International Women’s Day is March 8. Every year on this day, people around the world celebrate women’s achievements, raise awareness of discrimination, and work towards gender equality. For this special day, we sat down with Alex Kekesi, the Head of Community and Brand at Pornhub. She tells us about recent partnerships, attending expos and hosting workshops, ways to empower women in the workforce, and more.
Tell us about your role at Pornhub and how it has evolved over the years.
I joined Aylo (then MindGeek) in 2013 as an entry level marketing associate focusing on social media engagement, bridging the gap between my academic endeavors and what would ultimately become my dream job. I was fortunate enough to work across Aylo’s roster of brands and became Pornhub’s Director of Brand Marketing in 2021. In 2023, I was appointed as Head of Community and Brand.
You have a very public-facing role, the first of its kind at Pornhub. Tell us about your experience speaking with creators and hosting workshops at industry events?
It is honestly one of my favorite parts of this job. Sana Gaziani (Director of Content Creator Relationships) and I have been fortunate to attend many industry events and shows over the last year. Getting face time in with our community members means so much to me. The feedback we get is incredibly valuable and those takeaways – be they positive or negative – are key bits of information that we relay to various other internal teams so that we can all work better and smarter on our shared goal of making Aylo sites top choices for content creators to appear in or share their own work with our audiences.
Last January, you participated on an XBIZ panel with The Cupcake Girls, a nonprofit organization that empowers sex workers & survivors of sex trafficking through resources and support. How is the Pornhub partnership going with The Cupcake Girls and what do you hope to achieve in 2024?
I am excited about our partnership, and soon we will be ready to share the first round of assets with the larger community. In short, we are working on creating easy to share resources that will hopefully circulate widely and empower sex workers to help them work as safely as possible. Harm reduction for our community members is a goal that we share with our partners at The Cupcake Girls, and I think that the project we are working on together stands to help us achieve more of this.
Today is International Women’s Day and this year’s theme being “Inspire Inclusion,” can you tell us what that means to you?
To me it comes down to intersectionality. Movements for women’s rights need to be inclusive of sex workers, Trans women, and BIPOC women or they are missing the mark.
As a female executive, why do you think it is important for women to support other women in both the adult and tech spaces? What is a good way for women to support one another?
There is a real strength to be tapped for leaders in tech when they diversify their hires. When you have folks representing different gender identities, sexual orientations, racial and ethnic backgrounds working together, you benefit from a much richer set of views and experiences that, in my experience, translates into creating more thoughtfully crafted products.
Who are 3 women who have inspired you?
My mom, Asa Akira, and Kelly Cutrone.
Speaking of inspirational women, last year you launched the Terms of Service Podcast with Asa Akira – what was it like interviewing guests and what do you hope listeners will take away from the first season?
I have really surprised myself with how much I enjoy working on the podcast. It is a real creative outlet for me, and I get to work on it with a dear friend. If I had to pick one episode for everyone to listen to, it would be the one where Asa and I interview Cherie Deville and Mike Stabile. It is so illuminating on the current day challenges faced by sex workers, and I personally learned a lot while we were recording.
What can listeners expect from season 2 of the Terms of Service podcast?
We have some incredible guests lined up but otherwise no spoilers, sorry!
What has been the highlight of your career so far? What has been the most challenging part of your career so far?
The answer to both of those questions is the Pornhub Awards. I have had the chance to work with some incredible creative forces on the different iterations of awards over the years, but it is also extremely stressful to creatively direct and manage a budget for an event of this caliber. I cannot wait to celebrate with everyone a little later this month – we have got an incredible party planned! But mostly I just hope that all our content creators feel seen and celebrated that night!
In a recent article in XBIZ, you mentioned working with the Trust and Safety team at Pornhub to help the public better understand how we keep the platform safe. Can you talk about some updated measures taken to ensure safety is at the forefront of Pornhub’s mission?
Most recently we announced to our community that proof of consent is required for all new uploads with a new Co-Performer to the site. I really encourage everyone to read the blog post we published about this a few months ago to better understand the ins and outs of this update. I do think this is going to go such a long way towards keeping our platform safe and continuing to build trust with our audience.
Will you be attending any industry events in 2024?
Yes! Next up are the Pornhub Awards and XBIZ Miami.
How do you practice self-care and unwind after a productive week?
TLC reality TV, pasta, reformer Pilates, and a long bath!
If you are interested in joining the community Alex and her team have worked to build, you can start by joining the Model Program and becoming a content creator! Learn more about it here.
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