CamLife Magazines President and CEO Bender Cain  Interviews Photographer and MyFree Cams live cam model Joey Kim.  Joey Kim was also featured in our list of 25 Cam models that are in a League of Their Own.  

 

Bender – So Joey how long have you been Camming? Joey – I began my camming career on July 23rd, 2010. Which means I’m coming onto 9 years this year. Almost a decade! Wow, that sounds like a long ago when you say that out loud.

Bender – What made you decide to become a live Cam performer? Joey – I had no aspirations to be in the adult industry. I was studying Photography at Parsons. It’s a wonderful university, one of the best for art, but it came with a hefty price. Tuition here was one of the highest of all of the USA. I had some scholarships, but not enough to cover all my costs, and I was not confident about taking out loans like most students were at the time. This was at the time, the worse of the recession, and I knew I had to get creative to figure out how I would be able to pay for my education and graduate without living my entire life a slave to my loans.

I was living in NYC, which was a wonderful city that fueled my creativity. However, finding a job here, with millions of other hungry artists and students, was not an easy task. After being rejected for positions I wasn’t passionate about, I felt a sense of defeatism. It was then, my friend suggested I checked out a website called Myfreecams, in which she knew someone who worked there as a model. I come from a very conservative household after all, and I never saw myself as a woman who would be any good at it. But it piqued my curiosity, and with no prior research, I signed up. I don’t think I was serious about it at the time. Yet here I am nearly 9 years later!

Bender- Can you tell us how your family and friends felt about your decision to become a live webcam performer? Joey – My family as I mentioned is very conservative and had big plans for me to succeed in law or medicine. However, when I chose art school, I had already broken that dream they had for me. So, in many ways, it almost prepared them to just accept me as I am. I’d always been the more rebellious child amongst my siblings. I got in quite a lot of trouble growing up. So, like everything else I’ve done that went against my family’s wishes, I did it without their knowledge or consent. As an art student, I shot landscapes until I became a camgirl. It was then, I turned my camera onto myself and began shooting nude self-portraiture. I did show these photographs to my mother. I also began dancing in burlesque clubs, in which she’s attended and watched me strip down to nothing. I think as a woman, she understood my work and saw the empowerment I felt creating art and expressing myself through my body. Because cam was just another art medium for me, like dance, and like photography, I think it made it easier for her to accept that too. At this point, I think my family recognizes that I am an adult now, and I think they see me living out my dreams, traveling the world, creating and sharing my art, and while my father may wish I was doing other things, they both accept me fully. They know after having me for so many years, that telling me what to do had never worked out anyhow.

Bender – Is there anyone special in your life? Joey – Of course! Well… admittedly, I didn’t have many, if any friends, before camming. Even in university, I didn’t try to make any friends. It’s crazy, right? I used to be reserved. A loner. I think in many ways it helped fuel my creativity, and I enjoyed being in my thoughts. I did everything on my own. I think it’s also why I began to become so drawn to live streaming. It helped me come out of my shell, a bit. The people who visit me on cam, these are real people I’ve known and who’s known me for years. Many of them watched me graduate. I live-streamed it so that they can attend. While many might refer to them as fans, they are some of my best friends to me.

Right now, all the special people in my life are all people I’ve come to know through live streaming. My best friends are my soul sisters, and they are all camgirls! I’ve met everyone in different parts of the world while traveling. When I was in Thailand, I met a production team that shot for some of the leading companies in adult and had the amazing opportunity to work with them. The producer Paul Hamilton brought me under his wing as a camerawoman and a director. I learned so much about professional film making from them, which I’ve brought into my work. They became almost like a porn family to me and we are very close. And while I am still shy, this industry has helped me come a long way. I am so grateful for the people who’s entered my life. It’s crazy to think that I wouldn’t have met any of these amazing souls if I hadn’t become a camgirl. This industry is a community of like-minded and amazing people.

Bender- Can you tell us what you did before becoming a live webcam performer? Joey – I was your typical “starving artist”. I shot self-portraiture and showed my work in art galleries around NYC. I always had big ideas and wanted to create art that started a dialogue about sexuality, and the naked body. I think these are topics that people were afraid to speak about. I think webcam performing helped fueled that part of me and complimented what I was already doing.

Bender- What do you like most about being in life webcam performer? Joey – This is a hard question. Mostly because I wouldn’t be who I am today, if not for camming. I’ve made some big achievements throughout my journey. I’m completely independent. I work for myself. I get to call the shots. And I get to work from anywhere. This has enabled me to begin traveling the world nomadically. I decided, “Why to limit myself to the same four walls?” So, I said “fuck, it”, and I packed my bags, left for Asia, and from there, I didn’t come back home. Now I live out of my suitcase 11 months a year seeking out beautiful places I feel pulled towards, and I go there to capture it and create beautiful performances, scenes, and live streams. (Hah I kind of like how that rhymed) If you were to tell me 10 years ago that this is what I would be doing, I’d think you were lying.

Bender- What do you like the least about being a live webcam performer? Joey – When I’m in Europe, I must wake up at like 3 am to get ready to begin streaming to catch the sunrise for my mainly US viewers! I am not an early bird, and it takes a lot of will power. But I am very critical about giving my viewers a visually captivating experience. So, when I’m in Europe, I always want them to get the chance to watch the show go from dark to sunrise.

Bender- What would you say a typical day. For you is like on cam? Joey – Cam is very unpredictable. The day usually unfolds differently depending on who is in the room and what is happening. For instance, the shows, stripteases, dances, and even more erotic shows are completely crowd fulfilled by tips and completing goals. The more goals we complete the more erotic the shows become! I am always trying to find creative ways to change up the shows every time I stream. I travel often, so with traveling, you will always find me in a different location every time you tune in. Most days, you will be able to see a stunning sunrise, and we try to complete our goals right as the sun comes up, so that everyone can enjoy a beautiful performance in front of the rising sun.

Bender- How do you spend your days when you’re not on cam how do you relax and unwind? Joey – Sometimes I feel like I am never really on a break-even when I am not online. My entire life has become my work and live streaming. When I am not on cam, I am shooting videos, and photo sets, or editing videos for my site,joeykim.tv 

I enjoy yoga and dance. It’s wonderful because I learn how to move in ways that are beautiful to watch, and I find that this not just helps me relax, but also helps me condition my body for when I am on cam or shooting. I guess I don’t ever really relax. But I love what I do, so I guess it’s not working I mind doing. It’s become my everyday life.

Bender- Now Joey you are a true pioneer in the live webcam community the content you create has evolved well beyond just something sexual into something that can only be described as a cross between sensual burlesque and Circus Soleil how did this Evolution happen? Ha-ha Wow, a true pioneer? Can I get a recording of you saying that so I can save it as my ringtone?

All jokes aside, thank you very much for your kind words. It’s nearly impossible not to let your real-life personality bleed into camming. I only began to dance professionally after camming. Camming built up the confidence I needed to start dancing. I became so passionate about it, it was all I thought about, it was all I wanted to do. Camming gave me my very own stage to express myself. And just like everything else that I loved doing, photography, video, and performance, it all bled into my work as a cam artist. To me, it’s all the same thing in different but very similar mediums.

Bender – So, Joey can you tell us how you incorporated your aerial skills into your life cam performances? Joey – I had always been creative in my live streaming shows. With overlays, with shadows, and various lighting effects. So, in a sense, I’d always been very performative during my shows. I found aerial dance to be very erotic, so as I began practicing, I created an aerial striptease performance act for my live cam show. The funny back story about this aerial act… A producer caught on to it when he saw my performance on YouTube and signed me as a dancer. The video was a recording of my live cam show. I never thought that I would now be touring, performing the act all over the world.

Bender- Joey you are a self-described Globetrotter a real travel Junkie you have performed on cam and some of the most amazing places around the world shooting underwater what would you say your most difficult Livestream on cam has been as a performance artist? Joey – You named it! My most difficult live stream was figuring out a way to live stream underwater. I always have these visions for shows, and I can never take no for an answer. So, I had this idea to do a while striptease and live-streamed show underwater. My very first version of this was trying to stick a webcam in an underwater casing. Let just say, I broke a lot of webcams before I came to the solution I have now. But it was worth it because it’s probably one of the most beautiful and awe-inspiring live performances I’ve created and I’m very proud of it.

 

Bender- What would you say your favorite city or country that you have visited in your travels? Joey – This is a tough one… Every city has left me with so many stories and shaped me in a big way. But I would say that Thailand has a special spot in my heart. It is where I performed my first international performance at a festival at sunrise. I can never forget that moment. It was so awe-inspiring. I had a moment where I realized I was living a dream. That I was free. And I’ve never let that feeling leave me.

Bender – You have a Penthouse Magazine twice addition to being covered in Huffington Post, AVN, XBIZ, TimeOut NY and Now CamLife Magazine what is it like to be recognized for your work as a live webcam performer? Joey – It’s a dream come true! A lot of times people view camming as the amateur side of the business. But I never accepted that title for myself. I don’t strive for recognition. I just want to create something extraordinary. I want to constantly be improving and I want to share something unique. I guess people began to take notice and I’m grateful for that. It makes me feel like I am going on the right path. But really, I just put my heart and soul into my work, and I enjoy my craft.

Bender – We hear at CamLife believe the live webcam industry is more than a billion-dollar business it is a community of performers and entrepreneurs that truly want to help each other succeed not just financially putting life in general what are your thoughts on this? Joey – I find it so inspiring when women support and lift each other. As adult industry performers and entrepreneurs, we already face so many obstacles as a highly stigmatized group. Stealing, slander, and trying to bring each other down, is something we already have to deal with as adult industry performers, we really shouldn’t do this to each other. Sometimes it feels like we have the whole world trying to bring us down, and it’s counterproductive to bring each other down. With camming, it’s easy to feel isolated and alone. Granted, once you log off cam, you are physically alone, and drained. By drawing on support from one another, not just can we relate with one another better than anyone else, we can motivate one another, and propel each other forward further, instead of holding each other back. This is a highly competitive industry, but even competition can be friendly, and positive. I think it can be seen as a healthy way to motivate one another, and I do encourage all of us to do this.

Bender – Now Joey I know that you come from a conservative Asian upbringing, so my question is how has being a part of the live webcam community and being a performer helps you build confidence and helped you grow as your person? In my early years as a camgirl, I was one of the only non-nude models on MFC. It was what I was comfortable with at the time. Perhaps this made me a target for cyberbullying. Things got bad, and I fell into a deep depression. It was probably at the point of my lowest, where I had to let go of everything, I once believed in to reconstruct my confidence. I figured, if I no longer felt the shame, I felt from being a “slut”, this offensive language can no longer hurt me. In a sense, I had to leave behind everything I was raised to believe, and take ownership of my body, be proud of who I am, to regain my confidence.

Bender – What are your goals as a live webcam performer? Joey – I want to push the boundaries of live streaming, building the most innovative live streaming room. Constantly reinventing myself as a performer and entrepreneur. I want to travel the world and creating work to share the beauty of the world and sexuality.

Bender – What are your goals outside of the live webcam community? Joey – A lot of adult performers are in the industry to fulfill some other passion that they have. But that has never been me. Even in my passion to travel, I do it intending to stream in a beautiful place and create work I can share with others. Every goal I have is only to better myself as a performer, producer, and artist. And to better my industry in live streaming by constantly pushing the boundaries. Right now, I am deep in web designing and programming with my team to build the world’s most innovative and interactive live streaming site. And because it is built by my friends from live streaming, it is built behind the lens of a cam consumer, making user experience and interactivity our main focus.

Bender – Joey one of the things that impressed me the most is the Artistry that you bring to the live webcam community and its audience it is very refreshing myself being a huge fan of burlesque but I also equally impressed with the video and production quality of your work how do you put it all together? Joey – I am a one-woman band! It didn’t happen overnight. With my long experience in art and photography, dance, and porn production, camming is very much the marriage of all this knowledge put together. It’s taken me many years of research, trial and error, and experience within the industry that has got me to this point. I see my progression every year. If I didn’t, I’d probably feel like I am doing something wrong. I have this unquenchable curiosity, and it’s constantly pushing me to try new things.

Bender – Joey we also know that you’re have been involved in some charities can you tell us a little bit about your charity work? Joey – I don’t consider it “my” charity work. I always saw it as all my friends, the Family’s charity work, as none of it would be possible if not for the immense support and love within my community. People don’t realize that porn consumers can have some of the biggest hearts. For us, our fundraising nights not only benefit the charities, but it is deeply rewarding for us too. I feel deeply about several things that have affected my life, and the people I love and it’s deeply gratifying to know that my work enables me the ability to bring everyone together to do something empowering for all of us.

Bender – Obviously your work has evolved tremendously as a live cam performer and you seem to have your hand on the pulse of something unique so where you see the live webcam industry in the next 5 years? Joey – Live streaming is rapidly growing in popularity as it becomes increasingly more mainstream. I think this trend will continue and the industry will become more competitive. But I think this is a good thing. Along with living streaming, and camera technology becoming more advanced, it will challenge the industry as a whole, to start becoming more progressive.

Bender – What are your thoughts on VR? Joey – Camming had always been about sensory feedback. I pay very close attention to the quality of the auditory and visual experience I create. I believe VR will enable a whole new experience allowing the consumer to become even more immersed in the experience. If camming is about bringing your audience closer to the experience, VR technology is the future in enabling the viewer the ability to be physically within the environment, creating an even more immersive experience. I recently partnered up with Terpon to work on making high-quality VR accessible to the everyday live cam consumer. If you have yet to experience VR in high quality, it’s hard to express the immersion you can experience. Couple that with real-time live streaming technology, and you begin to imagine VR almost like a teleportation device, enabling viewers to enter my room physically.

Bender – How do you feel about new sex tech such as teledildonics? Joey – I believe that we truly crave an interactive experience. It is why live streaming is as big as it is. I think that is it that pushes the technology industry to come up with solutions to enable us to connect at a deeper level. Teledildonics connects with a sensory level of touch we had not to have before in live streaming, and I’m very curious to begin experimenting with it.

Bender – Would you say you’re a cat or a dog person? Joey – Despite growing up with dogs, I consider myself a lover of all living things. I am vegetarian, and it was a personal choice I made to decrease my environmental footprint, and because of my love of animals. Not many know this about me, as I find it makes people uncomfortable when I speak about it. I make friends with all kinds of animals when I travel! Cats, dogs, ducks, cows, goats, etc. I have a deep love for these pure creatures.

Bender – Do you have a favorite flavor of ice cream? Joey – I love raspberry sorbet and anything fruity!

 

Bender – If you had to spend a week alone on a desert island what three things would you bring with you? Joey – Is there WIFI in a said island? This is a very important factor because if so, I will need my laptop, a camera, and nice strong light.

Bender – What’s the craziest request you’ve ever gotten from a fan while on cam? Joey – There was once a guy who was very particular about rubbing soap on my body. It had to be specifically the DIAL brand.

Bender – Do you have any kind of set schedule for camming? Joey – I stream once a week, and typically on the weekends, but it does fluctuate if I am sick, traveling that day, or just needed some time for myself. It’s nice to have that kind of freedom.

Bender – Now Joey you are a very beautiful woman so how do you stay in such amazing shape besides your aerial and acrobatic routine? Joey – Oh, I’m blushing, thank you! I joke in my room that my work out routine is chasing my gate at the airport!

Otherwise, I like to dance and do yoga regularly. I am beginning a new safe for work yoga channel to share my journey with everyone! Perhaps you can join me, and you too will have a sexy Joey body. ha-ha

Bender – What advice would you give to someone new to the life webcam industry as a performer? Joey – There are tons of cam performers out there, and no one can guarantee that you’ll make a name for yourself. The truth is that it takes a lot of hard work and luck to climb up the ladder. You must come into this work with a love for it. Trying to get quick fame, or money will leave you disappointed

Secondly, allowing yourself to be vulnerable will bring with it, a slew of ignorance, and insecurity, and you must approach it with strength and confidence. You will get this from everyone-not only random strangers from the internet but from acquaintances, and relatives. The family will find out eventually. Be prepared for it. You may be outed, and you may have to endure criticism, and even get insulted, but always face it with grace and confidence. Protect yourself. Protect your safety, and value your privacy. No one is more important than your safety.

Lastly, be honest and real with yourself. Don’t just fall into being or doing something that you think will make you more successful or make you more popular. You must set your boundaries and stand your ground. Everyone will try to shape you to their ideal person, but you must be your ideal person, and let those who will come to love you, find you.

Bender – Joey I know that most of the fans in the live webcam industry are great and it is wonderful in your action but not always how do you deal with rude fans are cyberbullies? Joey – I love how you call them rude “fans” because it does take a strange obsession to find a thrill in bringing someone down. I never actually understood that mindset. I always remind myself that this person is hurting, and I sympathize with them. I don’t take it personally as I don’t know what’s happening in their personal life. I know that as a camgirl, people will constantly be unloading their stress in various ways, and I’ve learned to accept that and let it go. However, when it becomes malicious, for example, real-life stalking, or endangerment to my safety and privacy, I contact the authorities, I try to file a statement so that I know it’s there, and I keep my close friends close to me. It’s important to keep those you love close to you at times when you might be feeling vulnerable or afraid. Let them know what’s going on. Allow more love in your life to counteract any negativity that might come your way.

Bender – You have a massive Twitter following you’ve been featured in AVN penthouse on two separate occasions and many other Publications including CamLife now so so exactly do you handle all the day-to-day requests from media from fans Forum events etcetera? Joey – I am very particular about the brands I associate myself with, as I’ve learned from my years in this industry that not everyone has our best interest. I’ve declined many mainstream offers after doing my research, to protect myself and my brand. However, I am always open to collaborating with brands who I believe in, and who believe in me. I love my industry and I am so proud of my craft, so I am always happy to be highlighted in mainstream and adult industry publications.

Bender – How important would you say it is for live cam performer to generate multiple streams of income? Joey – It’s important to put your work out where new people might be able to find you. I always find platforms as a great opportunity to show your work to a new audience. If you can generate more income on a particular platform, I think it’s good to focus on that. It’s also important to allow yourself to generate a flow of income offline, either from video sales, or snap chat, etc. so you are not reliant only on camming, and you can allow yourself days to rest.

Bender – What award shows our industry expose and trade shows will you be attending this year? Joey – I typically attend shows where I am invited to speak or if I am a nominee. I try to support the shows who support my work. This year I attended the XBIZ show as a speaker, and the AVN Show as I was a nominee for Favorite Cam Girl. I recently attended The European Summit, and the Live Cam Awards, where I came home with an award for Most Innovative Cam Artist!

Bender – Being a live webcam performer has a lot to offer such as Financial Security, freedom to travel, and lots of other perks but it does not come easy it is a lot of hard work can you describe some of the obstacles you’ve had to go overcome to get where you’re at today? Joey – A lot of my friends from camming has seen me go through a lot. I was cyberbullied heavily in my early camming years. At the time, I was not prepared for such hateful energy directed at me. I was physically stalked, got sent threats to my phone number and I even had hateful things graffiti on walls by my house. Along with this, police, and other authorities, I contacted did not take me seriously because I had admitted to being a camgirl. They would say things like “Well, look at what you do for a living.” and “What did you expect?” It was at a time I feared for my life, and I felt I had no one to turn to.

The biggest obstacle I’ve faced with camming thus far has been facing the stigma that comes with my work, first hand. I felt so alone, in an already isolating industry. But I am proud to say that I’ve come out of this with so much resilience, and all of this has made me a much stronger woman today.

Bender – Can you tell us a little bit about your website? Joey – JoeyKim.tv came about when I began to grow as a live streamer and artist, and I felt the platforms I was on, was not growing with me. So, I took it into my own hands to build my platform. I stream in full 1080p, or 4k depending on the user’s internet speed. Joeykim.tv is built completely by JKTV fans, for JKTV fans! I think this is truly what makes it so unique. It is built from the ground up with love, from cam lovers, for cam lovers. No one can truly understand what they want more from a cam site than the cam consumer themselves, and I’ve learned that my audience is full of incredibly tech-savvy, and intelligent people, who were more than happy to be a part of this project. And there is no one else I’d rather have to build our home together. It’s a live streaming website that takes advantage of all the most innovative technologies. We are currently revamping the website completely to build the most innovative live streaming site, enabling the audience with more interactive capabilities to affect the show. JoeyKim.tv is the result of all our blood sweat and tears. All my videos are there allowing my audience a place to come and enjoy all of it for the lowest price possible. It’s truly a place where I consider our home on the internet.

Bender – Now you have even work in the production side of the adult film industry can you tell us a little bit about that? Joey – I learned so much from producing films for other companies. Allowing myself to be behind the camera allowed me to learn how to improve my work from the backend. Porn production is an art and I am so grateful that my porn family brought me under their wing and believed in my vision because it’s helped me grow so much in my work. Producing a scene is about telling erotic stories through imagery and creating a masterpiece. A lot of people imagine working in porn is a dream job, but all that glitters is not gold, and many things are not how itis imagined by outsiders. Many of the biggest porn companies give producers a very low budget, resulting in underpaid talent, and production teams, for very hard labor. Pun intended!

Bender – How would you describe one of your life cam performances? Joey – Maybe better to ask someone from my cam room! I see them as a visual and audio interactive experience, of my self-expression in real-time.

Bender – Joey you have found your niche in the live webcam Community how important would you say it is for other live cam performers to set themselves apart and find their niche? Joey – It is so important to find what is unique about you, your personality, or your gifts and passions, and allow that to drive your brand. While cam artists may be influenced by other cam artists, and this may be apparent in their work this is not the same as simply copying. Copying is not creativity or inspiration. Copying is stealing one’s art. I found that not allowing yourself to steal one’s work means you must get creative to create something fresh. I truly consider camming an art medium, and you are not allowed to just repeat what someone else has come up with. This has no value and does not promote individuality and originality, which is the very essence of what sets you apart, in an oversaturated industry.

Bender – Now in addition to performing live on webcam you have off so performed live in front of a crowd can you tell us a little bit about this experience? Joey – While I still feel stage fright, similarly to how I feel right before I click the live stream button, I found it has brought me so much confidence as a performer. There is no greater feeling than hearing the audience gasp, when I do a scary trick, or clap and cheer at the end of my performance. I always related this to camming. It’s very similar to the feeling I get when I get tipped in my room!

Bender – Now, of course, the name of our magazine is cam life so how would you say life is a live webcam performer please change the way you see the world? Joey – I have learned to become a lot more open-minded. Not just about sexuality, but about everyone’s beliefs. I realized that sometimes I am not right about everything. I’ve also become a lot more sympathetic. I see everyone even behind their font and text, as human beings full of stories and emotions. I am curious about their desires, and interests, and who they are as a person. And I realize that everyone is just normal human beings like the rest of us.

Bender – As I said you have a massive Twitter and social media following what other social media do you use how can our readers keep up with you and your career? Joey – I try my best to stay in touch with everyone I hold close to my heart. Now that I’ve been camming for 8 years, I’ve built a lot of friendships and I try my best to let them know I appreciate them. Twitter and all my other social media platforms is a way for me to stay in touch with everyone. I do try my best and take time every day to respond to every message I receive.

Bender – Thank you once again, Joey, for taking the time out of your very busy schedule to sit down with us and our readers we wish you all the best. Joey – Thank you so much for having me. It is such an incredible honor to be able to sit down and speak with you. Thank you for allowing me to share my voice. 

Don’t forget to check out our Showcase article featuring Joey Kim