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Danni Ashe InnerView Continued... AINews: And that other magazine up there is that "Shift"? [Pointing at a magazine where she has long straight hair on the cover] Your hair there, that is dynamite! Danni: Thank you. AINews: But yeah, I remember that Juggs. Danni: That was a very bad wig. AINews: It was a WIG?! I just thought it was a hairstyle. Danni: No, I just had really short hair and nobody liked it. AINews: Well, I remember, in '94 you started growing your hair longer. Danni: Yeah, in '93 or '94, I can't remember. But I wasn't getting any work and the work that I WAS getting was getting pigeonholed as either a big bust model or an older woman and I was 24 at the time. It was just the hair that made everyone think that I was old! So to save my ego I started to grow my hair out. AINews: Do you have other ventures that you're working on? Danni: I think this business has grown in such a way that it affords a lot of opportunity, and so there are a lot of different directions that I can go in. We're always trying to figure out which is the best way to go, and were very, very focused on video production and getting ready for convergence. I see that as the future of the Internet. The day that your television and the Internet become the same thing. There will really be only one source of entertainment. The Internet will become video and television will become interactive. So we're really focused on video production, which is why we built that studio over there. And there's also a great deal of technology that we've developed just to serve this business. It's now clear that the technology is so good that we can sell the technology as a service, like our credit card processing and video technology... AINews: So these are packages that you've developed? Danni: Well, again my control freak tendency is to always want to control something and build it the way I want rather than accept someone else's technology, someone else's limitations. So whenever I have the opportunity I will always develop it myself. The credit card technology is definitely one where we talk to company after company after company, and we all have to control our data. And there was some question as to whether we GET our data if we stop doing business with them, and that was unacceptable to me. I didn't want a stranger having my customer's credit card numbers. So that was one thing that I just couldn't give to anyone else. AINews: Do you get a lot of charge backs? Danni: No, our charge back ratio is very, very low. We have developed some really very high-tech and low-tech solutions that have helped us keep fraud under control. We have a 24-hour support staff here and a lot of very elaborate systems to screen things for fraud. And then we have people that manually look through the data every half-hour and they'll void anything that looks suspect. So right now when a lot of people are losing their merchant accounts, and don't know where to go we're in great shape. AINews: And do you sell this service like a package? Danni: Well we're looking into selling it as a package. There are few people we do offer the service to. Friends of ours. But we haven't actually come out and offered it as a service. AINews: Are you politically active? Danni: I'm not politically active, I like to consider myself socially active. I think that I try very hard to encourage the women who come through here to control their names and build their own businesses, to use the industry as a stepping stone. It's a great industry that you can learn a lot from, but getting stuck anywhere is not a good thing. Just getting the girls to learn that, "This is where I am now," and, "I'm going to use this experience to grow and move up and advance myself" is a message I think a lot of the girls need to hear. AINews: Didn't you help put on something for charity a few years ago? Danni: Yes, we did a benefit for "Children of the Night". I'm a big believer in Lois Lee's organization. I think she's doing really cool work and I want to support it, and fortunately she's open minded enough to not be afraid to take charity from an adult company. AINews: Yes, a lot of people are afraid of that, I was surprised to find out. Danni: She took a lot of flack for it. AINews: What advice do you have for new talent as far as a career direction? Danni: I think it's always important to stay true to your own vision and stay within your own comfort levels. We all have our own boundaries of places where we feel comfortable, and when we perform within those boundaries we feel sexy and we're having a good time. The minute someone starts pushing you a little further than you want to go it all of a sudden is not fun and sexy anymore. And with me that line is hard-core penetration. With other girls it might be anal or whatever. We all have different boundaries. I think respecting your own boundaries whatever they may be. Don't let someone talk you into something you're uncomfortable with. AINews: You shouldn't have to do something you don't want to do. Danni: Yeah! Because if you're not going to have fun, then what's the point? There's just no point in it. And that's the only way you can maintain respect for yourself, and have a positive growing experience. If you start to do things you don't respect yourself for then you're going to get stuck! AINews: What do you enjoy most about what you're doing now? Danni: Probably the fact that I have so much freedom to build and to create and do things that I wanted to do. And that in some ways I can be a role model for other women in the industry and hopefully be a positive influence on women. AINews: There are quite a few more women entrepreneurs now. Danni: Yeah! Hey, when I started my Web Site I was the first one and now every model out there has her own Web Site, and there are many, many of them that are making a really healthy living. Which means if they don't like dancing on the road they don't have to do it anymore. AINews: That's great! And how has this business change you?
AINews: Do you enjoy that? Danni: Yes, I think it keeps me more level, more on an even keel, sure. AINews: That's the meaning of life, to be happy, right? Danni: YEAH! (Laughs!) What else is there?! AINews: (Laughs!) Not much else! Not much else that's important, anyway. AINews: This has been great! Thank you so much for your time and the interview Danni, and thank you for showing me around. Danni: You're welcome.
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Danni:
I think it's definitely made me a lot more patient. I have learned to
be patient and a lot more structured. I get up at the same time every
day, I have a certain time that I come into the office, I have a much
more structured life.
Movies Featuring
