AVN Stars Spotlight: Dela Florez

LOS ANGELES — Dela Florez tells AVN she found her “home” in adult entertainment, embracing the path that she seemed destined for many years before making the move. And now that she has established a following and found her preferred platform to share her diverse range of content, Florez says there are no limits to what she can create. She arrived at AVN Stars armed with a breadth of life experiences that have given her a worldliness and wisdom that she carries with her in every new endeavor and interaction. Among Florez’s areas of expertise—aside from femdom—are work as a professional bruja. Dela has had a tarot reading and energy healing practice for 21 years. She’s published in several pagan/occult periodicals; she’s a certified meditation teacher who was trained in India; she has a medical Cannabis specialist certification; and she holds a Religious Studios degree with a special focus on Hinduism. That’s not to mention additional jobs as a costume character at Disney World—where she played Pluto—and her work for a mermaiding swim company, where she swam in and taught others how to swim in mermaid tales. But it turns out adult was her calling. “When I was 18 [in ’97-’98], I was in talks with a Montreal studio to develop an adult site that featured costumes and aesthetics from various historical eras,” Dela explains. “But at the time, aside from a very few notable exceptions of breakthrough performers, such as Traci Lords, any involvement in the adult industry was essentially a mainstream career-killer. “Agents would refuse to represent you, or drop you off their roster if they got wind of you doing it. So I ended up declining that project in the end. I'd say every five years or so I would do a little digging into how the adult industry was evolving in the digital age, and weigh that against the mainstream industry's acceptance. “I always joked that by the time I was 40 I would say ‘fuck it’ and just become a Dominatrix! And here we are!” Florez “finally” entered the adult industry in December 2019 after one of her co-workers told her she was doing OnlyFans, explaining how a growing number of premium platforms allow creators to maintain complete control over every aspect of their careers. “It was a revelation!” Dela recalls. “Literally that night I went home, told my husband to stand back and watch the show, and registered for my first platform.” In this exclusive Q&A, Dela discusses her mainstream background, how waiting until she was 40 has given her a different perspective on her adult career, travel, findom and even what kind of porn she used to rent, among other things. AVN: Where are you from originally—born and raised?  DF: I was born and raised in Orlando, Florida. Infinite lakes, ancient springs, and gators as common as squirrels. Famous beaches a short drive away and top-tier theme parks that were just where your folks dropped you off with friends when bored… Looking back, I realize how surreal my upbringing seems to most!What were you doing for work before you got into adult? What was your last mainstream job before jumping in?I was managing a small boutique dog care company for six years—we offered walks, boarding, daycare, and grooming services in an upscale area of Toronto. All the insights I gained into dog behavior and training gets put to very good use with submissives! When you say you worked for many years in the “vanilla entertainment business,” what were you doing? From the second I was out the womb I was finding ways to perform and entertain. I joined my first theatre production at age 4, and was immediately hooked! Musical theatre has always been my favorite—the energetic give-and-take between actor and live audience is incredibly powerful, and when you add music to that there's really nothing that can even come close to that intense emotional immersion and catharsis for me. But I also started doing film, TV, print, and radio at 8, and in my late 20s I even did stand-up comedy for a few years, where I had a reputation for having a very dirty mind and being totally un-bookable for clean shows! I was just born needing an audience to thrive! What were you doing when you were appearing on networks such as Nickelodeon, Disney, MuchMusic and Just for Laughs? I have the unique experience of being present for the boom that came to Florida in the early 1990s, with Ron Howard and Tim Burton leading the charge. Nickelodeon soon moved their primary production from Vancouver to Orlando, and of course Disney was filming The Mickey Mouse Club, and a few other shows there as well. It was an incredibly amazing time to be a kid actor in central Florida!  I worked mostly for Nickelodeon, who were experimenting with having a stable of local kids they could call on to fill in almost anywhere. So from the ages of 10-17 I was sort of on-call for the casting directors there, and played a huge variety of one-off parts on shows such as "Clarissa Explains It All" and "Welcome Freshman,” was a frequent beta-tester for Nick Arcade games, filled in when game-show contestants would cancel (yes! I got to keep the prizes!), and was in many promo campaigns, including the series of spots leading up to the opening of cultural icon that was the legendary Slime Geyser!  Once I immigrated to Toronto for university, I stayed active in theatre, and was scouted by a comedic talent agency and began working primarily in the comedy sphere. I was brought in to do off-beat commentary on various music video shows for MuchMusic (the Canadian MTV), and a musical comedy I was starring in was picked up by Just For Laughs Festival in Montreal, which is one of the world's top-tier comedy festivals. It was this period of time when I began my foray into professional stand-up. What did you take away from those mainstream TV experiences—from that part of your life? It was just always so natural to be on-stage or on-camera—I think it really solidified that performing was what made me feel most alive and creative. It also provided clear perspective at a very young age on how deep the misogyny runs in and controls the media, so by necessity I began looking for ways to perform and express myself where I had actual agency. How do you feel like waiting to get into adult until you were 40 has helped you hit the ground running?   I see and move through the world very differently these days than in years gone by. I have a very clear sense of who exactly I am, what I like, and where I want to be going which I simply didn't before. I was whip-smart in my 20s, but there is a depth and sophistication to the way I approach things now that I earned slogging through life, and learning from many mistakes. I'm very comfortable enforcing my boundaries and have been through enough that it's much harder to get one over on me these days, which saves me a lot of headaches online. I'm also able to directly relate to subs in a wide variety of age-brackets, which makes meaningful rapport-building a breeze!  D/s has also always been a part of who I was sexually, having my kinky self awakened reading Anne Rice's BDSM erotica series The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty at age 11. Consequently, I bring 20-plus years of real-world experience in D/s partner play, and decades of study into the psychology driving these erotic dynamics. This allows me to weaponize nuance to get my hooks into the minds of new submissives very effectively.   I feel like I'm being allowed the privilege to arrive right when I'm truly stepping into my power!  When did you sign up for AVN Stars? How did you hear about the platform?I signed up for AVN about six weeks after I first started making adult content. I was not impressed with the culture on the platform I was on, and the more I learned about the issues so many models were having, I didn't feel comfortable there. So I googled alternatives and jumped when I saw the AVN brand in the results. I didn't hesitate to sign up, and I've never looked back! It's felt like home since the moment I landed here. What do you think of the AVN Stars platform so far? What are your favorite features of it? I adore AVN Stars—as an adult platform it truly understands the assignment! I love that it's been such an enthusiastic and supportive home for so many Dommes, and has really taken the time to listen—and act— on creator feedback about what features would help us. I also feel more secure knowing an extremely established and respected brand in the adult industry is behind it. AVN has had its finger on the pulse of the industry since 1984! It's not a fly-by-night looking to make a quick buck on the backs of performers, or suddenly going to decide we're distasteful and kick us to the curb.  That paid block feature is a real winner! It not only provides additional ways to play with discipline, power, and consequence (a lesson sorely needed in today's upside-down world) but also provides another buffer that creators can utilize to maintain strong boundaries with those buyers who feel entitled to push. It's definitely turned into a key training tool that I have used to successfully reform a fair few subs into very obedient boys! For readers who may not be familiar with you yet, how would you describe your personality? Lush, imaginative, exacting, and unexpected. I'm very much a sensualist who revels in hedonic immersion—I want to be completely enveloped by the fantasy, and create the same experience for my submissives. Along with everything else, I'm also a published author, and so I have a very intimate relationship with the power of language. I often describe my approach to D/s as one where the sub and I co-create a little pocket-universe for the two of U/us to inhabit and explore together. The mind is the most powerful sex organ, and language has a uniquely magical ability to worm its way deep into our subconscious and change the very fabric of our being when wielded skillfully. So I love using post captions and the time I spend with subs in the DMs to catalyze deeper obedience and $ervice. Overall, I like to weave an air of seduction and intrigue through all my play.  But it's not all elevated language and pseudo-psycho-sexual analysis! It's also plenty of good-natured roasting, and meaty conversations about the off-beat with the likeminded. I'm very sarcastic, and I love a clever bait-and-switch to keep people on their toes! I have a wicked Virgo stellium in my chart, and catch lots of details others miss. I take great pleasure in using that knowledge to take subs by surprise during play, but also to show that I am listening, and I do care about their well-being both in and out of sessions. As a Domme, I consider myself exacting and strict, but infinitely fair. If W/we're not both having fun, what's the point? How would you describe your approach to AVN Stars? What do you like to post? I try to balance the heavy-D/s with more casual posts so it never feels one-note. Yes, everyone is here for the sexy stuff, but I want to ensure that subscribers don't become desensitized to it. I want to ensure posts have the appropriate impact, and variety of tone really helps with that. I make sure each day has high-quality formal photo devotional drops with mini-erotica captions meant to really tug at those subby purse-strings. That's broken up by posts about what music I'm listening to, and shit-posts about whatever thing just happened or what's obsessing my mind in the moment. I fill things out with plenty of casual teaser snaps that one might expect to get from a very naughty and Dominant lover. Dommes are fully-fledged humans, and failure to present myself as such would encourage base objectification, and shallow role-play which I'm not interested in. I try and create an atmosphere that is friendly and intimate, but one that always centers My multi-faceted power, and keeps their delectable weakness for me on display.  When did you begin being a findom? Was that your persona from the start?  I had an oddly anachronistic upbringing that involved very outdated, sexist messaging about the relationship between women and men and money. It was very much the "find a rich man, do whatever it takes to get and keep him for your security.” We were painfully lower middle class, but my mom would save up to take me to very upscale restaurants once or twice a year to train me how to be comfortable moving in upper-class circles, bettering my chances of marrying rich. While the reasoning behind it was problematic, I'm grateful for it. I learned early that money is power, men hold the majority of it, and finding ways to extract it using a man's lusts was the key to a secure future. I was just never on board with compromising myself to please a man to access his money. What was a girl to do? Money has always been a weapon of control and power. In the context of D/s, I really can't think of a more tangible and meaningful exchange of real power, than that of money. I'd frequently fantasized about the amount of financial security l'd have if men were required to monetarily compensate me for whatever enjoyment they experienced in my company. Then about eight years ago I made the acquaintance of a lovely companion who introduced the concept of "financial domination" into my life! She used to go hang out in the chic after-work cocktail bars in the Toronto financial district to try and find what she described as The Holy Grail—a finsub—the man aroused by having his finances used and controlled by Dominant women. The marriage of D/s and money?! It all clicked for me that day, and I point to that as the day I knew I was a FinDomme. It just took me a while to figure out how exactly to find partners, and play in a way that was ethical, consensual, sustainable, and arousing for both parties—so thanks, AVN! I feel so blessed to have found this outlet for safely exploring My money kink! ---------- My first month online was a bit of a clusterfuck, to be honest. I hadn't come across many online Dommes yet, so I still had an outdated perception that any flavor of professional Domination required leather and dungeons. The real world fetish scene I had moved in had a very strict dress code, and I had a wrong idea that more casual, domestic D/s play was just what you did until you could afford all the props and scenery. It had never once occurred to me that it was something that could be marketable! So, I started out posting solo cougar hotwife content, which represented certain authentic aspects of my sexuality, but it just never felt right, and I was quite discouraged. One day on NSFW Twitter, I decided to browse fetish creators to see what they were doing. I found all these amazing Femdom and Findoms—and very few of them were wearing leather in a dungeon. It was a real a-ha moment! Freed from my incorrect assumptions about the necessity of hardcore BDSM aesthetics, I immediately pivoted to D/s, which was my natural wheelhouse. Everything started falling into place. Elements of the grind that had been making me uncomfortable, namely the power that many buyers tried to wield over models with their money, suddenly had a framework and context that put all the cards back into my hand where it belonged. And it allowed me to finally explore my money kink that had long simmered in the background! How did you learn your findom techniques? I’ve always been a seductress. I very much get off on the power I gain over men when they are aroused by me. I've also always taken especial pleasure in seeing how much humiliation a man would willingly accept to gain what he desired from me. (One poor fellow I did theatre with ended up having to make his first entrance on-stage with a raging hard-on every single performance because he simply couldn't tear himself away from my words and hands in the wings as he waited for his cue!) My lifelong fascination and study of psychology and various behavior modification techniques were pressed into very effective service of that. Transferring those skills and proclivities to findom was fairly effortless for me. In my opinion, the online D/s dynamic is particularly well-suited to findom. Many of my submissives aren't really true FINsubs, but they've discovered having the transactional nature of online play sexualized enhances their overall experience. That being said, I am also constantly honing myself by learning from more established Dommes—both Fem and Fin. We're all so incredibly intelligent, creative, and unique, it would be foolhardy to not look to those who are preceding and succeeding!  What kind of video clips do you create? What is your specialty? I'm always doing my best to create experiences for my subs to participate in, rather than simply watch passively. I have two types of clip that are my favorites: play-along POV drains, and more intimate body worship clips.   The body worship clips reflect a more FLR-GFE vibe. I'm trying to recreate the experience that a submissive might have if they were right here with me, getting the privilege of worshipping my body in its natural state—in the panties and PJs and cheeky rompers I wear around the house day-to-day. It's less about taking the sub down a peg, and more about inspiring affection and devotion—with gentle reminders that I take my compliments in cash. The play-along POV drains are where things get more serious. This is where you'll find me in full make-up and lingerie, taunting the viewer, pointing out uncomfortable truths, peppering in a little humiliation and degradation, and using my body as a weapon to drown their minds and flood their bodies with the hormones and neurotransmitters that render them so deliciously pliable. I use on-screen prompts to reinforce my commands, and anchor trigger phrases deeper in their consciousness. There’s always a tone of play, and of the viewer being "in" on what's happening in the subtext, though. Still, I have an uncanny way with words, and most log out with their bank accounts significantly lighter than when they logged in… and thank me for it. What have you learned about yourself since you started your adult entertainment career? I have a much healthier relationship with money—I have a lot more of it, for one thing! But I don't have the same shame and fear around it that is so common to those who grow up within a financially insecure household. I value my skills and time much more highly, and am very comfortable walking away from people and situations that don't! Asking for what I am worth is now second nature. I've also regained faith in my ability to successfully achieve the financial future that I've constantly been working for all this time.  But probably the biggest thing was the reinforcement of the whole "trust your gut" thing. This is an industry that I've wanted to be in since I discovered it—that I always just instinctively knew was a perfect use of all the facets of my personality. I let all kinds of fear and propaganda keep me away for decades… and to what end? But there's no point in grieving over the hundreds of thousands of dollars that I may have missed out on—I’m focused on celebrating that I found my way home, and am finally succeeding in manifesting the future I've always dreamed of! What do you enjoy the most about your profession? I have found it surprisingly equitable in comparison to other mainstream industries. It's quite literally the first time as a grown adult I really feel like My hard work is actually paying off—I am only limited by own energies. I also feel valued as a whole-person here. It's surprisingly less about body and beauty than one may expect from adult entertainment, and more about the experiences you can weave around your audience. And at my core I'm a performer who finds ecstasy in creating and embodying the story-energies that provide an escape from mundane reality and inspire profound emotional reactions. It feels amazing to be achieving that in a way that so authentically represents so many aspects of who I truly am. What kind of porn do you remember renting back in the day when you would go into video stores? Did you seek out any particular genre of movies, studios or stars when you were renting? Well, I'm bisexual and went for a lot of g/g titles. There's nothing more arousing than watching women be authentically turned-on and enjoy real orgasms! At the time there's wasn't a huge amount of that to be found in b/g movies in the late 90s. The Shane's World series was a big favorite in my peer group.  Vivid was experimenting with high-end productions, and made what was marketed as the first million-dollar porn—which I rushed out to rent, because I am all about some sexy costumes and over-the-top creative vision. (If Baz Luhrmann made a porn, I’d pay just about anything to watch it!)  I was fascinated with Jenna Jameson and how she was garnering so much mainstream fame, and building a big empire around herself. I remember hearing someone mention that she refused to do anal, and it was the first time I'd realized that performers can dictate their limits. Until then, I still sort of thought you had to be willing to do anything to work in adult, and it made me curious to learn more about consent and boundaries in the industry.  I also have very clear memories of watching a film Asia Carrera had produced and directed, where she showcased her classical piano skills in the opening sequence, playing on a huge luxurious grand! She looked so breathtakingly beautiful.  It was clear these were extremely smart and saavy women with talents that went  way beyond what viewers saw on screen, and I felt drawn to step into that world and see what I could carve for myself, too.  About how many times have you traveled to Mexico and India? What is it about those countries that resonates with you? I was raised by my mother and her parents, but my biological father is Mexican-American. Despite never being provided with a cultural touchstone of any kind, and routinely being told to my face by family that I “didn’t count” as a Latina because “I wasn’t raised that way,” my Mexican heritage has always been extremely important to me. Traveling in Mexico is a very profound experience that speaks to me on a deep ancestral level that is very hard to describe. When I am there, a piece of me that has been starved feels like it's found its way home. It feels like a sacred duty to try and decolonize my existence as much as possible, and provide validation and nourishment to those parts of me, to try and walk the ground my ancestors did, and honor everything that they achieved. When I go, it's not to resorts. It's usually to ruins, shrines of folk saints, learning culture through food, visiting with indigenous healers, and venturing into the natural wonders found nowhere else.  So far, I've been able to go on four adventures in Mexico. I had another planned, but I'll have to see how things develop with the pandemic before I will travel again. That being said, as soon as it's safe, I have every intent of working remotely from there for one or more months each year—on my subs' dime, naturally. India strikes a similar chord. I obviously don't have any genetic ties—but it's always a spiritual journey. Hinduism was the first religion I studied in-depth after leaving my Pentecostal upbringing. In it, I found answers to questions I'd been asking my whole life, and such awesome—in the true sense of the word—beauty. I began attending temples in Canada, and eventually was even formally initiated by a guru! Finally getting to visit India after being so inspired and uplifted by its people and culture for nearly 15 years was revelatory. Walking down the alleys of Varanasi—one of the oldest continually inhabited cities in the world—and coming home covered in cremation ashes that perpetually drift in the air from the pyres on the ghats, being able to bathe in the sacred waters of the Ganges in Rishikesh after meditating in a cave an ancient sage lived in a millennium ago, offering flowers to a deity that has been blessing the faithful in that exact stone form for 600 or more years… these are life-changing experiences.  So far, I've only been to India twice. The flights are much more expensive, and getting there is so overwhelmingly long and arduous! My health challenges make India a real stretch for my endurance. But I have at least two more trips to make there before I will have crossed off all my bucket list pilgrimages. Please everyone wear masks and go get vaxxed already! What does it mean to have a medical Cannabis specialist certification? Does that mean you can make medical recommendations for people? Like many in the adult industry, I live with chronic illness. Most of my issues have proved to be fairly treatment-resistant, so finding some measure of symptom relief in Cannabis was a godsend. Knowledge is power, and I love me some power! So once I knew Cannabis worked for me, I wanted to have as much accurate info on its medical applications as possible, so I could help myself more effectively.  The University of Colorado (Boulder) runs a course headed by one of the cannabis researchers tasked by the US Government to review and compile all existing medical Cannabis scientific research so they could refer to it during policy making. The course uses that report as its textbook, and walks students through all the various ailments Cannabis has been found useful for, and all the ways we currently understand it working in the body. It's a legit university-level course that was extremely in-depth, and very valuable, especially for those working in healthcare. So, it's certainly not a license to practice medicine or give formal medical advice of any sort. It's still unfortunately rare to be able to find a medical doctor that is up to date on all the latest research findings and will talk freely about it with patients. Natural and alternative medicine practitioners are mostly filling that role. I had a part-time energetic healing practice for many years, and would very often make various suggestions to research various treatments, therapies, herbs, or supplements that I thought might be suited to my clients so they could seek out the appropriately credentialed practitioners in those fields. While I am no longer doing that, it’s not uncommon for people who know my background to ask for my advice. And since I’m such a vocal advocate for Cannabis, I’m one of the first people think to ask about it. So far I’ve helped about a dozen people find some measure of increased wellness through Cannabis. Yay weed! How did you like working at Disney World? How did that come about? What was it like wearing the Pluto suit? If you live in Orlando, you probably end up working for Disney at some point. Especially if you are involved in the entertainment industry. So it was a bit of a given that I would be working there as soon as I was old enough. To be quite honest, and much to my chagrin, there was very little I enjoyed about working there after the training, which was a freaking blast! But, I was assigned to character breakfasts—which meant I had to be at work by 5 a.m., and the park was an hour drive from where I lived. They also have an infamously strict appearance code, and even if your body never shows—as in the case of a costume character—you had to adhere to the "Disney Look.” So I was getting written up for having painted fingernails all the time. The breakfasts were a nightmare—trying to move around a tight restaurant space in a huge costume is more difficult that you might think, and I had more than one creepy dad try to feel me up through the suit while I was trapped between tables. I ended up quitting after about three months. Wearing the suit itself was much more comfortable than you'd think, and the Pluto head has some of the best vision of any costume, so walking around and not trampling children was fairly straightforward. The Rafiki suit on the other hand, which I was also approved in, had the WORST vision of any costume. Your escort had to pretty much lead you around, and you had to use your hands to try and find the kids' heads so you knew where they were to interact with, and not knock them over. They actually discontinued having Rafiki carry his staff when doing park sets, because his vision was so bad that guests were getting hit! It would get hot in the suits, but you were only ever on-set for 20-30 minutes at a time. So right around the point you started getting really uncomfortable, you got to go backstage and cool down. There were also a few cool suits that one could request if you were particularly sensitive to heat, but I never knew anyone that used one who wasn't in a parade. But I love having had that experience, and I learned a lot of really amazing niche performance skills that you really can't get anywhere else. Plus, getting to know all the underground passages, and other behind the scenes secrets of Disney was remarkably fun. How challenging is it to swim in a mermaid suit? How did you come to work for a mermaiding swim company? If you're a strong, confident swimmer, it's actually quite natural—we’re mammals, and so that underwater dolphin body flow is how we've evolved to move when we're submerged. It's still my favorite way to move around in the water. Growing up in Florida with a pool and lakes and beaches, you were swimming before you could walk! I used to take these pool ring toys that were meant to be fetched off the bottom, and put my legs through them to stick them together and then spend hours playing mermaid. So pulling on a tail was the logical conclusion to all of that.  Growing up in Florida we have the world famous Weeki Wachee mermaids that had been performing underwater ballet in tails since the 40s, which really capture the imagination. Add Disney's The Little Mermaid to that, and you had the recipe for an incurable mermaid wannabe! I never really outgrew it, and I'd been following the mer-community online for a few years when I first saw the company announcement. I went for one of the classes and absolutely loved it! I noted that they seemed a bit unorganized, and when I got home, despite already having a full-time job, I contacted the company with my resume and asked if they needed help. Within three days I was their new weekend Deck Manager! As a very new company, that had much larger public interest than they initially anticipated, they were often short a swim instructor, and so I ended up teaching a class or two each shift! There was real magic in watching people pull on that tail and move through the water with it the first time—it's not often you get to see a fantasy become reality for someone. What kind of EDM is your favorite? Do you have any favorite artists? What was the last festival you attended?I definitely am a Bass Queen! Global bass, Miami bass, funky breaks, and some bouncy bass house are what will get me dressed up and dancing. I really lucked out and married a global bass and moombahton producer/DJ, so I admit that I am a bit biased towards him. But JOYRYDE, CXB, DJ Icey, Huda Hudia, DJ Snake, and The Halluci Nation will always get my booty shaking within eight bars!  The pandemic has kept me away from fests for too long, the last one I was able to attend was Ever After 2019 here in Ontario.  What’s next for you in 2021? My best subs delivered beautifully on the task of purchasing me a new computer and DSLR camera for my birthday! So I now have the processing power and equipment needed to take my content to the next level. I'm so excited to finally be able to learn Adobe Suite, and teaching myself more sophisticated photography and videography, which will provide me with increased creative freedom... and so many new ways to manipulate my submissives! That's where most of my effort will be going the next few months—acquiring and applying new skills to expand My Queendom. Slightly longer-range, I would like to move into VR to some degree, as the tech available to produce it becomes a bit more accessible. I don't intend to stop doing this. If you'd told me when I started this as a side-hustle, that within 18 months I would be making exponentially more than I ever did working a "real job”—I wouldn't have believed you. I've finally found where I belong. And I'm thriving!