Kelly Shibari is a porn star that embodies the entrepreneur philosophy. She owns her own marketing company, runs several successful websites and has a Mensa-level IQ. Orgasm News has an exclusive 5-part interview series with Shibari November running between 5-9, 2012. Also, be sure to find out how you can win your own copy of Kelly Shibari is Overloaded as well as your own 3-day pass to Exxxotica running November 9-12, 2012.

 

 

Orgasm News: What inspired you to get into the adult business?

Kelly Shibari: It wasn’t really more of an inspiration, more…of the need to do a sabbatical/kind of a dare. I had been working in mainstream film as a production designer and as a set designer, art director, that kind of thing for almost 10 years here in L.A. And in 2007 there was a huge writer’s strike and all of the work dried up …They were doing things like Lord of the Rings down in New Zealand, and so work in L.A. had kind of dried up.

 

At the same time I was going through a break-up…one of those horrible break-ups where you don’t get out of bed for three days. A friend of mine [who] was working in the mainstream film industry as a weapons expert. He was the guy that trained people how to use guns on set and that kind of thing. He and his girlfriend had also been working in the adult industry for…probably 15 years [at the time.] And they were friends of mine for almost 10 years at that point. And when I was talking to them about, “Oh, I don’t know what I want to do. Maybe I’ll just move back to New York.” They said, “Well maybe you should try porn.”

 

And my first reaction, because of the porn that I watched, was that there aren’t any big girls in porn. And [the] porn that I watched was ’90′s porn, so there was a lot of Randy Spears, Steven St. Croix, Sean Michael etc…the people who we consider Hall-of-Famers now. And none of them were plus size. So, my experience with plus size and sexuality at the time were [those] post cards you would get at amusement parks. That were kind of a joke… but I didn’t think that was what was considered appropriate for pornography, because pornography is supposed to be this fantasy thing.

 

[But my friends said]: “No.” And actually showed me a couple of websites. One of them was the Score Group. And, which primarily does…big busty women. It wasn’t just slender or large. And then they have a whole section called XL girls, which is their larger, the BBW’s (Big, beautiful women.) And so I said, “You know what? Their stuff looks great. It doesn’t look like they are making fun of the girls.” I kind of considered, the Score Group to be the Vivid of plus size porn. And I said, “I’ll send my pictures in and if they take me, I’ll do it.”

 

So, you know, as luck would have it, I sent my pictures in and they really don’t get a lot of submissions from Asians who are plus size. …and they took me! So, I said, “Okay. Well, I guess…I’m… doing porn.” And I really meant for it to be just a short break. And that I would kind of hope that mainstream film and T.V. would pick back up. Which it kind of never did…until recently. It really hasn’t picked up to the extent that I had hoped it would. And, I thought I would be in and out in a year, and now it’s been six years.

 

Orgasm News: Do you have actually any aspirations of getting back into it in the future?

Kelly: My experience in mainstream was primarily behind the camera, as a production designer. So, I never really had any aspirations growing up of being in front of the camera. You know, you always have these, “Oh, it would be really nice if I was ever in Playboy.” Or those kinds of things that you know would never happen because you aren’t the right size for it.

 

Now that I’ve done work in front of the camera for six years, I know how society is about making that transition from porn into mainstream as an actress. But if there’s any cameo opportunities that come by I’m totally open to those. I’ve done a couple of music videos already, and I had a lot of fun.

 

Orgasm News: What were some of those music videos that you worked on?

Kelly: I was a featured cameo in a Rammstein’s Mein Land music video which came out last November [2011].

 

Orgasm News: How was that experience like?

Kelly: It was fantastic! They did a 1950s kind of Beach Blanket Bingo: Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello: a very California retro theme. Everybody on the set was what you would consider slender/ regular sized models…But the director, Jonas Akerlund, specifically asked the casting director for a plus size performer: kind of like Beth Ditto. She was very big at the time and was on all the magazine covers as a plus size fierce female. The director said: “I would like to have one plus size/sexy girl on set.” The casting director’s husband actually found me online.

 

Orgam News: A number of years ago porn star Asia Carrera had a difficult time with Mensa, when she tried to get them to recognize her. Do you have the same trouble in this day and age?

Kelly: I’ve never actually bothered to apply. I’ve done all of the tests that qualify you for Mensa application and according to those tests I am Mensa qualified, but I knew what had gone on with Asia Carrera…Societies are kind of weird, like cliques. Even if I had been accepted I don’t know if that would have done anything for me, except [give me a] little gold star on my forehead.

 

I took the qualifying test just to see if I was qualified, on a whim. Apparently I am qualified if I wanted to but I’m not necessarily all that interested in joining; because I wouldn’t have the time to go and hang out anyway.

 

Orgasm News: And you’re not really interested in gold stars….

Kelly: Right. I am very, very happy when an industry awards me with something that says, “We appreciate your accomplishment. We think you did a great job.” But I’ve never been somebody who likes being in a clique. I like the awards. They’re flattering but they’re not necessarily something that I need to feel validated…I know I’m smart and people tell me I’m pretty articulate and smart and I think that’s what works for me.

 

Stay tuned for the next four parts or our interview with Kelly. Check her out at: www.kellyshibarixxx.com and you can tweet her at: @kellyshibari