LOS ANGELES—Everyone says money can’t buy happiness, but Alexis James put her money where her mouth is when she ditched Wall Street for the skin trade.
“I was a financial wholesaler on Wall Street,” James said. “I went into it right after I graduated college. I was selling mutual funds, ETF, smart beta—all of that for about five years. I was making great money, but I was miserable. I felt I was working constantly, but it brought me no fulfillment.”
What it did bring was a spike in stress for the 31-year-old Los Angeles transplant. The ongoing pressure to perform for clients, close deals, and be readily available was relentless.
“It would get most stressful anytime the market was a little rocky, because that’s when you’re handling all these people’s money,” James noted. “They could be making millions, and you’ll never hear from them. The minute they lose a dollar, you’re getting harassed.”
James continued, “My dream was to live in Manhattan and have that whole ‘Sex in the City’ life, but I was working from 5 a.m. to 8 p.m.—constantly stressed. I could barely eat. My friends were noticing it, and my boyfriend. I just wasn’t myself. I was, like, I’d rather do something I love.”
With the road to riches taking its toll, James set out to find a new path. She considered pivoting into marketing or transitioning into writing.
“I had all these different options I could explore,” James said. “You can make a lot of money doing just one thing, but if you’re miserable doing it, it bleeds into every part of your life.”
James discovered OnlyFans during the COVID-19 pandemic. “I had extra time on my hands when I was home, and I thought, ‘This is something I’ve always wanted to do.’ Ever since I can remember, I’ve loved being filmed and being watched. It’s like two of my kinks. And…I’m a huge porn fan. I’ve watched porn my whole life and always felt, like…I could do that.”
Before diving into porn, James used OnlyFans as a springboard to test the waters. “I was just dabbling in it, getting my feet wet,” she said. “It had only been a few months.” But even that early experience was enough to build a loyal fanbase and get comfortable performing on camera.
“I started doing some stuff on ManyVids, too, and it was super encouraging,” James added. “I got motivated. I was, like, this makes me happy, and I want to live out my dream of it. So, next thing I know, I had found an agent.”
Opportunity was soon knocking at her back door with her first booking for Backroom Casting Couch. “It was an anal scene because I love anal in my personal life,” she said. “I have broken up with guys for not liking anal. It’s a part of who I am.”
Filming her debut felt “natural” and “really good” for James, but with a lot at stake, she needed reassurance it would pay off before walking away from a Wall Street career.
“I kept my job until after my first scene because I was like, maybe, I’m getting too full of myself,” she said. “What if I suck or what if I hate it? What if something goes wrong? I didn’t want to lose my benefits because I had this great benefits package. I also had all these financial licenses. They’re not easy to get. They require a lot of studying and testing. But, yeah, that was November 2023, and now here I am.”
James got here in June 2024, moving to Los Angeles to finally live out her X-rated dreams. In only a year, she’s performed her first gangbang and DP scenes for Evil Angel, taken 12 loads to the face for GloryHole Secrets, and experienced her first double vaginal penetration for CreamPiled—with plans already underway to do her first double anal. “Why did I not move out here earlier?” she quipped.
“How I have sex is how I am in my real life,” James, who is represented by Coxxx Models, added. “That’s what you see on camera, and I bring a lot of energy because that’s where I feel most alive. You can’t hide who you are when you’re having sex. That’s when people are their most authentic selves. That’s one of the things I love about it.”
But what James loves most these days is the freedom that leaving finance has afforded her.
“I love that every day is something different,” she said. “I love that you can make as much or as little money as you want. There are many different streams of income. But also, for me, it’s just so fulfilling. I feel happy every day, and that was not easy in New York.”
Photography by @kogafoto
