Stephanie Vastine sat down with exotic dancer and former adult film actor, Ace (real name withheld) to find out how a teenager from Nigeria wound up in the American sex industry.
Why did you immigrate from Nigeria to Texas?
I grew up in Lagos, Nigeria.
For all of you who don’t know, that’s in Africa.
When I was eighteen, I left Nigeria and moved to New York City (NYC) because my mom won the immigration lottery.
Every year the United States (US) has an immigration lottery for people in other countries. Someone in NYC played for my mom. It’s not a money lottery, (if it was I would still have some money right now from it) you come to the US with an automatic green card and get your citizenship within ten years.
So I came to the US in September of 1995 with my two sisters: both younger than me. One of them was only nine when we came here, now she’s a going to medical school. My other sister is now a nurse who has her own clinic.
How did you get started in the sex industry and what about it appealed to you?
I didn’t start that right when I got here.
My sisters and I started going to Richland Community College shortly after arriving here (in Dallas) from NYC (by way of Austin).
Initially, my major was computer science, but I was there for awhile because I kept changing it. I didn’t know what I wanted.
I did porn first, but just for a little bit, not a long time because I was just doing it for extra money.
I did it just for money. I got the opportunity to do it real quick and I did it, it was fun while it lasted.
It was also uncomfortable, I had to psych myself up beforehand and get mentally prepared. Porn is good, but it takes a certain type of person. I just didn’t want my family to find out. Where I come from they probably wouldn’t believe what I was doing. They are quick to judge me. They would say “Oh, he’s not a real African. He’s a bad boy, hard headed” that kind of stuff. I was raised with discipline. I have been on my own now for a while so I do what I want and I pay my own way.
After living with my uncle for a minute, I got kicked out for not making curfew. My uncle is the kind of person who is the disciplinarian. He is an old-school Nigerian who felt like my friends were bad influences. He didn’t know that I wasn’t hanging around with the wrong crowd. I’m smarter than that. He was just scared that we didn’t understand anything about America, but I was learning.
I knew.
Anyway, we got into it and he kicked me out.
I was trying to survive, moving from apartment to apartment by myself when I got hooked up with somebody in the porn industry.
I was dancing at a club in Deep Ellum and a chick saw me and came up to me with the director.
I did about ten movies.
When I got through with that little gig I started at La Bare because of a bet with my friends. People used to tell me, when they would see me at the club, that I should “go out and get some money with your body”. I told them there was no way I was going to take off my clothes for money. I said not over my dead body.
I used to talk shit about the strippers before, I didn’t know I was going to end up being one.
So what changed in your mind?
The bet, the money. Six guys put 100 dollars down saying I wouldn’t go to La Bare and look for a job. I went in that night for amateur night, which is every Thursday at La Bare. I told my friends that I would do it but they had to up the money by $50.
Mind you, that’s six guys with $150 each saying that I wont get a job there and do it for a week.
So on amateur night, I blew away all the guys I competed with and I won and I got a job, the manager wanted me to start right away. The next day the boss called me and asked if I was coming into work. I was like “Um no, my family would go crazy if they found out.” I come from a culture that is very strict.
There’s nothing wrong with it, but in America it’s a different ballgame. But I’m street smart and intelligent. I’m not stupid. I’m just making honest money.
So to win the bet, I had to go and work there for a week. After a week, I told the manager “I don’t think I can do this anymore” and he said “What are you talking about? You’re one of the greatest things to happen to this club. The club needs your energy.”
I started dancing in October 2005. In my first week I did pretty good. I made about $600. I had fun and I thought I was going to quit after a week, but the boss wouldn’t let me quit and the rest is history.
Now it’s been five years, almost six.
I didn’t expect that.
You keep comparing African culture, saying it’s stricter. What exactly do you mean by that?
We were raised in a different culture. There, you didn’t have to move out of your parent’s house when you were 18. All they expected was that you go to school, be responsible, and don’t do bad stuff. You have to respect your parents and their house. You don’t talk back to your parents like you would here.
I heard of a girl here who called 9-11 because their parents spanked them. In Africa, no way. If you’re parents spank you, it’s called discipline. That’s the culture thing.
In America a kid can talk back to their parents. I hear it all the time. You can’t talk like that back home, in Africa. You have to respect your elders and you can’t just mouth off to anybody. That’s the difference.
It’s just a very high moral standard.
What is dancing like? Do you think it is similar to what female dancers experience?
Firstly, there’s not a lot of male strip clubs. La Bare has locations all over the U S, but besides us, there’s only Chippendales and they are not similar at all. They do shows and they travel but they only take their shirts off and leave on their pants.
At La Bare, we strip, so it’s different.
We get down.
A male strip club is different. Male dancers work our butts off. We don’t get paid in anything but tips and lap dances. We love women. All ages and types. A lot of people have it all wrong, thinking it’s all old ladies at La Bare, but it’s not. We have all kinds of classes of women that come in.
We love and respect women, or else why would we be doing this?
Strippers are different from your average guy because we deal with women on a daily basis and on a different level. It’s our job to make women happy and please them. If they have a boyfriend at home, we get them ready. We are just entertaining and doing our job.
Do you think a man can retain more pride than a woman while stripping?
It’s harder for women strippers. At their job, men look at them like a piece of meat. At the same time, men go in there and spend more money.
Generally, men spend more money so the female strippers make more money than us on average. We do have some women who come in and spend a lot of money, but its not as consistent.
Do you ever feel like a piece of meat at your job?
Yeah, I do. All the time. But I think I’m okay with that. I don’t care. I brush it off, you know? It’s a job to me, so it’s nothing personal.
Just like people who go and work 9 to 5 at a job, I come out 7 to 2 in the morning. That’s what I do. I just take it as a job. It’s how I pay my bills. I really just love entertaining women and making them happy.
Does your job affect your romantic relationships?
It makes it more difficult.
I don’t think I can do a relationship right now because I don’t know where I want to be in life. I’m moving through traffic right now and a relationship is the last thing on my mind. I don’t want to hurt anybody or break any girl’s heart. I don’t want to be that guy. I keep my life less complicated by being single so I don’t have to answer to anyone.
You can’t complicate your life by extra stuff just because you want something. You have to look at the long run. Maybe it will sneak up on me, I don’t know. God put me here and maybe that’s his plan for me but I don’t know.
Does religion play a role in your life?
I’m a Christian but the last time I went to church was about two months ago.
I need to start going again every Sunday. I go to all kinds of churches: I don’t discriminate against any denomination. It’s really important to me. I go to church and pray to God and worship God and that’s it.
I still feel kind of guilty in the back of my mind that I’m dancing for a living. I wonder if God likes it or not.
But I know he is watching over me and he will protect me every day. I just want to dance until I get to a point, and then I will get out of it. Hopefully I will save enough money to do what I want to do.
What is your long term plan?
I’m trying to be more motivated and organized. My plan is to make enough money to try to get a house.
I am enrolling at KD Studios in Dallas in the fall. I want to go there for film production.
I don’t want to use it for porn or anything. I really want to do big things.
Photographed by Stephanie Vastine
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