IN THE SPOTLIGHT

This week we are proud to be spotlighting Lady Sharlot. You can usually catch her on the boards here at YNOT every day contributing her upbeat personality and insightful observations, bringing smiles to everyone’s faces.IN THE SPOTLIGHT

This week we are proud to be spotlighting Lady Sharlot. You can usually catch her on the boards here at YNOT every day contributing her upbeat personality and insightful observations, bringing smiles to everyone’s faces. The rest of the time her nose is to the grindstone running the tight operation that is Fetishbrokers.com with her husband, Spider. Let us all take a peek into the life of Lady Sharlot!

YNOT: Lady Sharlot! So good to have you with us this week. Before we jump into things, why don’t you give us the lowdown on what you do at Fetishbrokers, and basically what your company is all about!

Lady Sharlot: I’m pretty much the Head of Marketing as well as the Producer Account Manager. Basically that means that I try to figure out how to get our name in front of people, try to get them the content they want, and take care of all of our photographers and producers that broker their content through us. We help Webmasters get their content quickly, at a reasonable price, and with top-notch customer service. We strive to make sure that each customer that comes to us gets the content that they need and want, and are happy with their online shopping experience.

Fetishbrokers.com has been online selling content since August 2000. We debuted at the September Internext show in New Orleans that year. However, we’ve actually been in the business of supplying adult content since 1995, starting out as bondage and fetish photographers, and going straight to the Web. I’ve never dealt with the magazine industry.

YNOT: Do you even want to?

Lady Sharlot: We’re pretty happy with the Internet!

YNOT: To those Webmasters out there unfamiliar with the fetish world, can you give us your take on it?

Lady Sharlot: Many people, when they think of “fetish”, only seem to think about the harder fetishes like “bondage” or “tranny.” However, niche and fetish entail much more than that. We also deal in a lot of content that many people don’t think of as “fetish,” like schoolgirl, anal, blowjobs, panties, and even hardcore can be broken down in niches.

If you think about it, nearly ALL photo sets can be broken down into a “niche” category. Even our solo-girl-strip shoots are separated into “blondes,” “brunettes,” etc. When people look for content, they typically are looking for something specific. We provide that! With over 100 categories and over 260,000 images (and constantly growing), chances are that we’ll have what you’re looking for.

We also carry text stories, audio content, games, and video!

YNOT: Wow! You guys really have it covered over there! You and Spider are such seemingly “normal” Midwestern folks. Please share with us the path that brought you into one of the more obscure sectors of our biz!

Lady Sharlot: It started back when Spider was working his “real” job at a flourmill. While loading the 110 lb. bags of flour onto the rail car, a large stack of 12-15 bags tipped over and landed directly on his head. Diagnosis: back broken in two spots and a compression fracture in his neck. So, for the next several months, he was lying on the floor (the only place comfortable for him) trying to recuperate. We both knew that after the accident he would never be able to do the “physical labor” job any longer. So, with that in mind, I told him that he needed to figure out what to do with the rest of his life. Between the list of limitations that he had, and the past experiences of being laid-off several times because of companies downsizing, stores closing, mergers, etc, the thought of going back to work for someone else just didn’t seem that secure or appealing.

While trying to figure out what business to get into, we simply tried to figure out something that could be done within his new physical limitations, that didn’t cost much money to get in to (as we were flat broke), and that would keep a roof over our heads. We both know that sex sells, and that it would ALWAYS sell, so we started looking in that direction. Porn was incredibly difficult to find at the time, especially the bondage images. (We know, we used to go on “bondage porn” pilgrimages every time we visited a new town, LOL!) And, the stuff that we DID find (aside from a few of the greats), much of it just wasn’t that good.

Finally, one day he simply looked at me and said, “I want to be the Midwest’s largest Pornographer.” Hahahaha!!! I simply told him to figure out how to do it. And, much to my surprise, he actually DID! Soon afterwards, I grabbed my Canon AE-1, we put an ad in the local paper, and voila… here we sit today! Now granted, we’re not sure if we ARE the largest content providers in the Midwest, but we DO have an awful lot of dirty pictures shuffled through our hands every day.

YNOT: Now, what were YOU doing before all of this craziness? Any interesting work stories in your past?

Lady Sharlot: Well, I grew up mostly in Missouri, and my parents are bikers, which I think helped mold my personality into the “to each his own” philosophy. I was married two months after high school to Spider, and I got into the work force early. I’ve had a job almost constantly since I was 16. I’ve worked LOTS of fast food, lots of waitressing, and many different customer service jobs. One year though I managed to capture the “job of my dreams” working at a Teenage Girls Home. I loved my work and loved working with the girls. Because of my uncontrolled enthusiasm, and my inability to recognize that my boss was scared of competition, I managed to screw up and got fired over some small infractions.

Devastated, I was probably at the lowest point in my life at that time. The only thing that I knew was that I didn’t want to go back to flipping burgers. So, with that in mind, and the push to show that “old boss” that I could do her job better than her, along came college. After 3 ½ years, I got my Bachelors degree in Psychology and Criminal Justice and started working in the detention business. I worked with teenage juvenile delinquents, and then moved to the local county jail as a guard. Though I loved my job, the politics were difficult. I quit the jail after two years and came home to work on Fetishbrokers with Spider. It’s been a wonderful experience!

YNOT: Amazing… working at the jail must have been interesting! Would have never pegged you for that. Sounds like life before the adult Internet was crazier for you. What are some of your more memorable experiences? Anything worthy of the TV show “OZ?”

Lady Sharlot: Well, I learned sooo much about life there… lessons that I desperately needed. I was quite naïve, and believed nearly everything that anyone said! Probably my best lesson was my second day that I was on my own in the adult facility. I was working the medical module when some inmates needed to come to visit the nurse. This one big, scary guy, probably about 6’8” tall and 375 lbs. came down for a checkup. While taking him back to the vestibule to be escorted back to his module by another guard, he noticed a fellow inmate that he wanted to talk with, so he did.

I needed to get him to the vestibule so that I could continue my job, but he didn’t want to move. I stood there in the middle of the hallway and firmly told him, “Sir, you need to go to the vestibule.” He looked at me, stood his full height, puffed out his chest, looked me straight in the eye and said, ”You know what I’m in here for? Double murder…”

I looked him straight in the eye and told him “I don’t give a God dammed shit what you’re in here for! I told you to get your ass to the vestibule!”

YNOT: NICE!!!

Lady Sharlot: The man looked at me, sized me up, nodded his head, and immediately turned around and walked into the vestibule like I had asked. Hahahaha! I was SOOOO glad that he couldn’t see my back sweat, because I was SCARED to death!

The job itself was definitely a learning experience. Most of it good, some of it bad, but I am a lot smarter for having done it.

YNOT: Whew! You had me scared there!

Now, how did you set up shop, once you made the commitment to work in the adult Internet?

Lady Sharlot: Well, I’m not going to lie… Spider did most of the groundwork. He did the research, talked with a lawyer, etc., because I was still going to school at the time. But living in the middle of Kansas, and the Internet not quite widely used or even barely noticed at the time, we didn’t have really anyone that we knew to help us with this. We did most all of the initial stuff by ourselves.

We started producing content at our home, and shooting in our unattached garage. A photographer friend let us borrow a set of lights, talked a friend into modeling for us, and away we went.

YNOT: Given that you live in a pretty conservative area, I’d like to hear your philosophy about the adult Industry, and your observations…

Lady Sharlot: The truth of the matter is, I doubt that you’ll ever get people to relax when you’re talking about sex and porn. Though “tolerance” is the ideal, it actually seems to be the “exception” instead of the “rule” most of the time. Whether it’s religion, or race, or sexual preference, many people just have a hard time accepting that which they do not engage in themselves.

My personal theory is that I can tolerate anything, provided that no one is being hurt without their consent. In other words, gay couples aren’t hurting anyone, so go for it. Bondage enthusiasts aren’t hurting each other without prior consent, so go for it. If I’m not directly involved, and I’m not seeing anyone hurt, then I haven’t a single problem with it. I try to not only teach tolerance, but to live it as well.

YNOT: What’s your favorite part about working at home?

Lady Sharlot: The no boss thing, and I’m proud to say that I’ve never missed one of our son’s football games or wrestling matches!

YNOT: How do you see your future?

Lady Sharlot: Well, we’re still working on trying to become the Midwest’s largest pornographers that Spider declared he wanted to be. Seriously though, we would like to be able to continue to provide people with a large variety of content at reasonable prices, and become a one-stop-shopping website while still maintaining the close customer service we’ve been known for.

YNOT: What would you be doing if you weren’t involved in the adult Internet?

Lady Sharlot: I’d be holding a Master’s Degree and working as a psychotherapist counseling victims of child sexual abuse and/or dissociative identity disorder.

YNOT: How about some friendly newbie advice for all of the newcomers signing up at YNOT every day?

Lady Sharlot: There is already plenty of good, solid advice for newbies out there. You just have to go find it. However, understand that each of the authors of the advice typically have something to gain, so even though they are helping you, understand that they could also have something to gain, so judge each piece of advice from what works and feels right to YOU.

YNOT: True. But, we all know that there is a lot of back-scratching in this business that benefits all involved! But, I’ve got to ask you… what did YOU just gain from that advice?

Lady Sharlot: Hahahaha… Nothing! That’s a freebie!

YNOT: Oh really?! Well, allow me to give you another opportunity for some self-promo here then, for your generosity, LOL!

Lady Sharlot: LOL! Check out the new design of Fetishbrokers.com. We have completely redone the site to make shopping MUCH easier for the customer. With over 100 categories/niches, a search engine, thumbnails for every image set, and sorting capabilities, we really believe that shopping for your content is going to be MUCH more pleasant! And, we’re constantly increasing our image and title count – getting you new and inventive content nearly daily!

And for our Photographers/Producers, we’ve got up-to-the-minute stats, weekly publisher settlement stats, and the ability to have more control over the management of your content while on our site.

YNOT: What do you like to do when you are not supplying the world with porn?

Lady Sharlot: I enjoy being with my family. I know it sounds cliché, but most all of us have a really great relationship and I hang around my parents, aunts and uncles like I do my friends. My parents know what I do, and though Mom’s happy for us, she’s still a little weirded out by it. My dad, however, asks for content for his birthday!

YNOT: Do you enjoy your fetish porn?

Lady Sharlot: LOL… ya know, I don’t think anyone’s ever asked me that question before! As far as “getting off on it,” that doesn’t happen much… anymore. After several years of dirty pictures, you get a bit desensitized to it.

YNOT: Sorry, I don’t. Hahahahahaha… I’m just better at controlling myself… kinda…

Lady Sharlot: I DO still love looking at the images, enjoying the art of it, and always learning new stuff about what turns other people on. Looking at porn is like looking into someone’s head a little, and into the producer or models’ taboo thoughts. I think the psychology student in me finds that part REAL attractive.

YNOT: Well Lady Sharlot, I want to thank you for a very engaging interview. You had a lot of cool and interesting things to say, and I hope that more and more Webmasters will see that and buy up your content like mad!

Lady Sharlot: Huge huggs Ma’dear! Thanks for this opportunity!

Please visit Lady Sharlot’s YNOT Chat Profile and also be sure to check out Fetishbrokers.com!