up and trying to figure out our next move with money, and that was when a lot of people began doing OnlyFans,” Aura recalls. “I was technically still a boy at the time, as this was pre-transition, so I was doing OnlyFans videos with my parter, and a little solo content.”
The couple was living in Colorado, and Aura was performing as a drag queen all around Denver, Pueblo and Colorado Springs, under the name Regina DeMarco, and later Regina D. Staxxx.
Performing for a crowd was “a dream come true,” she says. Then, word began to spread that she was also creating content.
“It was fun having a bunch of my drag fans find out that I was doing porn,” says Aura. “It felt really exciting to go into clubs and have people tell me they follow me on OnlyFans. I definitely had a little bit of a following early on, but it wasn’t anything crazy.”
When Aura’s boyfriend booked his first studio scenes for adult site Transnificent — which originated under the Grooby umbrella — she tagged along to the set and ended up meeting the producers for another Grooby site, TransRoommates.
“They were like, ‘You’re so gorgeous. What are you?’” Aura remembers. “I did OnlyFans as a boy for a little over a year, and then I started to show my face as a trans woman. It just took a while because I was a little uncomfortable, since I was so early in my transition. I’d only been on estrogen for 10 or 11 months.”
The TransRoommates producers asked Aura if she did studio porn.
“I told them I’d never done it, but I’d always wanted to,” she says. “And they were like, ‘You should come back and shoot for us. We’d love to book you. We can’t believe we discovered you before Grooby.’”
Before Aura made her studio debut, the TransRoommates producers gave her the rundown on how everything works with studio shoots. She also learned a lot from director Nikki Sequoia and producer Penny Petalz.
“They made me feel so comfortable,” Aura says. “A lot of people, when they’re starting out, are just thrown onto these sets, and you have no idea what’s going on. There’s no one to hold your hand and guide you, and it can be scary and uncomfortable. But they showed me the way and told me what to expect.”
The only thing Aura regrets about her studio launch: shooting seven scenes in a little over a week.
“It was crazy,” she admits. “I do not recommend starting off doing porn like that. I pushed my body too hard for my debut and wound up hurting myself.”
Once Aura’s first studio scenes were released, however, her career quickly began to blow up.
“Two weeks later, my following had doubled or tripled,” she says. “It was insane — a meteoric rise.”
Soon, Grooby invited her to shoot in Las Vegas.
“I did a bunch of solo shoots, and then I did my first partnered scenes with guys and girls on Valentine’s Day 2022," Aura recalls. "That was my first big start with Grooby and it was incredible.”
It wasn’t long before Aura began racking up award nominations, including XMA nods for Trans Performer of the Year and, most recently, a nomination for Trans Premium Social Media Star of the Year at the 2026 Creator XMAs.
“It means a lot to have my work recognized. I never expected that kind of attention when I started in this industry," she shares. "It shows I’m putting out good work on my own as a creator, not just the stuff I’m doing with studios. That makes me feel good.”
Living the Dream
These days, Aura and her husband, fellow performer Nicky Zeal, are manifesting a life together in California with their nine-year-old pug, Lucy — whom they affectionately call “Goose Sausage.”
Aura says that living in California has always been a dream of hers.
“Making that dream happen, and being able to be successful out here and stand on my own two feet, has been such an awesome experience,” she marvels. “We live together in a beautiful neighborhood in a beautiful city, and I’m just so happy.”
Aura and Zeal were legally married in December 2024, but they didn’t have their big wedding ceremony until September 2025.
“We did it on one of the porn sets,” says Aura. “All of our friends in the industry were there, and a lot of people from different departments came together to make it happen, so it was kind of a porn wedding. But it didn’t even feel like that, because it was so classy.”
The happy couple also have plans to start a family.
“Right now, Nicky and I are trying to get pregnant,” Aura reveals. “He’s a trans man, so we both have been off our hormones.”
Lately, she notes, the two have been focused on a “more work, less play” strategy.
“But we still go out and enjoy ourselves,” she assures. “We just want our work to be as good as it can be, and get enough passive income going so that we can really enjoy married life together.”
A family isn't the only thing Aura is building. She is also preparing to launch her own website centered on trans creators and stories told from within the community itself. Aura hopes to expand representation, particularly for trans men, whom she believes remain underrepresented despite their contributions to the industry both on and off camera.
"I want to do trans porn made by trans people because, as a trans person, I know what people want to see," she affirms. "There are so many amazing men doing incredible work, often behind the scenes, but not always getting the opportunity to step in front of the camera. There are so many independent creators making beautiful art that's hot, sexy and authentic, and I want to help give them that platform."
Pride in the Name of Love
This summer, Aura’s plans include renting a huge RV so she and Zeal can return to the Electric Daisy Carnival in Las Vegas, to enjoy some EDM alongside fellow performer and friend Eva Maxim and her partner. She also expects to do some live cabaret performing and stripping.
“I went to the cabaret the other day, and they were like, ‘Can you please come back and dance with us?’ So I have lessons lined up with some awesome people, because I really want to get better on the pole. It’s going to be a really fun dancing summer!”
Aura is also preparing to take part in WeHo Pride, where she'll return to the stage as a go-go dancer during one of the country's largest LGBTQ+ celebrations. For her, Pride isn't just about visibility, but also about building community, embracing self-love and creating the family she once longed for herself.
"Pride means community. It means family. It means love," she says. "The first thing you have to have is self-love, because you have to love yourself to be able to love others. Being able to be myself has always been really hard. So to be able to live authentically and create the family I always wanted is incredibly important to me. And being visible for others who may still be figuring that out means everything."
Though born in Texas, Aura was raised in Colorado Springs, so each year, she flies home to participate in Denver Pride. The 29-year-old starlet has been steadily attending since she was 16 years old, and has missed the event only once.
“Colorado is home to me,” she says wistfully.
Though proud of the progress the trans community has made in recent years, Aura says she knows the fight is far from over.
“In a lot of ways, I feel like we are getting really far, and society as a whole is understanding us more now that we’re getting a lot more attention in the media,” she says. “We are getting bigger roles in Hollywood, and our stories are being told across the world. But at the same time, there is so much negativity — the worst negativity our community has ever seen.
“Blatant lies are being spread by way too many ignorant people with a platform,” she cautions. “And it’s really hard to get the right words to the people who need to hear them, because we are being censored. There are now apps and phone services that block anything LGBTQ-related, and that’s scary because there are people who are not being told the truth about the world.”
Aura says she fears for a future where children are taught ignorance and hate, but still hangs on to the hope that love will win out in the end.
“It’s not okay to raise children to not understand that there are gay people and trans people,” she says. “It’s not okay for racist parents to teach their children not to interact with Black or brown people. Those people are doing a disservice to their children and to their future, because what happens when they go to school and meet somebody different who, in their world, doesn’t even exist?”
Yet Aura still sees reasons to remain positive.
“I believe we have enough people talking about this that it can’t just be brushed under the rug,” she says. “I know it’s a really scary time, but I definitely have hope, because we’re coming together as a people to stop what’s happening, and we’re fighting back.
“We can get a lot done by speaking up,” Aura affirms.
