“Since first joining the industry, I’ve gone on a rollercoaster of opportunity and excitement,” Casey Kisses shared with YNOT.
Currently age 29, Kisses is a trans performer who began working full time in porn during the summer of 2016. She’s originally from Miami but currently lives in Las Vegas, where her career has been no less than a rollercoaster-rocketship-juggernaut.
Kisses has won 2017 Stroker of the Year, 2018 Cam Performer of the Year and 2019 Best Solo Performer of the Year in the Transgender Erotica Awards (TEAs). She also brought home the 2018 Top Trans Cam Model in the Adult Webcam Awards and has received many other nominations from community spaces
“I’ve presented awards, flown around the US and have had the opportunity to grow a fan base and gain independence,” Kisses said. “This industry is thriving with opportunity and has been such a blessing to me… I do see a ton of areas we need to work on as a community though.”
Kisses’ path to the industry was somewhat perilous.
“Before I began working full time in the adult industry, I saw very hard times,” she explained. “I did just about anything I could to make ends meet.”
For Kisses, “anything” included repairing antiques, working at a strip club, creating and selling paintings and glasswork and camming in between it all. What’s more, her truly intense work schedule was accompanied by a litany of personal struggles – issues that she was forced to meet head on.
“When I finally decided to transition, I was faced with the possibility of losing my work and my livelihood due to discrimination. I could hardly sleep at night thinking of how I was going to handle coming out at my places of work,” Kisses shared. “My girlfriend at the time left me when I came out as trans as well, so I was stuck paying for an empty apartment that was meant for two on top of the thought of losing my jobs.”
Serendipity can work in mysterious ways though, as Kisses explained: “I did four scenes before I began my career as a trans performer. I did these scenes as a way of funding my transition and wasn’t planning on coming back to the industry at all to be honest.”
Then, on December 22, 2014, Kisses was involved in a terrible car accident.
“I woke up in the hospital with no memory of the two days prior and was left to spend six months to recover in a wheelchair,” she said. Rather than being wholly awful, however, Kisses said the accident was “absolutely freeing.”
“I could work all I wanted on cam, and I didn’t need to quit or come out. I didn’t need to pay thousands for the empty apartment either. I could be me,” she explained. “I cammed every day, twice a day. I cammed until I fell asleep, I cammed until I made my rent and — even more importantly — I cammed until I was recognized.”
Soon enough, companies were hitting her up, looking to book her for scenes. She took three bookings in her area, where she met future bestie Korra Del Rio. Via Del Rio, Kisses traveled to Las Vegas, and the rest is history.”
Kisses shared her thoughts regarding challenges faced by performers in today’s industry, as well as some of her interests outside work and her hopes for the future.
https://twitter.com/Caseykissesxoxo/status/1118964553751117824
YNOT: One thing that seems to be a huge issue in the industry for performers is having no place to take workplace grievances. What are your thoughts regarding “no HR for porn” and the tendency to “call out” as a result?
Casey Kisses: In my experience, there are not enough resources for a model to turn to when facing oppression, discrimination or even on-set abuse. Most models I know, as well as myself, have turned to their Twitter following when confronted with one of these problems. In most cases, nothing serious comes of it.
At the same time, as a model taking to Twitter you are faced with the chance of being outcast as a complainer and losing work opportunities as a result. In my experience, a company would prefer to not book you rather than investigate its own employees. This leaves absolutely inappropriate employees running around on set with a camera and a metaphorical badge policing you, with loss of work a consequence for “bad behavior.”
For the most part, all we have at our disposal at times is our fan base. I think it is important for us to speak up — at least to warn other models of potential danger. Without a proper system implemented to protect us, I think it is important for us to remain a close and tightknit community. To be able to reach out and be heard helped me get through one of my grievances, and I hope others keep the same mentality towards speaking up. This is in order to keep this industry safe for us all.
The industry appears to be making positive strides in terms of inclusiveness for trans performers — is it?
I think inclusiveness of transgender performers in mainstream porn is crucial for the advancement of the industry.
I have just as many, if not more, fans than some of the cisgender models have on social medial, and yet there are seemingly more opportunities available for some cisgender models as opposed to trans [models]. For example, there are a very limited number of toy companies who even make molds after trans porn stars, which is basically an untapped market on one of the biggest niches in the adult industry. And when it comes to award ceremonies, in my opinion, it seems that some will pick a familiar face over a well known one simply for the lack of effort put in researching our community.
I think we are moving in the right direction though, even if we seem to take a step back after we take two forward.
Outside of work, what are you most passionate about?
Outside of the industry, I am extremely passionate about wildlife and nature. I love the ocean and, if I could spend every day on and in it, I would.
I love to travel, and Hawaii is one of my favorite places to go. I love exploring the islands. I love the culture, the food and the love I get when I visit. I’ve made so many friends there that I consider family in the short amount of time I’ve visited. It is definitely my home away from home.
If you could change one thing about today’s world, what would it be and why?
If I could change anything about the world it would be to end hatred. I feel like it’s the common answer to the question, but I couldn’t think of one thing I would want to change more than that.
I don’t think we are as racist, sexist or discriminatory as we once were as a human race, and I think we are moving forward. If we could try to stand things we dislike a little more and approach things with an open mind, I think we would ultimately be headed for happiness — that’s something I can get behind.
Love, and let love.
