In Jessie Andrews' words, the actress and fashion entrepreneur has "lived a lot of life"—and she couldn't be more proud of her journey.
On this week's episode of the Marie Claire podcast "Nice Talk," the founder of jewelry brand Bagatiba and swimwear line Basic Swim opens up about how she found success in the fashion world after working in the adult film industry. Andrews, who recently made her leading role debut in the thriller Love Bomb, explains how she sees her various rebrands as having worked to her advantage.
Andrews recalls on "Nice Talk" how she began working in the adult film industry in the early 2010s in her hometown of Miami to support herself financially. When she moved to L.A., she found herself surrounded by creatives and other means to make an income, like DJing and designing jewelry. "For a long time, I didn't save money. I was just working, working, working," she says. "And then I had started making jewelry and I had started DJing, and then it became this business where I could then support myself and not have to rely on adult films to make a living...I was making way more money building my own business."
"It was really when I was starting to DJ that people were presenting me more as like this 'porn star DJ,'" she adds. "And I was like, 'That's not what I want to be known as. I want to be doing this craft and really do it. From then on, I knew that I couldn't just do something and it would be a cop-out and be like, 'A porn star did this jewelry brand, a porn star did this.'"
For that reason, Andrews felt she had to be "cautious" when launching Bagatiba; she chose not to have her name attached to the brand. However, she now recognizes the "work ethic" and the "follow-through" she developed because of her career path.
"I'm constantly in a rebrand, and now people meet me [who would] never know I did adult films and I won awards and I was this and that, or I DJed, and it's kind of fun when people find out," she says. "I kind of get off on that now, where I'm like I'm happy I did it because I feel like I lived a lot of life."
Andrews adds, "I think a lot of people in porn, do porn, and it feels like it ruins their whole life. When, for me, it was just something that added to my character development and who I am now."
The actress and entrepreneur also opens up about financial independence and exploring mainstream acting opportunities, including in her new film Love Bomb, on "Nice Talk." The episode is out now wherever you listen to podcasts.
