Been to LA lately? Been online? Then, chances are you already know that Kazumi is arguably the fastest riser in the adult entertainment space right now.

Less than three years in, Kazumi has quickly become one of the most popular and dynamic content creators in the adult industry. However, don’t let her 5’2″ frame fool you. She is a powerhouse, and is keeping her sights squarely set on more.

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This native Los Angeleno is devoutly proud of her town. Given Kazumi’s bubbly personality and talent for performing, admittedly, she and LA make for a perfect pairing. Still, the “City of Angels” can only hold her down so long—global travel always comes calling for Kazumi.

Amidst a very active international schedule, she was lovely enough to make time for PLAYBOY’s Gabriel Santiago. Read along as the two California natives discuss Kazumi’s rapid ascension within the industry, her plans around improving sex education, what attracts her eyes, plans for 2025, and other fun topics.

PLAYBOY: Let’s start at the beginning—where were you born & raised?

Kazumi: I was born in Salmiya, Kuwait, which is next to Saudi Arabia. There’s no significance for me besides the fact that my parents just met there and smashed, and subsequently, I was born 9 months later. Both of them actually have a necklace with my name in Farsi. My heritage is Filipina, but my parents have a Middle Eastern vibe to them. As for me, I have always lived in Los Angeles.

PLAYBOY: What was your upbringing like?

Kazumi: You wouldn’t guess this, but I definitely was a hipster for 90% of my life. I grew up in the Glendale, Eagle Rock, Pasadena and Highland Park areas. I used to have bangs like halfway down my forehead, and my hair was always a different color. I even had pink hair at one point! I also went to film school. My upbringing was really strict, which I hate saying because everyone is always like, “well that must be why you have sex on the internet.”

My parents were super strict. They didn’t let me go outside until I turned 17. They didn’t let me have a phone until I turned 18. My dad is kind of a dick, but I feel like these are typical Asian-American struggles for people growing up in Los Angeles. I’m the eldest daughter of an immigrant family, so I feel like this is just what comes with the territory.

PLAYBOY: How did your journey into the world of adult content creation begin?

Kazumi: My gosh, that is a long-winded can of worms, but the short version is I just felt like I was born for this. When I was 19, I started going to sex clubs. I’m 28 now, so it’s been almost a decade with that as my regular lifestyle. I was always comfortable in the scene, so much to say.

I was always having sex in front of people. I was doing sex performances. I had friends that were sex workers. I was kinky! It’s always been my realm. After I went to film school, I really wanted to tell Asian stories—I wanted to be a screenwriter. From there, I also worked as a marketing executive, so I feel like those three things catapulted me towards adult content creation.

Simply, I always was cool with sex work, but during COVID, it was finally a considerable thing for me. I was like, “I don’t want to go outside. It’s scary. We don’t know how serious this pandemic is!” I wanted something remote. I wanted something residual and I was already comfortable with my body.

I love everything about sex work so much. I love that it empowers me and I love that it makes people happy. I love that people want to see me like that. Two years in, I started doing mainstream porn, which is actually such a different realm. People think they’re similar, and they’re actually not the same at all. Now, I think I’m in the realm of overall entertainment, which is so fun.

PLAYBOY: Back in the present, you are one of the fastest rising stars in the industry. Care to share any secrets or tips to your success?

Kazumi: The biggest thing that I noticed about girls like me in the industry — or anyone in any industry in my opinion — that really catapults careers at a supersonic speed is really taking that initiative. You have to become extremely obsessed with your work and putting yourself out there.

It wasn’t enough for me to make $100k a month; I never got comfortable with that. I was like, “What about $150k per month? What about $200k? How do I streamline this?” From there, it’s about innovating and paying attention.

I feel like a lot of girls who make their own content or do porn start to feel stuck because they’re just going for the ringers, but they’re not like actually analyzing the small things they’re doing that make a big difference. For example, every time I’ve ever had to do a mainstream scene, I would write down all my dirty talk in my phone’s notes. I also watch a lot of similar works prior.

I respect the craft. I want to be the best and I want to be a legend.  When you come into a space and your goals are far beyond simply existing, I feel like it’s much easier to go hit everything you want when you have a clear path instead of just doing it just to do it.

PLAYBOY: Gauchos, Gauchos, Gauchos! Tell me about what you have going on at UC Santa Barbara.

Kazumi: So, last year was the second-straight year that I spoke at UCSB in Prof. Constance Penley‘s film class, which has a hyperfocus on porn. If you didn’t know, porn affects everything, whether people like to believe it or not. Porn is technological. Porn is social, it’s financial, it’s historical, it’s cultural. It shapes how we view people.

For example, we didn’t get Blu-ray or 4K until porn. The famous Mr. Beast thumbnails? That facial expression is from Brazzers. Those are small things that have accumulated into how we all just react and communicate.

I always think it’s a trip that they have me actually speak at the class. I think last year specifically, they had a group that were assigned to study me. So, they had watched my podcast, and they had screenshots of my content on the board. They also had a really cool Q&A! It’s just cool to see, being consumed as entertainment and as a neutral thing that people could partake in versus this evil.

Overall, it was really cool to speak at UC Santa Barbara because I didn’t attend a UC—I was a community college girl!

PLAYBOY: In that same vein, let’s talk about Kazumi University. Pretend I am a recruit—what are the most valuable and engaging aspects of your curriculum?

Kazumi: So, creating my own content obviously changed my life completely. It gave me the opportunity to really find myself, to explore the things I wanted to do and all my passion projects. It gave me the time, the money, the resources and the confidence to keep going forward.

When you’re self-employed, you’re wearing a million hats. You’re not just the actress or the actor. You’re also the director, the marketer, the salesperson. You’re doing so many things at once! That’s why a lot of people get into agencies, but the issue with agencies is that sometimes they’re predatory and just evil people. They’ll put you in weird contracts. They’ll take advantage of vulnerable girls that have just turned 18 and put them in contracts where they owe them 50% forever, or the contract is a nightmare to get out of. For the first three years of my journey, I was completely independent. I had no agency and I found it extremely empowering to know how to do it all on my own.

I know exactly what I like and I know exactly what needs to be done to get from A to B, and knowledge is power, but applied knowledge is empowering! With that, Kazumi’s University is a 40-module course. As of now, I’m updating it, but it is a course in which we teach people how to make adult content independently, going from five figures in five weeks without an agency. This way, you can figure it out on your own and see how you can build. Also, it’s unisex! It doesn’t matter if you’re a man, woman, gay, trans or straight. Or if you’re explicit or not! Marketing is unisex and it has a million different forms.

PLAYBOY: Do you have any type of content that is your favorite to create?

Kazumi: I love making porn, dude. I will say, me going from doing my own content into porn is a backwards transition, because usually people will go do mainstream porn, and then they’ll realize there’s no actual money into it, and then they go into making their own content, learning what it’s like once they’re creating their own schedule and everything else. and they make way more money.

Personally, I love doing both. I love making my own independent content. I also love being on set. I don’t do too many mainstream sets. I’ve probably been on less than 20 mainstream porn sets, which is crazy to me.

When I was contracted to Vixen, it felt like I had made it to the NFL. I was so hyped up every time I went on set, it felt like I was going to hit it hard. There was so much momentum and buildup, and I was excited about it. I always chase that edge in life—I want to feel alive.

PLAYBOY: The Philippines represents such a vibrant culture all over the world (and especially in California). What are some things that make you proud to be Filipina?

Kazumi: Sidenote: I actually ran for Ms. Philippines a long time ago! That’s another story for another time, but I am very proud of my culture. Whenever I see a fellow Filipino, whether here or overseas, we say, “Kabayan,” which means fellow countryman. Really, that translates to, “Bro—I got you.”

I was in Dubai a few weeks ago, and a lot of the maids and other workers are Filipino. Every time, I’d say “Kabayan,” they got so happy. I feel, with being Filipino, comes with a strong sense of community. Taking care of one another is huge. If a Filipino girl is in line for my meet-n-greet, she is cutting the line.

PLAYBOY: Switching gears, what features are you typically attracted to in men? In women?

Kazumi: Physically, I used to think I had a type, and then I started traveling the world. Honestly, the type of guy I like is just the hottest version of the guy from whatever country he’s from. If he could be the face of the travel brochure for a visit this country, then I want to talk to that guy. I like an objectively attractive guy. Tall, fit, good face. Face is everything. I like a sexy guy. I like my man to look good. Some girls are like, “Here’s my little ogre boyfriend!” No, I like my guy sexy as fuck. I like to look good as a unit.

Personality-wise, it’s totally different. It depends—am I trying to fuck or am I trying to fall in love? The type of man that I want to fall in love with is a guy that’s confident, really funny, really open-minded, super adventurous and spontaneous.

PLAYBOY: Here’s an educational one that the people need to know! From the woman’s perspective, which sexual positions are the most satisfying?

Kazumi: My personal favorite is missionary because I’m a very big eye contact person. If a guy puts me in doggy first position, I’m assuming he hates me.

Sometimes, a good start in cowgirl is pretty epic, but I feel like missionary is the best because I feel like that’s how you should start all sex. We should lay down and position it correctly. I feel like it’s also the place where you can feel it deeper. When I worked with Johnny Sins, I was like “Wowzers in my trousers!”

At the end of the day, it’s the same five positions, right? Missionary, cowgirl, doggy and variations of that. What makes sex interesting is the small variations between each position before you transition. Sure, there’s doggy, but we all know there’s 50 billion ways to do doggy, with different leg placements, the angle of her hips, the depth, the rhythm. That can really change the vibe.

Ultimately, I hate fucking a guy that only knows three positions. If that’s the case, please put in some more hours before you play with me.

PLAYBOY: I understand this is relative, but what does “achieving sexual liberation” mean to you?

Kazumi: That’s such a big question. When I was 19, I felt like it was very monumental for me to get. Sidenote: I’m allergic to alcohol, I don’t like to dance and I don’t like loud places. So, clubs and bars have never been my scene. As alluded to earlier, I’ve been going to sex clubs since I was 19 mostly because I love socializing and sex. Secondly, because I’m a little bit of a nymphomaniac.

Especially as a woman, your first sexual experiences are usually super traumatizing or coercive. However, my crowd of guys were so chill and they allowed me to experience all my deepest fantasies without making me feel judged.

A big reframing of communication was, instead of saying, “You want to fuck?”, it was like, “You want to play? Let’s play! Let’s have a play date!” If you approach sex as play and not as this serious thing that marks your value or self-worth, then it’s so much more fun.

If I could go back in time and talk to little Kazumi, I would say, “Don’t wait for marriage, wait for someone that just respects you.” It doesn’t matter if it’s a fling, it doesn’t matter if it’s a relationship, it doesn’t matter if you guys are trying to make this a three-year situationship, or you guys are just friends. Do they respect you? If you can’t answer that correctly, then you shouldn’t have sex with that person.

So, when I consider sexual liberation I think, “Does this person make me feel good before, after and during?” If you don’t feel good about playing around with this person, then why are you with them? Sex should be fun!

PLAYBOY: For the remainder of 2025, what should PLAYBOY readers expect to see from Kazumi?

Kazumi: I want Kazumi’s University to be the one-stop shop for anyone that wants to learn independent content creation! I want it to be a resource that all people can use, even if they don’t want to run their own site. I want to teach others how to do taxes as a sex worker. This is a space that we can all go into and I want to turn it into a large community.

There’s no exact recipe for success, and there’s not much available guidance in this industry. It’s an untapped market, so I feel like this has been a long time coming. Of course, everything ethical takes a little longer. You have to review over and over again to ensure it’s all goody. With that, I’m excited for everything to come.