Each month, industry news media organization 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.
Kimi Evans has a firm grip on the pulse of the online adult entertainment business.
This is my 10th year working in the adult industry. I think my practical experience helped prepare me for this position better than college courses ever could.
Evans is Flirt4Free’s affiliate department manager, a position she earned after working at the cams company as a sales rep and after spending time at the Free Speech Coalition as event coordinator.
Evans is in a central role at Flirt4Free, dealing one-on-one with affiliates to facilitate, retain and bump up current business, while brainstorming to find new revenue opportunities, as well.
For February, XBIZ is pleased to spotlight Flirt4Free’s Kimi Evans as WIA’s Woman of the Month.
XBIZ: Let’s hear about your role at Flirt4Free. What exactly do you do at Flirt4Free?
Evans: I started at Flirt4Free as a sales representative originally and was then promoted to affiliate department manager. I’ve had the opportunity to work with some outstanding companies in my position, as well as create a team of solid representatives who have been invaluable additions to our business.
What do I do exactly? Aside from assisting affiliates on a daily basis, I also market our program, apply light coding, analyze stats, schedule promotions and plan and execute tradeshow activity, along with discovering potential new business and initiating new deals.
This past year I also oversaw and entire overhaul of our affiliate site, which was a daunting but exciting project. I’m lucky to be where I am and love coming into a great workspace every morning.
XBIZ: What in your background prepared you for what you are doing now?
Evans: This is my 10th year working in the adult industry. I think my practical experience helped prepare me for this position better than college courses ever could.
I started in this industry working customer service at a company running thousands of paysites. This gave me the means to put myself through college, as well as a humble understanding of different levels of this business.
Later, I had the opportunity to work with Free Speech Coalition as an event coordinator. The position provided an opportunity to meet industry professionals, run sites, and I picked up some different coding languages.
This is when I really started to understand how the industry works as a whole, and I began making great connections. This helped me realize that I wanted to move into a more technical role. I learned a lot about networking that textbooks never could teach me.
The combination of my marketing background and my experience in this industry has helped me to excel in my current position. I enjoy my currently position immensely and am thankful for all the people I’ve met who helped me get here.
XBIZ: What’s the best part of working for Flirt4Free, and what’s the culture like at the company?
Evans: The people and the history! Flirt4Free isn’t the oldest company in the business but celebrating the 20-year anniversary with them last year was wonderful. Our management team has a wealth of knowledge to be shared. I’ve learned a plethora of different tactics, analytical methods and new tools from my colleagues here.
We have a laid-back tech company feel in the office. We work hard and get rewarded for it; it’s a good methodology.
When I started it was a smaller-family feeling. Since then we’ve moved to a larger office and expanded staff by three times. We’ve still maintained the family feeling — and breakfast on Fridays!
It’s a lot like the show “Cheers” (minus the booze), where everyone knows your name! There’s a lot of cooperation between different departments and an overall feeling of unity in the company.
XBIZ: Who inspires you in this industry?
Evans: I’m inspired by a lot of people in this industry. The genuinely creative and uplifting people are the most stimulating. Those who have fought to be here and who truly love this industry are a constant reminder of my own passion for the biz. I’ve been really inspired by Jo, aka Kiwi Girl.
I met her six-plus years ago when she was just starting her own consulting company, and I have seen how far she’s come. No matter how busy she is, she always has a moment to help someone else out and share her wisdom. This remains a constant reminder that hard work pays off.
XBIZ: What’s a typical workday like?
Evans: I tend to review stats first thing in the morning to start my day. I meet with my team once a week and try to spend a few minutes every day on industry forums. In general, my day is filled up with assisting clients, working internally on new projects and brainstorming ideas and ways to convert traffic better.
There’s not really a typical workday as each day holds its own hurdles to overcome, projects to oversee and new people to do business with.
I also really enjoy bugging Edward, our media buying manager, about our friendly competition. I learn a lot from him and Jeff, our director of biz-dev. We have the opportunity to openly share ideas and brainstorm in a stress-free, fun way. Don’t ever stand still; keep moving!
XBIZ: When not thinking about the biz, what do you like to do?
Evans: In my spare time I help run my family’s company, repurposing wine and whiskey barrels into furniture and landscaping items by running their website, marketing etc. I’m a weekend warrior! I work on remodeling my house and enjoy creating various mixed-media artwork.
I’ve been playing bass for years. I enjoy jamming with a few local friends, going to live shows and supporting my friends’ bands. I used to be more active in the local live music scene but have found my interests change and adapt with my own personal growth.
Between Roller Derby (AmeriKim Psycho) belly dancing and aerial circus dancing I’ve found a lot of new hobbies to enjoy over the past few years! When there’s free time, my nerd comes out and I can be found playing scary video games. I also enjoy showering my niece and nephew with gifts and love! Basically, I like to do too much.
