Page 8 - AVN October 2022

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AVN.COM | 10.22 | EDITOR’S NOTE
EDITOR’S NOTE
Kazumi describes the multi-level marketing job she had before adult as “like a military bootcamp.”
She gave out free cell phones to the homeless and others eligible for government assistance in various areas of Los Angeles.
“And it was very direct marketing so what they would do is they would drop me off at like Skid Row,” Kazumi recalls. “They would drop me off in the projects like Jordan Downs or what not. They would make me stand in front of Ralph’s and a lot of times I would be at welfare offices.”
Every morning the October AVN cover girl and her co-workers would listen to a motivational speech about having an “attacking mindset” and then be sent into the field to give out the free phones.
She says her MLM bosses would “sell a dream.”
“They were saying like look, if you get really good at this you can become a Team Lead and then you can train X amount of people to also do the same thing,” Kazumi recalls. “Then you can get elevated to a junior partner with the company. Then you get to have your own office, get some residuals and make six figures a year.
“And that was the dream that I fought for—for almost three-and-a-half years.”
She thrived in the position, earning a promotion to Team Lead by the time she left in 2020. “Sometimes I would be out there until 8 p.m., 10 p.m., 11 p.m. on Skid Row—in people’s
tents handling it,” Kazumi says. “Because I wanted six figures. I wanted freedom. I wanted to not live at my parents’ house.”
Kazumi says it was a grind because it was an outdoor assignment and because homeless people often don’t trust government handouts.
“But it gave me a lot of perspective,” she adds. “Which is why I feel like I’m very grounded.”
DAN MILLER
Editor-in-Chief