Mia Malkova on Brand Building, Social Media & Twitch

This is the December 2021 cover story of AVN magazine. Click here for the digital edition. Mia Malkova no longer takes days off. Not with all the content she wants to create, social media to maintain and a castle to renovate. Call it an empire in the making. “I’m always doing something—it’s a never-ending amount of work to do, but I still really, really love it,” Malkova tells AVN. “I’ve gotten really passionate about content creation and establishing my brand and my business.” And the Business of Being Mia starts with her platforms—at press time she had 9.9 million followers on Instagram and another 2.2M on Twitter, not to mention an untold number of admirers subscribed to her OnlyFans, where she has become one of the top creators in the world. "I’m at a point where I’ve been growing it for years and I put everything I can into social media. It’s my number one priority—especially working for myself,” Malkova adds. The 2014 AVN Best New Starlet from Southern California saw her hard work pay off in a big way last December when she and her significant other—adult producer/director Eli Tucker—and a silent partner purchased the Blackberry Castle, a 6.5 acre landmark in Portland, Oregon. In the past year, Malkova has turned her $3.9 million estate into a content sanctuary, shooting new material at the dreamy property not only for herself, but also for several fellow creators wanting to raise their games on their personal fan sites. “I do look around and think I am extremely blessed living in a 13,000-square-foot castle and I honestly can’t believe it,” says Malkova, who at 16 worked as a cashier at McDonald’s and two years later was a hostess at Sizzler. “Back when I was in LA before OnlyFans really took off I was living in an apartment. And then things got better and better and then there was a huge boom and everything changed. So I feel really blessed but at the same time I strive to keep the momentum going. So there isn’t a lot of down time.” One of adult’s most sought-after creative forces says her top priority is to grow the brand of the Blackberry Castle, which she and her team already are doing through Instagram, where the property’s official account at press time had almost 63K followers. “It’s going great, it’s definitely a work in progress,” Mia says. “We’re stockpiling content at the moment and staying really busy just renovating and decorating… We don’t have endless fun—it’s been a project for sure, taking up my bandwidth and finances. “I kind of put everything I have into it. In the long run I think what we want to do is utilize the social media and have the Blackberry Castle as its own brand and do a lot of events and collaborations.” Malkova’s partner Eli Tucker—a former sous chef at Mt. McKinley Wilderness Lodge for Princess Cruises in Alaska who has been in adult since 2015—says they’re approaching the Blackberry Castle project the same way they would any new company. “This is a startup and it becomes how do we turn this real estate endeavor into a business? And high-quality production is the way to go,” Tucker tells AVN. The one-time apprentice videographer/photographer turned director at Vixen Media Group—who learned from the now retired co-founder Greg Lansky—says they’ve invested in cutting-edge cameras and equipment this year as they hone their aesthetic with an eye on more mainstream friendly lifestyle content. That includes not only their cinematic productions featuring Malkova and her industry friends, but also raw, intimate videos shot with iPhones. “Because people want to connect on that level,” Tucker adds. “They want to feel like they have the opportunity to hang out with us.” Malkova demonstrated the castle’s potential during a stylish Halloween bash. “We decided three weeks before that if there was ever a time to have an actual ‘party,’ it would be Halloween,” she says. “It looks like Hogwarts here.” The humble superstar contacted the owner of a Halloween FX store and brought in professional props such as a coffin and a giant gargoyle statue to go with a 420-pound pumpkin. “Just silly things like that,” Malkova explains. “We had good food and treats and definitely invited a lot of girls over the day before to shoot content and collaborate here at the castle.” It was a welcome break from the ongoing renovation process that includes regrading and then paving the driveway, installing a new heating and cooling system unit, cleaning up around the property and furnishing it with upscale pieces. “We’re chipping away at it,” she says. “When we purchased the home it came fully furnished, but it was shabby and not on the very themed side.” Still, the architecture of the castle—which cost the original owners $7.2 million to build five years ago—creates breathtaking visuals with its hand-painted murals on the ceilings, three-story fireplace, underground wine cellar built into the side of the mountain and the largest ceiling clock in the Pacific Northwest—to name a few of the touches. Among the activities Malkova is planning in the near future are a yoga retreat and a Christmas slumber party at the castle. “Something I’ve noticed is people are very intrigued with it,” she says. Without question Malkova has captured the public’s imagination—and not just because she acquired a spectacular property. Tucker, who has been dating Malkova for more than four-and-a-half years, says her down-to-earth personality, business mind and keen understanding of social media trends all contribute to what has a become a powerhouse brand. “She has a very dedicated fanbase that has taken years to cultivate,” Tucker says. “And she is super humble.” It’s not uncommon for Malkova to shoot three times a week at the castle, though her schedule is fluid. “I’ll look at the calendar and if it’s a nice day, I might want to plan an outing in Oregon, like visit a waterfall,” says Mia, who also won a 2014 AVN Award for Best All-Girl Group Sex Scene and has more than 600 credits since her splashy debut in 2012. “I try to aim for once a week as far as releasing a new scene. The majority of my OnlyFans content is very lifestyle, like just going about my day and keeping people up to date, flashing my boobs and fun stuff like that.” She wore stunning Honey Birdette lingerie sets for the December AVN cover shoot, which was produced by Tucker and captured by the couple’s “right-hand man”—photographer and editor Roy Reyna. They shot the main set in the Blackberry Castle’s two-story library, which is adorned with reclaimed wood. “I knew we wanted very specific colors, so we went with red tones primarily because it’s December and the library is one of our favorite places to shoot,” Tucker explains. Mia posed for another set in The Oasis—“the crown jewel” of the property that is filled with hundreds of plants—slipping into a skimpy yellow-and-orange ensemble. “We wanted some contrast, too, so we had the red tones that are a little bit darker, a little bit moodier and then the yellow set in The Oasis so people could flip through and experience something different with the vibrancy of the garden area,” Tucker adds.  Eli and Mia began working with Roy Reyna after finding him on social media—Eli actually enrolled in Roy's editing course. “He walked me through his whole editing process and afterward I offered him a job—it has snowballed from there," Tucker says, adding that Reyna has worked with them on their Fleshlight and Playboy shoots and also traveled with them to various national parks. "He is absolutely our right-hand man." Tucker adds, “Another big thing that has happened that is huge for us is that everyone goes into things with a lone wolf mentality. But the second you realize that it’s about the team, you will find true success. … Roy is a huge part of our team.” Gaming always has been one of Mia’s favorite activities—she streams her video game hobby on Twitch—and at press time she had more than 623K fans following her broadcasts. “I don’t push it to OnlyFans or stuff like that—it’s separate,” Mia adds. “The reason I’m even on there is I’m a video game nerd and it’s an excuse to play video games while staying productive. “I’ve also fallen in love with my Twitch community. It feels like I’m playing video games and chatting with friends. “It’s definitely a secondary thing for me but it’s something I love doing. I’m not on consistently enough to be making money on it. I kind of hop on when I can or when I have something exciting to do.” Malkova finished the The Witcher 3 in early November. “It was really exciting, I played over 400 hours and finished it finally. It was amazing,” she says. “I think I have ADD—I just jump from game to game right before I finish it. This was probably my favorite game I’ve ever played. I still have the DLC so I’m not completely done. But I finished the main storyline.” Malkova recently began getting into the survival game Dead by Daylight. “I like the killer, I’m very sadistic,” she jokes. “I feel like I wouldn’t harm anything or anyone in real life but in video games I have an evil side and want to kill everything. I play the killer mainly…” Malkova also plans to ramp up her official YouTube channel, MiaMalkovaTV, revealing she’s testing ideas. Her “Blackberry Castle House Tour” vlog—posted in May—has almost 690,000 views. In addition to her original content, she also shares highlights from her Twitch streams. “Something I plan to do a lot more of next year is collaborations,” Mia says. “I plan to shoot with a lot more people. The past few years I’ve done collaborations but for the most part I’ve really stuck to myself.” The results speak for themselves. She also teased another potential project for 2022. “I’ve been looking into shooting for a specific company again,” Mia says. “I’m not gonna say anything yet because it’s not set in stone. But I may be making a little comeback into the adult world.” Photography by Roy Reyna @atxroy; produced by Eli Tucker @elisjournal