From Troublemaker to Barrier Breaker: Becoming Milo Miles

LOS ANGELES—It was unintentional, but Milo Miles picked the perfect last name for his porn persona. At a young age, he had already traveled more than many people do in a lifetime. Conceived in Connecticut but born and raised in Colombia, he then moved “back” to Connecticut (this time, actually outside of his mother’s womb) before settling in his current home of Toronto. And that’s just one of many fascinating facts about the rising industry star, whose life seems destined for an upcoming Hollywood biopic filled with childhood power plays, internal struggle, a coming of age, and (yes, really) political intrigue. “I was a little troublemaker growing up. I gave everyone a hard time. I had so much energy,” Miles says. “It was difficult to get me to sit still. I loved hanging out with the neighborhood kids and creating little packs of children that would get into trouble on the street.” Like when he was 6 years old and broke into a construction site with his friends and started a paint fight. “For some reason, I was always the leader. One time, someone tried to replace me, so they threw a brick at my head—like an assassination attempt by one of the neighborhood kids,” Miles laughs. “My childhood was a little crazy. I was a little rascal.” While some of Miles’ family lived in Connecticut, most of them lived in Medellín, Colombia, where he was raised. He moved to Connecticut for a year around age 6, where he learned how to speak English. “But the problem was it was around when 9/11 happened. Life suddenly got more difficult for immigrants, and we felt—at least my parents did—that there were limited opportunities for me and my brother. That was a big part of the reason we moved to Canada,” Miles says. “I learned at a young age how to adapt to moving around a lot. I went to like eight different schools before I graduated high school, and that made me a lot more resilient as an individual—which has paid off into adulthood as I’ve built careers.” Coming of Age But Toronto presented a new set of challenges: Miles became the man of the house at age 13 after his parents divorced, and he lived with his mother—who worked all the time—and younger brother. “I didn’t really have a male presence or mentor in my life during those crucial years of teenage development, so I tried to find other ways to kind of look for people who would be willing to offer guidance,” Miles says. “That’s why summer camp played such a crucial role in my childhood. For a few weeks every summer, I was able to hang out and learn things from camp counselors.” But it wasn’t easy. Miles shares that he went through school with undiagnosed attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder until an assessment in college, when different testing consistently put him in the 95th to 99th percentile of ADHD severity. “To think that I went through school with undiagnosed ADHD makes sense, because I was the class clown growing up. I struggled a little bit academically, but I was able to make up for it in other ways. At the same time, I found myself being the teacher’s pet when I wasn’t being the class clown, so it was almost like living a double life in school,” he laughs. “I loved the attention that teachers would give me, and I think over time that contributed to an overall passion to give back to the community.” That led to a stint on the school council. Miles also dabbled in track and field, but swimming was his go-to sport. “I definitely liked being surrounded by hot guys in Speedos,” he laughs. “I play water polo on a league here in Toronto, and I feel like at least a quarter of the reason I joined the team was the communal shower thing.” Despite his active school life, Miles was always more interested in what was happening outside of it. “Part of that was also having been a closeted gay kid who was petrified of being outed or considered gay. There was definitely a persona that I was trying to adhere to, as not to create any risk or attention that could have negative consequences. I was dealing with a lot of internalized homophobia. It wasn’t until I finished high school that I finally felt a bit more freedom to explore and be myself.” Miles majored in political science for his undergrad and then public policy for his master’s degree. But it was the other lessons in life that proved more valuable. “College was when I was able to start embracing my sexuality and come to terms with what I wanted to do career wise—what I thought was important, how I wanted to position myself, the types of people I wanted to surround myself with. And it wasn’t until I finished grad school that I fully embraced my identity.” After his undergrad, Miles got elected to a four-year position on a local education board (serving as the youngest and only openly gay politician in his city), during which he also simultaneously started working for the federal government for two years. He says his years as an elected official were extremely rewarding, and he’s grateful for the opportunities to have an impact on his community. “I’m very proud of the work that I did. The experience was also very validating, because having achieved such success at a young age made me realize that I’ve already proved to myself what I can do—and I’ve proved to others that I can do things.” But he soon arrived at a crossroads. A Sense of Belonging The year Miles finished his master’s degree was a re-election year, so he had to decide if he was going to continue his career in politics or pursue other passions. “By that point, I had gotten a taste of what it’s really like to find a sense of belonging within the gay community, and to have actual gay friends and do a bit of traveling. I started to realize there’s other things that I want to do—things that I can only do if I take time away from a career that was a lot more demanding than it needed to be. There’s also not a lot of money in politics. I was working like a dog for little financial return,” he says. “I started realizing that what I thought would bring me happiness didn’t bring me happiness. At the end of that term, I realized that there were other things that would make me happy, and I wanted to explore those opportunities. I really got a sense of what I was passionate about, and it created a foundation for me to springboard off of and try new things that could be considered more…risky.” Miles had considered modeling for years (“When I was 15, I was messaging underwear brands, and I never get a response back,” he laughs), and the idea of doing porn first entered his mind after turning 18. “But I was so far down the internalized homophobia spectrum that there was no way that that would even be a possibility—or be accessible to me. It wasn’t until I had a career and was ready to move away from it—and was in a place where I could consider things outside of the box—that it seemed like a real possibility.” That was aided by the sudden rise in fan site platforms, so Miles—before he left his political career—finally made the leap. He dabbled with making content on OnlyFans and JustFor.Fans. “I didn't show my face for the first few months; I found it difficult to do because it was like trying to build a brand with both hands tied behind your back. So three months in, I decided to start showing face, and that’s when I started playing things close to the chest because if it ever got out that I was sitting on a school board and doing porn on the side, I’m easily the butt of the joke on Jimmy Kimmel and other late night shows, conservative media would have pounced on me. But I also knew if you don’t take risks, you don’t really get ahead in life.” A Gay Renaissance Just reaching that point was a major victory for Miles, who for years had internal issues over his appearance. “My brother struggled with something similar, because we’re both short, and we both look younger than our current age. Growing up, we compared ourselves to the heteronormative definitions of what ‘handsome’ was in Hollywood and pop culture. I’m like, I’m not a white guy, I’m not tall, I don’t have muscle, I don’t look ‘masculine.’ So I struggled with body image, thinking of myself as having no sex appeal or being cute.” Now with more life experience and reflection, Miles better understands why. “I wasn’t a part of gay culture at the time. I wasn’t exposed to the other definitions of cuteness. It wasn't until I moved to Toronto and started my ‘gay renaissance’ that I had that realization. Hanging out with other gay people, the attention I was getting at parties was unique and special…I finally realized, ‘Oh wait, I am cute!’ That happened a few months before I started my porn career.” And being a closeted person of color presented other challenges that he didn’t realize he was facing at the time. “For a big part of my childhood, I went to a pretty white school. So being surrounded by so many white people, I never really saw myself as a ‘person of color’ because I was pretty much at that point a product of a Canadian upbringing. So while my ethnicity was rooted in Colombia and I had the immigrant experience, by the time I was in middle school, I spoke perfect English. The only thing that would ‘give me away’ was the color of my skin tone and my name,” says Miles. “Looking back now, there definitely was discrimination, but I was oblivious to it.” Miles started to become more aware of it later in his life in the working world, when he was expected to be the voice and leader whenever diversity issues arose. “In politics, for example, I had a platform when I got elected. I had all these things I wanted to do, but as soon as I got elected and we had to deal with more race- and equity-related issues—especially around the George Floyd stuff—that’s when I realized, ‘Oh…people are seeing me as a person of color first, and I guess I’m going to have to be that champion for now.’” A New Family After Miles realized this new venture could actually be profitable, he started contacting studios. Legrand Wolf quickly got in touch with him. And before he knew it, Miles was in a Fun-SizeBoys shoot. “I had the time of my life—and realized this is what I wanted to do. The whole thing felt like a dream come true, but it also felt very surreal. Like, ‘What is this life I'm living?!’ I fantasized about doing this when I was younger, but I never thought it would be possible—and then it happened.” Miles calls his experience with the Carnal family “phenomenal,” noting that he had no idea how much his world would change after becoming an exclusive. “It’s been really nice to make new friends and work with some of my biggest porn crushes in the industry. It’s been fun to work with passionate people who really enjoy the work. I am literally having the time of my life. I love that I’m traveling a lot, and love that I’m having amazing sex.” When Miles started working for Carnal, he didn’t even consider the walls he was breaking down in a largely white industry. “I was like a kid in a candy store. But it wasn’t until my studio content stated being released and I saw some of the things being written about my work—like how people would describe me as ‘this Latino twink,’ or how they described my skin tone—that I was like, ‘Oh, wait a second…I forgot. I am a person of color,’” Miles says. “I think at that time, I was one of the few people that had done work with Carnal who was a person of color, and when people started pointing that out, that's when I started reflecting, doing research and realizing that there really aren’t a lot of people of color in the industry, let alone people of color that are doing studio work.” Miles has grown to embrace it like a badge of honor—accepting a newfound responsibility. “My experience has been just as rewarding as anyone else’s experience, with the bonus of also feeling a bit more proud that I’m also helping to create more representation. Now I’m a lot more mindful of wanting to remove barriers that prevent people from entering the industry. We’re making progress.” And don’t be surprised to see Miles clock in more travels soon. He looks forward to another big year with Carnal, and sees the inevitable outcome of his career as sex work advocacy. Just maybe somewhere a little more…south. “The one thing I can do without is the cold. It’s like my kryptonite,” he laughs. “But it’s been a good payoff. I’m not bored with Toronto yet, so I’m happy living here for the time being. But I might move to the United States at some point. If the opportunity comes up, I would seriously consider it. But definitely not Connecticut again…it’s too cold!”  Photography courtesy of Carnal Media