Gallery: A Journey Through Sex Work & Holistic Healing
Becoming...
A thousand words may never be enough—so here is a journey in images, tracing moments of growth, release, change, healing, and truth. ✨
New York City 2006
These images were taken during my first magical, awestruck year in the city of dreams, seven years into my journey as a sex worker. Aspiring photographers began to contact me, something that seems to happen only in New York, and what started as a series of 'TFP' photo shoots (trade for print ~ free shoots where the photographer and model can both use the images) quickly became something deeper.
People often ask why I would pose naked, especially given my history of sexual trauma. The truth is, for me, it has been healing. To be seen, to be empowered, to choose how I showed up in front of the camera—it seemed to return something that had been taken. Looking back, these photos feel like a magical initiation, capturing both the vulnerability and the creative inspiration of that moment in time.
Seattle 1999
In 1999, in Seattle's hip, post-grunge era, I stood at the edge of something entirely new. It was my first photo shoot for my new venture in sex work, and I was trembling inside as I prepared to pose naked in front of a stranger’s lens. Until then, I had only imagined what it might feel like to be seen that way—exposed, unarmored, unsure of myself and my newfound role as a 'Strap-Om' Goddess. My dear friend Jana had agreed to pose with me, a lifeline in the midst of my nerves. Having her there softened the fear, gave me a sense of safety and solidarity, something I would find unfold through my years with fellow sisters in crime...
What unfolded surprised me. The images we created together were unexpectedly erotic and achingly vulnerable. Looking back now, I see that shoot as a quiet initiation. In my first 'Boudoir Photography Studio' in the industrial area near Pioneer Square, with the misty port clanging outside, ferry horns on the distant bay, I began to claim my own body and my own story, not as an object but as an artist. That first shoot in Seattle wasn’t just for advertising; it was the beginning of a deeper reclamation, a moment where nervousness and self-doubt started to transmute into creative power.
