Interview with Steven Grooby – Part 1

Steven has graciously agreed to share a more personal side of himself and to answer some tough questions about the industry, and I thank him for his honest and candid answers and for taking the time to do this interview.

Can you tell us a bit about your family and how your work in the adult entertainment industry factors into your family life?

I tend to keep my business life and my personal life very separate and see them as being exclusive. My family are great (and two of my family members work in the company) but there will be a time and a place when I want to introduce my children to what I do, and I want to be in control of that situation. In the meantime, we bring them up as I would hope all children are brought up, with respect for themselves and for the many different people they meet or become aware of through life. To answer their questions (and not have them being afraid to ask a question) and to stand up to bullies in all their shapes and forms.

You’ve mentioned being a frustrated chef. Have you always enjoyed cooking and did you have aspirations of being a chef? Can you tell us some of the favorite things you enjoy cooking?

Not seriously but I have fantasized over owning my own place, I just don’t think I’d be up to the hard work and hours. I love to shop for more obscure produce, to read up on recipes and have visited some of the best restaurants in the world, from Michelin high end to the best food truck. I search markets and ‘hole in the wall’s’ out in every city I visit (I have some great places in LA) and I enjoy creating or re-creating at home. When I’m in the UK the sushi is so atrocious that I’ll make that if in the mood, but I can also turn my hand to pretty much anything. I make my own smoked salmon, my own duck confit, char sui, etc. I like a lot of seafood and generally a lot of my food will have an Asian or Mediterranean influence.

You graduated from film school and with the intention of writing film scripts. What genre of films interested you and where did you hope you film career would take you?

The papers I wrote at college and my thesis were on ‘New Wave Chinese Cinema’ and ‘The Films of Spike Lee’ – both who were up and coming in 1990-92 and I wanted to make films that were visually stunning, told a good story and often had a message behind them. Like many art-school or young people, I was a pseudo-intellectual and more concerned with style over real substance. It’s just come to me writing this that both Zhang Yimou and Spike Lee perpetuated that in their work at that time (and Yimou never matured). I was into Sergio Leone, Scorsese, Jim Jarmusch, Eastwood, etc. and also very much into comic book writers like Garth Ennis. Where did I think my career would take me? Where every film student thinks – to write movies, to direct and to make it ‘big’ in the industry. I never really give up on it – I did menial jobs to pay the rent, talked a lot, wrote some and ultimately ended up where I am now.

What interested you about trans porn? Was it because you had a personal attraction to trans women or because you saw it as a good business opportunity with lots of potential growth? Or both?

Both. I’ve covered this quite a lot so won’t bore people with it too much – but in a nutshell, I got a PC to write scripts and ended up surfing porn. I put a bunch of free porn sites together to get people to send me their content for display (for fun and to see more porn) and one of these was a ‘shemale’ site because I was intrigued by the whole genre and the little I’d seen of it. The ‘shemale’ one took off like a rocket, while the others were slow growers and at this point whether luck, or business acumen (probably a little of both) I grabbed a hold of that rocket and held on.

Can you tell us about the origin of the Grooby name?
Domain names were nearly $100. I could only afford one. Groovy was unavailable.

There were certain people who were important in helping you early in your career, such as The Commander and Doug Wicks. Can you tell us a little about them and how the influenced you?

There were a lot of people early on, some who are still around and some who have left. Neil who is still our technician was extremely important, before we’d even met we talked on email and he suggested I put the site onto credit card billing and helped me do it, and without him helping on that there may have been no Grooby. The Commander with his early photography, but Tony Vee coming in shortly after and people don’t give him enough credit for what he did, the amount of models he shot in NYC at the time. Frank coming onboard in about 2000 and giving me a friend to travel the world with shooting content. Doug was VP of CCBill when we met, and his contribution was to encourage me to go to a trade show (Phoenix Forum) and then to introduce me to all the bigger players. I realized how much money Grooby was leaving on the table by not working more professionally and proficiently – and spent a lot of time listening and asking questions, and this helped build Grooby into the brand it is today.

You have assembled a staff which is very well respected and obviously very good at what they do. And if I may interject a personal comment, I firmly believe that the quality of the people who work at Grooby and the friendship and even love we feel for them is a large part of why so many models are so loyal to Grooby and genuinely care about the company and the people, which translates to a better product. What qualities do you look for when hiring people to work for you? Do the people you hire usually come from within the industry?

Every employee you’ve met – or most have met, have come from within our circle, either friends or friends of friends. Our longest employee, Alexander the webmaster is the only person who applied for a job I believe. In the USA, Shannon was the business manager to a cosmetic treatment center I used to visit, Kristel and Dev both came through as friends of hers, Dan was a friend of Buddy Woods, Gus (video editor) was a friend of Franks, Alex was married at the time to Gus’s employee at the time, Nicky was a model who became friends through Buddy. Rhiannon is a friend of Kristel’s. We also have my brother who now specializes in development (but has done every job almost), Dave the photo editor who was Russ’s college friend and Mike who is Marketing Director who is my cousin. A lot of the staff have connections with Hawaii, including Frank and Telly who worked for us for a long time but has moved to pastures new. I think Hawaii brings out a certain camaraderie or as they would say, ‘Aloha spirit’ that just seems to work.

I never wanted to have the responsibilities of employees. I feel like sometimes I have 20 children that I have to take care of. They are a really good group of people and have a lot of love for Grooby, the models and the culture. I think when people meet most of them, it breaks down their impression or the stereotypes of what they’re expecting from a porn company.

Is retirement something you’re thinking about or planning for at this point, and have you given any thought as to the transfer of your duties and who will run the company when you do retire?

I’m 45. I think I’m a ways away from retirement and for now, the only way it could happen would be if someone bought the company. I get up every single day and enjoy going to work, if you’ve seen my blog posts, you’ll see that every day is different. I love Grooby and I love working for it. I would like some more time to focus on other projects though, I’m an entrepreneur and constantly have new ideas and have a few that I’d like to see through to completion, so that means passing more responsibilities to staff. Kristel and Mike have taken a lot off me in the last year, and I’m encouraging and mentoring them both to do more.

Would you ever sell the company? I know that everything has a price, but given all the time and effort you have spent to make Grooby so successful, along with the heart and passion, would you ever seriously consider selling it?

Everything has a price, and there is not always a right time to sell. It would be hard to give up and the conditions would have to be right, but of course selling for the right amount would give me the ability to try my hand at other things and give me some security. I’ve entertained offers before but they were far too low.

You mentioned wanting more time to focus on other projects and new ideas that you’d like to see through to completion. Could you elaborate on that?

I’ve a couple of website ideas and apps which I’m interested in pursuing. Two are food/restaurant based and another is a website on body positivism and while not a total adult site, it does blend sexuality and consumerism. Watch this space!

You were quoted in a 2014 interview as saying “We see ourselves more as a lifestyle company than just porn and we’re looking to extend that.” Can you define what you mean as a “lifestyle company?” Is that idea the reason behind your recent venture into online dating?

Porn is sex. We want to be more than just about sex, even if sex is part of that product. As a lifestyle company we want to brand Grooby along other products whether it’s books, art, events, resources, etc. People should be able to be part of Grooby without bringing the porn into it. I’m deliberately being a little vague as I don’t want to give away all of our plans but by stating we’re more of a lifestyle company – and my running Grooby as we do, we’re stating we are part of the trans community as a whole and in it, for more than just producing porn. I’m always open to cool ideas or business plans. We’ve always had a dating website, this is just the latest white label we’re running with Hubpeople. We’ll only put our name on it, if it’s a good product and this one is. We are currently working on a different dating application, which I feel is needed for the trans community.

How has your understanding and connection to trans people and the trans community evolved over the years since you first began the company?

Well trans people have evolved massively since I began the company so I’ve changed with them. Almost every trans person I came across was a prostitute and the vast majority in the US were from a Latin background. Most of these girls would have been shocked at the suggestion that there were trans girls into other girls, and their main goal was to get sexual re-assignment surgery. Fast forward, and we see a much wider spectrum of ethnicity, sexual preference and lifestyle choices. We see trans girls who transitioned before, during, or after college. We seem families more accepting and we see trans people in all sorts of different job roles, during our day to day living. The first trans man I met (knowingly) was Buck Angel in about 2000; now they’re everywhere!

I don’t believe I’ve changed that much. I always identified the girls as girls, I was always confident and comfortable with being seen anywhere with them, I always used their preferred terminology with them and I’ve always tried to do the right thing by them. I’ve always been someone who will ask questions, and people generally open up to me, so what I didn’t know, I’ve asked.

You are originally from the UK have spent a lot of time here in America. What are the biggest differences, if any, that you’ve noticed in the way trans people are accepted and treated in the UK versus America?

There is a lot less religion in the UK than the USA, and when you don’t have an invisible fantasy figure backing you up, you have a lot less arsehole convictions. There are always going to be idiots whether they’re ignorant or just rude, that will be picking out individuals but in the UK it certainly seems to be less violent. We get a little insulated in California as everyone is a bit more laid back and accepting but I’ve seen situations across other parts of the US which are disgusting.

I’ve seen a lot of trans women in a wider range of jobs in the UK – including one brave, very obviously trans women who decided being a parking enforcement officer, would be a good career choice!

2016 marks the 20th anniversary of Grooby Productions. Can you tell us some of the things you have planned to commemorate this milestone?

It’s the 20th anniversary or Grooby and of course, Shemale Yum. We’ve been featuring a weekly model on Yum that may have not been seen for years, and someone who is or was very associated with Shemale Yum. Getting models like Sarina Valentina, Jesse Flores, Wendy Williams, Michelle Firestone, Morgan, Domino, Jamie French, etc all models who debuted on Shemale Yum. The TEA Show this year, we brought in many of our staff from around the world as a thank you and to celebrate with us – and we’ve having an invite only party happening in August (back at The Bardot). We’ve some cool ideas and themes, and aim to invite a lot of business partners, models from over the years, producers and maybe even a few fans or longtime members if we can. AVN already had a great feature on us and hoping for a few more over the year. Very few adult sites are as old as ours, and are still producing.

Looking back over the past twenty years, is there one accomplishment you’re most proud of?

I’m immensely proud of whom we’ve became. We’ve adapted and changed over the years from a team of horny world traveling photographers, to a very successful business which continues to keep a team of people fully employed and gets a lot of money back to models. I’m not going to toot our horn too loudly, but we’re proud that we’ve been a catalyst for encouraging so many girls of all different body types, backgrounds and styles have the confidence to show themselves and do something they enjoy, we’ve shown trans women of all different types for 20 years, showing non-conforming is not a new thing as some think. The one accomplishment I’ve most proud of though, has to be the TEA’s. From a lowly beginning, to something which is truly magical. This only could have happened with all the Grooby team investing so much of their time on it, with being able to bring competitors together to sponsor the show and for the girls to get so involved. When I see how the girls dress, how much the weekend means to them – the recognition, the respect, the love – that’s what I’m most proud of.

Can you tell us about those early days of being a horny world traveling photographer? Did you enjoy being a photographer? How would you critique your work from back then?

Under 34, cash in pocket, traveling the world meeting beautiful women and able to photograph or film them nude – who wouldn’t love to do it? I liked the photography and in the early days I was very good. I’m voyeuristic in life (not just sex) and very visual, so I knew exactly what I wanted and that’s what I got. While not everyone loved what I did, many shared my views. The company has always had different photographers each bringing a unique perspective and I was just another one of them.

The Transgender Erotica Awards have come a long way since the first one held online in 2008 when it was then known as the Tranny Awards. Did you ever envision it would grow into such an important event that has such a prominent place in the industry and means so much to the people who attend?

I’ve tried and failed many things but the occasional thing works better than expected. Every project we’ve launched I’ve planned it to become huge, and the TEA’s really did. Did I ever envision what it would give the girls and guys – and what it appears to mean to them and the other attendees? No. I love it.

Two new events was added this year, TEA Con and the party at the strip club. How would you rate the success of each event and are there any other plans for new events we can look forward to next year?

The strip-club wasn’t our event, John Ed put it on and I was a bit resilient to it at first but it was a great event, the girls made good money and people seemed to enjoy it. TEAcon I wasn’t able to attend but I heard very positive things so I think Kristel will be looking at increasing its presence and size next year. As far as anything else, we’re a bit far off it to plan, after we’ve had our meeting after the show, we put everything away for a few months.

TEA is obviously a way to recognize the people who work and contribute to the industry, but is it also a labor of love for you to be able to bring everyone together to celebrate the work we do and who we are?

The TEA is a labor of love. It’s a great branding opportunity for us, and we get a lot of love from it but I hope people appreciate that it costs Grooby a lot of money to put on each year. Despite the sponsorship money, despite ticket sales and some bar money, we still pay well over $12,000 of our own money into the show and that doesn’t include taking the staff away from their day jobs where they could be making us revenue. I consider it money well spent.

Like a cup of tea.

Stay tuned for Part 2 of this interview!