Sex Work Exit Strategies: AM Davies on Injury, Identity & Reinvention

SWCEO Interviews AM Davies

Blog Post Written By: MelRose Michaels

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What happens when your sex work career ends before you're ready? When the spotlight fades without warning, the money stops overnight, and you're forced to rebuild, not by choice, but by circumstance?

In a recent Twitter Space conversation, MelRose Michaels sits down with AM Davies, a longtime dancer turned advocate, to talk about losing their career to a sudden accident, grieving an identity rooted in sex work, and how they rebuilt a new life with purpose, passion, and power.

MelRose Michaels: Welcome back to On The Whorizon. I’m your host, MelRose Michaels, and today’s guest is living proof that your career can end without warning, and still be the beginning of something bigger.

AM Davies spent nearly two decades as a dancer, performing at clubs like Jumbo’s Clown Room and earning titles like Spearmint Rhino’s Entertainer of the Year. After an accident forced an unexpected and irreversible exit from stripping, they had no backup plan, just grit, grief, and a deep love for the community. Since then, they’ve become a founding force behind Strippers United, launched the YAS podcast, and now run a nonprofit that educates and empowers through the lived experiences of sex workers. AM, welcome. Thanks so much for joining us.

AM Davies: Thank you so much for having me. It’s an honor.

MelRose Michaels: For those hearing about you for the first time, can you share who you are and what your journey in the sex work community has looked like?

AM Davies: I started stripping in 2002, nude clubs, bikini bars, topless clubs, all over the U.S. I also did some sex work outside of clubs. After my accident, I quickly got involved in advocacy. Two months post-accident, I was already protesting at strip clubs in Hollywood and helping form Strippers United into a nonprofit. I served as Secretary for a few years, laying the foundational work.

Around the same time, I began volunteering with the Black Sex Worker Collective, helping with letter campaigns, fundraising, media, and online conferences. I’m a tech nerd, so I support behind the scenes, too.

MelRose Michaels: You’ve had an incredible run, nearly two decades in clubs and even winning Entertainer of the Year. What did that chapter mean to you, not just as work, but as identity?

AM Davies: It was my identity. From a young age, I idolized the people I saw in Playboy and Hustler. I practiced stripping in front of friends when I was a teen. So when I finally got to do it professionally, it felt like I’d made it.

The money was life-changing. I didn’t come from wealth, so being able to support my family financially became a core part of who I was. Winning Entertainer of the Year was very intentional; I worked toward that title for three years. Even though I can’t dance anymore, I still identify with sex workers deeply. That will never leave me.

MelRose Michaels: It’s hard not to tie your identity to this work. It’s intimate, it pulls from our energy, and it deeply connects us to people.

Everything shifted for you in 2018. Can you share what happened and how it affected your life, body, and career?

AM Davies: In December 2018, I was hit by a car while riding my motor scooter. The bumper smashed five of my toes and the ball of my foot. My ankle was fine, but the front of my foot was crushed.

At first, doctors saved what they could, and I lived with a half-foot for a year and a half. But it was painful. Eventually, in May 2020, I had a below-the-knee amputation. That changed everything, physically, emotionally, and socially. I also hit perimenopause shortly after, so it was a lot all at once.

MelRose Michaels: That’s a lot to grieve. What came up for you first, income, autonomy, identity?

AM Davies: The money. I was doing really well financially. I was teaching other dancers about savings, and suddenly, I was relying on my mom to pay my phone bill. That brought a lot of internalized shame. Shortly after came the identity crisis. I didn’t expect how disorienting that would be. I thought I was just losing a job, but I lost my sense of self.

MelRose Michaels: You’ve talked about not getting to leave on your own terms. That’s a reality many face, even though it rarely gets discussed. What did that transition really look like?

AM Davies: I didn’t let myself process it. I had my amputation four days after George Floyd’s murder, during the height of the pandemic. So I threw myself into activism and didn’t grieve. I was being ableist toward myself.

Looking back, I needed rest. I needed help. But I kept pushing because being vulnerable wasn’t an option for me at the time. I regret not slowing down.

MelRose Michaels: That makes total sense. There’s little forgiveness for ourselves when we need help. And of course, sex workers don’t get a safety net. No unemployment. No disability. Is there something you wish you’d had in place while still performing?

AM Davies: Absolutely, disability insurance. I had no idea how benefits worked. I thought paying taxes meant you qualified, but that’s not true unless your employer pays into the system. If I’d known, I would’ve found a way to pay into disability or unemployment insurance on my own. When I learned I didn’t qualify, I cried to the woman on the phone. I realized I had nothing. It was terrifying. I was lucky to have family support, but many don’t.

MelRose Michaels: That’s exactly what happened to me after a car accident in 2015. I had no plan. I was lucky I had a credit card with an emergency deferment program, but it scared me.

What would you say to creators who haven’t thought about a backup plan?

AM Davies: Make one. Anything can happen. You have a fire extinguisher in your kitchen, right? You need the same thing for your career. Whether it’s an accident or a global event, you need a lifeboat.

MelRose Michaels: What skills from your time stripping carried over into this new chapter?

AM Davies: Resilience. I’m comfortable hearing “no.” I show up even when I don’t want to. I hustle. I manage money. And I’m intentional and thoughtful. Those habits serve me in everything I do now, advocacy, admin, and organizing. I don’t see us as lazy or unskilled. We’re strategic and adaptive.

MelRose Michaels: Completely agree. Speaking of care, you now take care of 40 alligators?

AM Davies: Yes! My partner’s best friend runs a reptile rescue in Pennsylvania. People buy baby alligators with no understanding of what’s involved, so we rehab them before they move to a sanctuary in Florida. I feed them and even teach them how to find their food so they can survive later.

MelRose Michaels: That’s incredible. Totally unexpected. For current creators still in the game, what would you advise them to start doing now to prep for a future exit, planned or not?

AM Davies: Look into paying into unemployment and disability if possible. Track your spending. Start saving, even small amounts. Use high-yield savings accounts. Build your savings bigger than your checking account.

Start a 401k. Invest in the S&P 500 at a moderate risk level. And develop another income stream outside of sex work, even if it’s small. It could be pet sitting. Crocheting. Selling stuff on eBay. Something unrelated to sex work.

MelRose Michaels: Yes! I thought I was diversified, but all my businesses are sex-work adjacent. If adult content is ever fully banned, everything I’ve built would need a complete overhaul. True diversification means one business has nothing to do with the other. That's what creators should be thinking about.

AM Davies: Exactly.

MelRose Michaels: Do you think it’s more important to build passive income, like earning money while you sleep, or a new venture you can step into later?

AM Davies: Either is important. Ideally, both. But passive income is powerful. If it’s working while you sleep, you can expand it if sex work ends. Just make sure whatever you pursue is something you care about. Chasing something only for money can be draining and unsustainable.

MelRose Michaels: What advice would you give to someone who’s overwhelmed, doesn’t have savings, or doesn’t know where to start?

AM Davies: Make it a game. Get curious about how you spend and save.

I used to compare prices at stores vs. Amazon and started saving 40% on basics. I tracked how much I spent on alcohol, then decided I’d only drink for free or on holidays, and saved hundreds. Budgeting can be empowering and even fun when you treat it like a challenge.

MelRose Michaels: Yes! Gamifying stuff makes it so much easier and more sustainable.

You also mentioned discovering your bigender identity in this new chapter. How did that unfold?

AM Davies: I had never questioned my gender identity because I’d spent so much time hyper-feminized, heels, hair, makeup. But I always wore men’s clothes offstage and felt more like myself that way.

After the accident, I started exploring. I went down a dark spiral at first, wondering if I was nonbinary or trans. Eventually, I found the term “bigender,” and it just clicked.

Now I go by AM, use they/them pronouns, and I’m still navigating how people adjust to that. But shedding my own internalized ableism was another huge identity shift.

MelRose Michaels: I believe identity is a lifelong journey. We carry so much until life forces us to question it. For anyone feeling overwhelmed, underprepared, or scared, what’s the one thing you want them to walk away with?

AM Davies: Take things at your own pace. Tune out external pressure and listen to yourself.

What do you need to get through today? What calms your nervous system?

Give yourself permission to move slowly. Be forgiving. That’s how I’ve reduced anxiety, by learning to be gentle with myself and others.

MelRose Michaels: That’s such beautiful advice. Thank you for being here and sharing this with us. Where can people follow you and support your work?

AM Davies: Follow @yasworkorg on Instagram or visit yaswork.org. That’s where you’ll find the YAS podcast and all our nonprofit work. You can also find me personally at @amdavies_ on Instagram.

MelRose Michaels: Thank you, AM. This was powerful and necessary. Your story is a reminder that while we don’t always get to leave this work on our own terms, we can still build something sustainable, empowering, and entirely our own.

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Some parts of the above interview have been condensed or edited for clarity. For the full interview, listen to the entire podcast episode here

P.S. If this conversation resonated with you, you're not alone, and you don’t have to figure it out alone either. The CEO Society is our private community for adult creators building sustainable, long-term success in and beyond sex work. Join us for expert support, strategy, and a squad that actually gets it.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in the interview are those of the guest speaker and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of SexWorkCEO or MelRose Michaels. Anything said or written is of their opinion and is not intended to malign any religion, ethnic group, club, organization, company, individual, or anyone else.