I’ve been paying attention to Mia Khalifa in the news recently. My initial reaction was that of irritation because I thought, ‘Here we go again—she’s going to bash the adult industry to grab some headlines and create a clickbait frenzy.’ I come from a digital media background, so I know the value of all those impressions/views that are going to come from said headlines. I can see both sides of her story because I myself live a semi-dual life as an entrepreneur and a porn star.
Even though we both entered the adult industry at the same time, our lives and our careers took two very divergent paths. She shot 12 scenes in 3 months, made “$12,000,” and called it quits. I’m sure she wasn’t expecting to become a global phenomenon at all—or that quick either! Mia Khalifa’s rise to stardom was an anomaly in the adult industry. Her path to stardom is meticulously documented in an op-ed published by journalist Gustavo Turner of XBIZ (an adult media publication), which explains in depth how Mia Khalifa became one of the world’s biggest porn stars without actually being a “porn star.”
However, at the end of the day, she filled out the waivers and she stepped in front of that camera. Life is about decisions—sometimes the results turn out how we expect them to, and sometimes the results will lead us down a path that we would have never in our wildest dreams anticipated.
As for me, five years ago I decided to sign those waivers and get in front of that camera. Over the years, I’ve met hundreds of performers in the adult industry from all over the world. Each and every single one of us has a unique story on how we got into the industry. I’ve met single mothers wanting to make money to support their children because the father is nowhere to be found; I’ve met daughters wanting to make money to send home to support their family who live in poor countries. I can’t even tell you how many joined the industry to pay off their student loans. On the other side of things, I’ve met performers in the industry who just genuinely love sex and wanted to be a porn star their entire lives. At the end of the day, we are all human beings and it is a job. It’s a job that sometimes brings some unwanted attention and societal stigma. Some people stay in the industry for years and make a career out of it, and some people get in to make some quick money or they have a change of heart and exit.
I graduated from East Carolina University in 2011 with a Bachelor of Science in Hospitality Management and two minors—one in Business Administration and the other in National Security (yes, at one point in my life I wanted to be an intelligence/counterterrorist agent). During my senior year, I was taking an entrepreneurship class in which we had to create a mock business, write a business plan, and present it to the class. I created an app called EyeBar.
EyeBar was an app that live-streamed video from bars, clubs, restaurants, festivals, and charity events to the user’s phone. Long story short, I decided to pursue this venture full time and started my company right out of college. I ended up raising $50,000 from friends and family and had the app built out.
The money went fast—too fast. Paying $100/hour for an app developer, server fees, camera/hardware costs, marketing material, and legal fees, I was running out of cash quick. I didn’t have enough traction to raise more investment money, so I had to figure out a way to pay the developers and keep my servers live. I googled “How to make money fast.” Webcamming is what I stumbled across. Next thing I know, I am doing live-sex webcam shows with one of my girlfriends from college. Money was starting to come in, and I was able to keep my company afloat. The girl I was webcamming with starting shooting amateur porn. Fast forward a year later, that same girl won both AVN and XBIZ Awards for “Best New Starlet.” That girl is Carter Cruise. She is another success story of someone that entered the adult industry, made a name for themselves, and was able to branch out and excel in other life passions while still being active in the adult industry.
Meanwhile I was still running EyeBar, but I eventually hit a wall. Starting a company from scratch is no joke and it will burn you out fast. At the end of the day, I ran out of money and I ran out of momentum. I was broke, I was hungry, I was depressed. My first business had failed.
I ended up moving to Los Angeles and wanted a fresh start. I dabbled in a couple of sales jobs, but just couldn’t find anything I was passionate about. I had gone from an award-winning entrepreneur in North Carolina to a nobody trying to make it in L.A. One month I couldn’t afford my rent and literally found my belongings tossed out on the street. I was homeless and didn’t have a penny to my name.
I crashed on Carter’s couch and became her assistant. I would drive her to her shoots, cook her food, help her with her schedule, and even built her first website. In those couple of months with her, I met porn stars and saw how much money they were making. I finally had that fuck it, I have nothing to lose moment and decided that I was going to join the adult industry.
Five years and 500+ adult scenes later, it was the best decision I had ever made. I’m not going to sugarcoat it and say it hasn’t been a tough climb—being in this industry can be both physically and mentally exhausting. That’s why the turnover rate is high and only a small percentage of people who shoot porn make an actual career out of it.
Not only was I making enough money to live in L.A. (which is ridiculously expensive), I was making enough to pay off my student loans, support my family, and reinvest my money into a start-up tech company that my former roommate started. I didn’t want to see my best friend’s start-up have the same demise as mine; I couldn’t let it happen. I will never forget the day I had to purchase him a flight from North Carolina to Illinois so he could meet with an executive from McDonald’s at their corporate headquarters for a big meeting… and that deal ended up being closed. Once that deal closed, I helped raise $500,000 of investment money through my newly-formed connections in Los Angeles. Once the money was raised, I took a short hiatus from the adult industry to help my friend grow his business—which is now thriving.
Over the past few years, I have helped many of my peers in the adult industry with business and showing them that there are ways they can be successful outside of porn. Just like pro athletes and their careers, the adult industry is physically and mentally exhausting, and it doesn’t last forever. There are plenty of horror stories of performers that didn’t have an exit strategy or got caught up with poor life decisions.
As they say, one man’s trash is another man’s treasure. Public opinion may be that those in the industry are just a bunch of degenerates that are rampantly having sex with each other. As for me, I saw an opportunity to create things.
Outside of porn, I also run a creative agency called FiyaPlug LLC. With my agency, I’m able to align adult performers with brand and endorsement deals. A big campaign I am currently running is with Jardin Dispensary in Las Vegas. I’ve signed 12 of the “top performers” in the adult industry as brand ambassadors to a six-month contract to represent the brand. In just three months, Jardin’s social-media following has grown from 10K to over 30K. This past year, I also co-founded a direct-to-consumer online condom delivery company called PS. We wanted to modernize the way that consumers viewed and purchased condoms (which is always an awkward buying experience). So, I’ve been able to keep my entrepreneurial dreams alive and I’m able to continue to pursue several business ventures while I am still active in the adult industry; it hasn’t slowed business down, it has given it wings.
Porn has opened a lot of doors for me that I wouldn’t otherwise have. My videos have over 65 million views on Pornhub. Now, let’s do some math real quick: Say on average, a video publisher on YouTube gets $5,000 for every 1 million views. If Pornhub offered that same revenue model, I would have made $325,000 for my Pornhub views. Mia Khalifa has over 725 million video views on Pornhub; her earning potential could have been $3.6 Million. Now I understand why she might be a little upset. Pornhub (and other tube sites) have been making millions of dollars off the backs of the performers while we don’t see a penny of those ad revenues. I could go on and on about this one, but this is a another discussion for another day.
Over the past year, there has been a changing of the guard in the adult industry. There is less “explicit” pornography being shot—you know, taboo stuff like “My Friend’s Hot Mom,” “I Slayed My Stepsister,” etc.—and more cinematic porn, with real story lines, real passion, and real romance. Starting in 2020, I will be contracted to a one-year deal and will be shooting exclusively for Bellesa, a site by and for women. After my contract is over, I will retire from performing in the adult industry—I have decided to go out on my terms. Moral of the story is that we all have decisions to make. Some people regret the decisions they’ve made and some people embrace their decisions and the opportunities that they have given us. I am going to hold my head high and let the world know that I am proud to be a porn star.
