An Interview With... American Kate!
It has been quite a while since our last interview, we are proud to announce today the re-release of our first of many more interview to come. Floki has graciously managed to spare some time to sit down with the advertisers so that you can get to know what makes them tick!
Kate has been extremely patient, kind and responsive throughout to ensure that you guys don´t miss out on any details.
She does not need any more of an introduction so here it is folks...
Kate has been extremely patient, kind and responsive throughout to ensure that you guys don´t miss out on any details.
She does not need any more of an introduction so here it is folks...
FLOKI: Hi Kate, I just want to start off by thanking you for taking the time to do this interview with us.
KATE: Thank you, I´m happy to.
FLOKI: First question. When did you first arrive to Ireland and what was your first thought of the country? How does it differ from your homeland?
KATE: I first came here in 2008, my first thought of the country was, how much I felt I belonged here. In America, sometimes I would be cracking too many jokes or people would say I was being too wild at the party. So coming to Ireland I felt like I fit right in with the banter and the mighty “craic”.
FLOKI: So the U.S are not so used to your sense of humour
KATE: I guess so, I think they couldn´t tell if I was being serious or not. My sarcasm made them scared.
FLOKI: You probably realised the British and Irish sense of humour is quite dark compared to other places.
KATE: Yeah, I think my sarcasm scared them.
FLOKI: Well they have lost someone…
KATE: Those lucky Irish, they are even luckier now.
FLOKI: Yes they are!
FLOKI: Is there any special place you would recommend someone to visit when they visit Ireland?
KATE: I mean, the whole country is so beautiful but I´d say particularly West Cork is really special, really stunning beauty there.
FLOKI: I have never been to Cork myself, I have been to Ireland a few times. Mainly the north as I have some family there but I was born in Britain.
KATE: You have got to go to Cork, Cork is awesome! Can´t get enough Cork on the forKate:
FLOKI: Cork is your favourite then?
KATE: Yes, West Cork is really beautiful, but Cork City is really cool too.
FLOKI: I will have a look into it.
FLOKI: What do you miss most about your country of origin?
KATE: What I miss the most are the hot summers, super hot, seedy summers. You know, thunderstorms, lightning bugs, the fact that I can be scantily clad as much as I want and just feel like I have a smile on my face.
FLOKI: I do enjoy thunderstorms myself, I used to go and watch them all the time.
FLOKI: Having a chance to work in different countries, which has been your favourite so far?
KATE: Lets see, I have to say Australia because I was working in a place where sex work was decriminalized, so that was just really relaxing and it was really nice to know I was working in a place where I felt like everybody involved had more respect and where the culture expected our existence, to enjoy each others company.
FLOKI: That is nice, I wish it would be more like that in Ireland.
KATE: Definitely, we are going to fight to go in that direction, but we know the challenges we are up against there.
FLOKI: Onto another topic. Why did you decide to do escorting as your main job?
KATE: So I was working for Greenpeace in New York City, it was just so challenging; Really long hours, a really stressful environment and I met this girl there and we immediately had an affinity for each other. The first time we locked eyes, I see this joyful little wicked look in her eye, and we became friends immediately and she said “You know this job is hard. If you want to come work somewhere else with me, you will probably enjoy it more, make more money and you get to hang out with sexy women all day.”
So that was in a fetish house in New York City; So that was the beginning of my prostitution career, if you will. I worked in all different kinds of ways, I worked in BDSM dungeon as we call it, I worked in a wrestling house; Where all we did was wrestle. I have worked in strip clubs; I did full service out-calls in hotels and stuff like that. That was the main way that I ´segwayed´; I think for me its such a nice break from the rest of the world, its such a nice relief in your life to put everything a-side and to just immediately interact with somebody who might be a complete stranger, in a way that is so intimate and honest.
FLOKI: Straight from green peace to this! That's quite a change but I can see you're happy and that’s important.
KATE: Yes, saving the world in a different way.
FLOKI: Next question then. Has advertising online always been your way of getting to know clients? Do you think there are any other safe way for you to make your appointments?
KATE: Yeah, so when I worked in houses like in New York City, that way people would make appointments or be walk-ins. They would come in and sit in a consultation room and we would each go and have a little chat with them, and they would pick whoever they felt they had the most rapport with. Here in Ireland its mainly the advertising; Now the other way that I can talk about is something that you can be quite successful at but you have to be really careful, that is what we call freestyling; That’s basically when you discreetly striking up conversations with people absolutely anywhere. That could be in a bar, it could be in a club or in a shop. What is handy about Ireland is that people are so chatty and good with the banter, there generally is a way of (if your already engaged in a conversation with somebody) to transition into a sexy little suggestion.
FLOKI: I have seen in TV shows and movies, where a woman will be in the house and the man will turn up and talk to them, the men will then walk into another room. I thought that was just TV but I guess it does happen, I am remembering now the 'Sons of Anarchy' tv show.
KATE: It can be a fun way to work but it’s a bit more of a wild-west feeling to it. Old School probably.
FLOKI: If you had not entered the world of escorting, what kind of work would you have been doing or would have enjoyed doing?
KATE: Well I am a performer, I sing, I dance; You know I have award winning comedy musicals, where I sing, pole dance, laugh and tell jokes.
FLOKI: Well I actually seen, I think you were on the Graham Norton Show. I vaguely remember you released a song around that time also.
KATE: Yeah, “Hey Lady” it was called. So that’s my passion and that’s where I feel most at home, if you will, on the stage. I still find that I make shows about escorting, because not only do I think its important for people to hear what its like for us and to break up people stereotypes about us but also there is so much bother in this industry for funny jokes and imagery that people are certainly drawn to. I´ve done these shows all over the world, got 4 star reviews in Edinburgh, I´ve won awards in San Diego; I will be doing my next show in San Diego in June. I love performing my shows.
FLOKI: Great answer, it doesn't help the stereo types when you have groups like Ruhama bringing up these statistics and numbers, people start to believe them so we need more people who can stand up for this industry; Hopefully people will realise its not as bad as its made out and not everyone is trafficked.
KATE: I should say, its was the Brendan O´Connor show that you were talking about, but I actually love the Graham Norton Show. I actually ran into him when I was working at a hotel, in Dublin one time. I chased him into the elevator and gave him a badge about a song that I wrote about contraception called “Pull the fuck out”. I´d love to go on the Graham Norton show, and if people want to see the kind of stuff that I do, they can look at the website www.ladygrew.com There are videos and songs, and my gigs list is up there too.
I should say actually when I was in Australia, remember I was working there and I liked it because it felt more normal and relaxed and a supportive environment because it was decriminalised but I was working in a strip club and taking full service clients on the side, I was in Australia because I was doing one of my shows there and there was like a whole group of us performing and the festivals but also doing sex work on the side so that was a fun little, underbelly of a community. My new show is a stand up hip-hop called “Hookers do it standing up”.
FLOKI: That’s a good title. It will definitely raise some eyebrows.
KATE: Its great isn´t it.