After my Uber meandered up a wooded hillside just past 9 a.m. on a sunny Wednesday morning, Natasha Nice greeted me from her entryway, those signature Cuban and French curves hugged tightly by a white tank top and purple yoga pants.
I followed her inside for a tour of her new digs: a fully equipped web star’s lair, no doubt. One wouldn’t have suspected that she’d moved in only days prior. Coco Chanel canvas art adorned the walls over a shelf that prominently displayed her Doc Johnson Main Squeeze Exclusive Stroker.
It’s a little bit of giving fans what they want, but also a lot about giving yourself what you want.
I observed the staging and thoughtful configuration, and it dawned on me that these living spaces were intentionally designed to serve purposes beyond the simple creature comforts of home.
The white tufted sofa in her mid-century-modern inspired living room wasn’t merely a sitting area, but a convertible platform bed that allowed for ample mobility in multiple positions. The clothing rack of lingerie in the dining nook offered a pop-up station for quick wardrobe changes.
The display of dildos and anal plugs were a stimulating choose-your-own-adventure gallery for her live cam spectators. I was not only inside of her personal sanctuary, but on the set of her actual production studio.
With a storied background in studio films, self-shot content and live camming, Natasha Nice truly exemplifies the holy trinity of adult performing during a period that is being touted as the indie revolution of porn and the golden age of self-made stardom.
Having career origins and hard-won fame deeply rooted in big-name XXX movies, I was interested to learn how a seasoned porn star like Natasha, who has amassed hundreds of thousands of loyal fans worldwide since the inception of her career in 2006, had arrived at this point of evolution with her brand.
How was she benefitting from this shining moment in adult history where independent talent possess full creative control over the direction of their careers? For Natasha, the metamorphosis of her brand was set into motion with her decision to leave porn.
“I was five years or so into my (film) career. It was 2011 … 2012,” she said. “There were a few reasons why I left. I was kind of in a good spot, to be honest. I might have become a much bigger star had I stayed, but I just don’t think that I was emotionally ready for that amount of fame. I knew that if I got too big too quick, I wouldn’t be able to handle it, that I’d probably burn everything to the ground. Because fame is a lot to handle, it really is.”
“It's not just everybody thinks you’re amazing,” she continued. “It’s also true some people don’t like you, and everybody wants something different out of you. If you don’t really know who you are, you may say yes to things that aren’t for you, or say no to things that are amazing for you. I think I just had this gut feeling that that might honestly happen, and it wouldn’t work out for me if I stayed. I had to take a step back and re-center myself, and school was a safe place to do that and a productive thing to do.”
Natasha made the decision to exchange her flourishing career in porn for an academic career pursuing a Computer Science degree. Not only did this transition involve a shakeup in her lifestyle and daily routine, but eventually, a physical move away from Los Angeles. She marked the occasion with a retirement party. “We had a good time,” she laughed.
With the bright lights of Hollywood and the pitfalls of fame seemingly behind her, Natasha settled into her new, studious life in San Francisco. She reflected, “I got really responsible (during that time), which is what I needed. If you’re a porn star, and you’re young, sometimes you can get a little irresponsible, because it is a lifestyle. It’s not a 9-to-5 and you don’t have that structure. You’re the one who has to build your own structure. If you’re in your early-20s, who the fuck can do that? Although I didn’t end up getting my degree, I just had to figure all that stuff out on my own before I really let myself get as big as I can be … which is still yet to be seen.”
Pulling the proverbial plug on a blossoming adult career, abandoning fame and completely severing involvement with the industry could prove to be a difficult feat. Natasha elaborated, “If you’re not in porn, and you see the girls doing porn, you want to go back and you want to see what you can get out of the industry. I knew I would probably feel like going back if I looked at it, so I just didn’t even look. I didn’t want to know what I was missing … what the gigs or movies were. I knew that I just needed to focus on school for a bit.”
And resist she did, all the while, contending with the pulls of her own needs for sexual expression. “I was just so focused on going to school and trying to be serious; I wasn’t really being true to myself. Because a huge part of me is just such a little sexual rebel that you can’t just put me in a classroom and expect me to flourish as a person. It was good for a while, but eventually I needed to be myself.”
After a four-year absence, Natasha’s spark was reignited to return to adult after reading “On Liberty” by John Stuart Mill, an essay regarding individuality and freedom as it relates to authority. “I read that book, and the pressure was lifted. I thought, ‘I’m smarter and more responsible.’ So, I actually attended an adult convention to get my feet wet, and when I did, I felt like I just picked back up right where I left off. I loved the fans, and the fans loved me! I didn’t even think people would miss me when I left. I figured, ‘Okay, I could go back (to adult) if I wanted to; it’s not a closed chapter.’”
The first experience at the convention parlayed Natasha into booking her first scenes out of retirement. As exciting as the prospect of a comeback can be, Natasha’s initial experiences illuminated her to a new reality.
“I didn’t realize how much I had changed as a person until I started shooting my first few scenes,” she recalled. “Directors I had shot for previously were giving me facial expressions; they noticed I was a different person. I had been down a completely different path for the past four years; I got way more strict and responsible, but also solitary. I was expecting to be received (by the industry) with open arms the way it was at the convention with all the fans, and in a way, I was, because everybody started shooting me again.
“But in another sense, I think they all felt like I was different,” she reflected. “So, I was a little hurt about it at first, but I took it as suggestions and as advice and I just worked hard on becoming more ‘Natasha Nice’ than before.”
Her initial shoots did not slow her momentum either, rather, they catapulted her toward a future of exciting possibilities. After all, the business model of an established performer at present day, whether porn star or amateur, is likely very diverse, and Natasha’s is no exception. With the indie revolution came an influx of potential revenue streams for talent that leverage any number of relevant aspects of their brand, including social media, their fanbase, content creation, direct communication, merchandise, premium subscriptions, live streaming and beyond.
“I’m doing camming, clips and I’m selling my sex toy … now, I’m tailoring content directly for the fans, so it’s just all my own stuff. I’m way more accessible to the fans than ever before!”
With diehard admirers following her every move, Natasha reports that her fans have benefitted from connecting more deeply with her through these different outlets. “I’m coming from a fanbase that was built during my film shooting days, but they’re getting to see me more behind-the-scenes in a way. As a porn star, you’re like this elite star; you’re inaccessible. But as a cam model, for instance, fans are almost getting off just on connecting with me and not always from watching me drill myself.”
Natasha’s fans are not the only ones benefitting from these efforts. Through camming and self-produced content, she is able to have full control over the image and brand that is presented to the world. These factors are very important to her as a performer and public figure.
“It’s my own thing. I get to decorate myself and pick what I want to wear. I get to do what I want to do. I can create the content that I want, and if I look good, I keep it. If I don’t look good, then I don’t. There’s so much more control over my career and my brand than shooting movies. I really recommend it to any porn star that has the free time to invest.”
How has the evolution of Natasha’s career from professionally produced porn to independent content creation impacted her outlook for the future? At the end of the day, Natasha gives the credit of her success to her fans.
“Sometimes, I think, ‘Is my career going to end tomorrow? It has to end tomorrow, right? How can it keep going?’ I honestly feel really lucky because my fans are seriously the ones who are responsible for my success because they followed me from film to cams, and they still like it.”
With as many avenues as there are for talent to draw on these days in order to grow their brands, particularly film talent who are crossing barriers into independent production and personal branding, Natasha lands her sage advice, “The one thing you can always do is just to be yourself and enjoy yourself. So long as you are enjoying yourself, they’re going to like watching you. It’s a little bit of giving fans what they want, but also a lot about giving yourself what you want. When fans feel like it’s an authentic performance, they will want to watch it again. You really want to focus on authenticity and not necessarily performance.”
Follow Natasha Nice @BeNiceNatasha on Twitter and watch her live shows on NatashaNice.cammodels.com, or visit NatashaNice.com to stay in touch. Vanessa Eve is the Director of Talent Recruiting for the Streamate Network.
