- [Interviewer] Okay. All right, Ivy. Ivy, where are you from
originally, where did you grow up? - Pasadena, California.
- Pasadena. And tell me about your childhood. Did you have both your
parents when you were a kid? - No, I never knew my dad. I grew up with my mom. I was the last of five, and I was kinda the only one
that really stayed with her. - [Interviewer] How was your childhood? - It was cool. My mom kept me out of like, the drama, the limelight,
until I was like 16, and then I started doing my own thing. 'Cause, yeah. All my brothers and sisters, they was already into the street life. And she had basically sent them away at a young age because she had her first at 15, so she couldn't take care of all of us. So--
- And you left home at what age?
- Huh? - [Interviewer] You left home at what age? - I left home at 16. - 16?
- Yeah. - [Interviewer] And where'd you go? - I met a dude, and I went to the streets, and I just started making money. - [Interviewer] And the
guy you met, was he a pimp? - Yeah. - [Interviewer] And so,
you would work Figueroa, or Pasadena, or what?
- Sepulveda was my first track.
- Sepulveda? - Yeah.
- Do you remember your first time picking up,
a guy picking you up? - I got in a police car my first time. - (laughing)
- First ever. I got in a police car. I wasn't really scared, for some reason. I wasn't scared at all. I heard his speaker go off, and I just was like, "what the heck?" And they didn't give me, they didn't arrest me or anything. And after that, I just, I kept going. I didn't stop after that. - [Interviewer] And how
much money were you making? - About three to 500 a night. - [Interviewer] How old are you now? - I'm 20.
- You're 20. So you've been doing this a few years. Are you making more money now?
- Yeah. Yeah, way more money now. - [Interviewer] What do
you make a night now? - Probably like, 800 at the most. I don't overdo it.
- Yeah. Have you had some bad experiences? - Oh, yeah. - [Interviewer] Sometimes
these guys are crazy, right? - Oh, yeah. I've gotten thrown out on the freeway, I've gotten hit by
cars, I've gotten raped. Yeah. Some crazy stuff. - [Interviewer] You been arrested
more than that first time? - More than I can count
on my fingers and toes. Yeah. (chuckling) So I just go to jail for prostitution. Most of my cases are prostitution. - [Interviewer] Are drugs
a part of your life? - Oh, yeah. Yeah. I first experienced drugs when I was 16, and I just never stopped doing 'em. - [Interviewer] And what
are you using today? - Meth.
- Crystal meth? - Mm-hmm. - [Interviewer] So the
guys that pick you up, they'll take you where? A hotel, or--
- The car. - In the car?
- Hotel. Yeah.
- And the hours you'll work are typically what? - All day. All day. - [Interviewer] And how late
into the night do you go? - 'Til, I don't sleep. - [Interviewer] Crystal meth. (chuckling) - I don't sleep.
- Yeah. Do you have kids? - I have a daughter.
- Do you have a daughter? Are you raising her? So you have, you have
a mouth to feed and-- - Yeah.
- And this money is something you need to survive, right? - Yeah.
- Have you considered other, a more legitimate way
of making money, or-- - [Ivy] Most definitely. Everybody got a better way
to make money than this. Which, you're addicted
to, I'm addicted to it. - You think you're addicted?
- I'm addicted to the streets. - I've heard that a lot.
- Yeah. It's crazy.
- But what is it about the streets, you think,
that does that for people? - [Ivy] I don't know, honestly. I don't know. I think it's the family orientation, how everybody feels so connected, 'cause everybody ain't judging nobody. You're really not getting judged 'cause most people you come
in contact in the streets is doing worse or doing
the same thing as you. So, you never feel like you gotta live up to anybody's
standards, or you just do what you gotta do, and
you mind your business. - [Interviewer] Are you
still working with the pimp? - No.
- No? How long did that last? - [Ivy] I stopped messing
with pimps when I was 17. Yeah. My sister, she showed me
how to get money on my own. And I used to ride the
train to LA and just walk. All I had to do was walk. - [Interviewer] What do you think the most misunderstood thing about this lifestyle, like, people that don't do
it, that don't understand it? What do you think they don't understand? - They don't understand
the pain, I don't know. 'Cause if you're gonna do
it, everybody got pain, but I feel like, it's a
different type of pain. The streets is a whole
different type of pain, 'cause it's levels to the streets. Just like it's levels to
live in a regular life. It's a different type
of pain, and no one will ever understand it, because
it's a pain that you cannot, you're not supposed to
feel it, but you feel it. It's different. It hurts. But it's like, you gotta force
yourself to be numb to it. - [Interviewer] Are you saving money? You are? That's great. How do you think working as a prostitute for the last three, four
years has changed you? - It ain't changed me, it hasn't. I do the same thing every day. I don't know. I don't change. - [Interviewer] It takes
a special personality for somebody to do this
and survive, right? Not any girl could do this? - Yeah, everyone can do it.
- You think? - Yeah, I do. I think everyone can do it. Everyone's not gonna be able
to stick with it, though. That's not easy. - [Interviewer] What advice
would you give to a young girl who's considering doing
something like this? - Get to know yourself. It's not worth it. It's definitely not worth it. Get to know yourself, and love yourself. And be able to look
yourself in the mirror, because once you get out here, you can't. You can't change your, you know. Everything you do is gonna
be your fault, you know. And you're gonna need something. People say, "you don't have to do drugs "when you're out there." It comes with it. And once you're out there
and you've gotta stay up, or you're gonna need something
that stimulates you, and then, it makes it harder
for you to look in the mirror and see yourself, so to young
girls that might meet a guy and, or a girl, who tells
about this lifestyle, it's not worth it, it's a trap. - [Interviewer] Do you
feel like the pimp that brought you in early on
might've led you into this? And you may have avoided it if he hadn't? - I wouldn't say it was him,
because I was subject to it. I was shown it. I knew about it. I just, it just took a man because I, that's who I was attracted
to, as a young girl. It took him to, you know. But I knew without, if
it wasn't him, I would've still dipped into it--
- You still would've done it? - And got addicted to it. - [Interviewer] Does your
family know you're doing this? - Yeah. - [Interviewer] What's their reaction? - They don't like it, but my mom never, when she first found out
I was in the streets, my sister called her and
told her to come get me, and she just was like,
"what do you want me to do?" And she hung up. So, I always felt like I could
just do what I wanted to do. My mom never put a leash on me. My family's kinda like,
do what you gotta do. - [Interviewer] Are any of
your brothers and sisters doing something similar? - All of 'em.
- All of 'em? - They're all incarcerated. - [Interviewer] You're
the only one that's not? - Yeah. - [Interviewer] Does this
life get you down sometimes? Do you get depressed? - Yeah. Of course. - [Interviewer] What about it is the most unsettling part of it? Just the danger, or the--
- No matter how many years I've been prostituting, every day, when I step out onto the street, I'm always
nervous, I always get nervous, 'cause you never know who
you get in a car with. And so, that's the most
unsettling part for me. You never know. No matter how tough you are, no matter how much drugs you on, it's, I always get nervous.
- Yeah. I mean, you could, you
could lose your life anytime, right?
- Yeah, you constantly gotta be in, you know,
fight-or-flight mode. - You use your intuition?
- Mm-hmm. And I always gotta come
back to my daughter, so I think about that. Every time I step out. I always tell myself,
"I'm coming back home "to my daughter tonight." - [Interviewer] Well Ivy,
thank you so much for sharing your story.
- Thank you. - [Interviewer] And good
luck with your daughter, and wherever your life goes from here. You're still very young.
- Yeah. - [Interviewer] You can do a lot of different things from here. - Thank you. (chuckling) - [Interviewer] Thank you.
