Leilani Li: From Survival Sex Work to Award Winning Stardom

Holly Randall Unfiltered

Holly Randall

Sexuality, Health & Fitness

4.6 • 1.4K Ratings

🗓️ 16 April 2025

⏱️ 53 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In this episode of Holly Randall Unfiltered, we dive deep into the inspiring journey of Leilani Li, a trailblazing black trans woman in the adult industry. Leilani candidly shares her early experiences with survival sex work to her transition into mainstream porn, making history as the first black trans woman to win two prestigious AVN Awards. But getting here wasn’t easy—Leilani faced some frightening and dangerous situations in her early days. She openly reflects on her journey: from a manipulative young woman doing what she had to in order to survive, to the honest, confident, and hard-working woman she is today. And for those contemplating a career in sex work (in all it’s forms), Leilani offers invaluable advice: highlighting the crucial priorities of safety, client screening, and mental health preservation. She opens up about how she deals with internet trolls, her advice for young trans women getting into porn, and how she stays grounded. She and Holly also debate the industry's progression towards embracing diversity and celebrating trans performers: is it enough? Leilani’s story is not only a testament to her resilience and success, but also an honest and eye opening revelation of how sex work can turn from something that one does simply for survival, to a viable career path that brings a true sense of purpose to one’s life. Patreon members get the VIP treatment: uncensored, ad-free, and a bonus Q&A! Want the inside scoop? Join us at https://www.patreon.com/hollyrandallunfiltered/ for exclusive content and more! Support our show by supporting our sponsors! Want bigger, healthier loads? Visit vb.health/products/load-boost and use code [ HOLLY] for 10% off

Transcript

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0:00.0	You were listening to a pleasure podcast.
0:03.1	For more from our sex podcast collective, visit pleasurepodcasts.com. Hello, everybody. Welcome back to Holly Randall Unfiltered. Before I introduce you to my stunning guest, let me tell you about my sponsor, Fleshlight.
0:33.3	Fleshlight is the number one selling male sex toy in the world, and it can help you reach
0:38.0	new heights of self-pleasure. Just go to hrupod.com, click Fleshlight, and use code
0:45.1	Holly to get 10% off of your new delicious device. All right, guys, my guest today has made
0:51.9	a lot of waves in her just two years in the industry.
0:55.7	She is the first black trans woman to win two ABNs, including being crowned last year's best trans newcomer.
1:03.1	Welcome, Lelani Lee.
1:04.6	Hi, Holly. How are you?
1:06.2	I'm good. How are you?
1:07.3	I'm doing really good. Thank you for having me. I'm so happy to be here.
1:10.2	Thank you so much for coming. I'm so happy to be here. Thank you so much for coming.
1:11.5	I'm so happy that you're here.
1:13.3	So we were just saying, before we jump into your story and all of that, the TEA Awards just
1:18.8	happened.
1:19.3	They did, yeah.
1:20.0	Which I wanted to go to, but unfortunately, I had a family emergency so I couldn't go. But tell me a little bit about how your experience was, and for those who don't
1:28.6	know, what the TA Awards are. Well, the TEA Awards are the Trans Erotic Awards, which is the only
1:34.4	award show of its kind. It is a award show that is solely focused on trans and LGBTQ on performers
1:42.4	within the adult space. We come together once a year, every year for a pre-party, and we come together for an
1:48.3	award show to celebrate all of our projects that we've done throughout the year.
1:52.6	And so how was the show this year?
	...

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