Page 34 - AVN MAY 2021

EDITOR’S
NOTE
It can be hard to define what separates the good from the great in any profession.
In the sports world, some athletes possess the ability to perform at a high level in
the clutch.
As a premier sexual athlete, Emily Willis has the clutch gene.
The 2021 AVN Female Performer of the Year approaches everything she does with
a winner’s mentality.
“I don’t want to sound cocky but every time I shoot a scene I’m like, ‘This is my
best one yet,’” Willis told me in September 2019, less than two years into her career.
The 22-year-old, former competitive dancer admits she was always a go-getter
who didn’t take ‘no’ for an answer.
“I’ve definitely always been a big believer in working until you get something,” Willis
said in March, just six weeks after she won an industry-leading nine AVN Awards at
the 38th annual ceremony. “Or if I want it, I’m going to get it. And if you work hard
enough you can do those things.”
In what was a most unusual year in the porn business, Willis adapted and thrived,
making the most of her opportunities to shine.
“I found that doing this job in general has taught me to really empower myself, my
sexuality, who I am,” Willis says. “It’s taught me to not be afraid to go out there and
to get as crazy as I can on camera and to love myself. It has taught me so much.
“It’s the most empowering thing to get out there and have sex in front of everyone
and winning Female Performer of the Year definitely is the best feeling in the world.
“That itself is so empowering and motivating because it’s feeling like I am Female
Performer of the Fucking Year and I’m going to go out there and be one.”
DA N M I L L E R
E d i to r- i n - C h i e f
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