Long-standing industry institutions like awards shows, red carpet events, and premieres could never happen without passionate trailblazers putting in the hard work. In the case of Urban X, the trailblazer in question is adult entertainment veteran Giana Taylor, whose tiny team has been with her from the beginning. She’s encountered plenty of challenges since the awards show’s conception in 2008, but the payoff has been worth it.
Before It All Began
Taylor has the rare honor of being respected in the industry without having once starred in an adult film. But don’t get it twisted: she’s no prude. An exotic dancer and nude model for years who’s proudly posed for Playboy, she adores the freedom of stripping off her clothes in public. “When I first came into the strip club, I was nervous as hell until my clothes came off,” she says. “Then I was like ‘Hell yeah!’”
Stripping and nude modeling was a natural extension of her other interests at the time. In the ‘00s, Taylor weaved seamlessly between the worlds of adult and mainstream entertainment, following her curiosity down all sorts of unexpected paths. Ever notice someone who looks familiar in a Snoop Dogg, Ja Rule or Ludacris video? That just might have been her. “I was the video vixen,” she remembers proudly.
Even as a young person, she knew what she did and didn’t want. Whether she was walking a runway, posing for photos, or courting Ray J on reality TV, Taylor indulged her sense of adventure while keeping her boundaries: no sex on camera. Also, no pretending she thought Flavor Flav was hot. And yes, that did come up— she almost laughs remembering it now: “They called me to be on Flavor of Love and I said no way. I can’t fake that! I’m not attracted to Flav at all,” she shares.
The Industry’s Her Oyster
Urban X might be Taylor’s biggest career accomplishment so far, and it has tough competition. But her experience wearing countless hats in the industry —from production manager to director and even agent— has helped her excel. It all feels like fate when she looks back now. Instead of taking a linear path in the direction she wanted, she approached adult how she approached all her work: finding opportunities that came to her and just seeing what happened.
Meeting her now ex-husband Alexander DeVoe opened a lot of doors, and she’s not afraid to admit it. The acclaimed director and videographer brought Taylor on as a production manager and she took to it quickly. She loved being in the industry and thrived there, so it wasn’t long before she wanted to venture out on her own. She founded the agency Erotic Diva Models and started working as a director. With DeVoe as her videographer, it was easier to get her foot in the door. Her background in reality TV acted as inspiration.
“Everything I did was reality-based,” she remembers, with hits like X-Rated Cribs, All Star Week: Parties and Freaks, and, of course, Giana Taylor’s Pussy Wagon Adventures. Working with fresh new talent posed some problems (no one’s worse at getting it up than a rando who thinks he wants to do porn) but her fresh ideas pulled the weight.
Urban X Origins
Taylor knew she loved the adult industry. Unfortunately, it didn’t feel like the broader industry loved her back. Each awards season she’d watch as the passionate, talented people she knew were passed over time and time again. The pattern was obvious: if you weren’t white, you’d almost always get overlooked. Even her ex DeVoe—whose work was nominated regularly—always seemed to be passed over at the last moment. As frustrating as it was, Taylor knew what she had to do. She remembers sitting on a plane in 2008 when the thought came to mind: “I’m going to create a show for us so that there’s always a platform for us.”
It was easier said than done, of course. She had no idea how to organize an awards ceremony, let alone fund it. “I just didn’t know anything. I was terrified,” she remembers. The good news was she didn’t have to do it alone. Taylor’s vision was the call to action the industry needed and folks showed up in droves to make it happen.
She’d already built strong relationships over the years, not just with individuals but companies, too. Black Market, Combat Zone, Black Ice, West Coast Productions and more all showed up as sponsors, eager to help in the project of bringing people of color into the spotlight. Plus, DeVoe was on Taylor’s team, helping figure out logistics and ironing out details. She remembers thinking, “Ya’ll know I don’t know what I’m doing, right? But I’m gonna make it happen!”
“My biggest fear, honestly, was that no one was going to show up,” Taylor recalls. She couldn’t have been proven more wrong. Before the red carpet even opened, limos were flooding the building. Clearly, everyone had been waiting for an event like Urban X (or, as it was called at the time, the Urban Spice Awards).
It didn’t stop at the first year, either. Folks have kept showing up in bigger and bigger numbers. When Taylor separated from DeVoe in 2012, she never expected to run the show again. She’d planned to give it up and just focus on her daughter, but the industry wouldn’t let it happen. Folks kept emailing and calling, begging her to come back. Finally, when adult star Roxy Reynolds insisted, Taylor knew it was time. That was 2017, and Urban X has been going strong ever since.
It’s a Family Affair
Taylor had a clear vision when she founded Urban X in 2008, but what’s evolved since then is a more valuable slice of community than she could have ever imagined. What used to be just an awards show has bloomed into a weekend full of activities that bring everyone together: a lingerie party, an awards show, and a special event day that changes every year. Stars and industry professionals, current and retired, fly in from around the country to get back together each summer. Taylor describes the energy as a “family reunion vibe the whole weekend,” sometimes even complete with water gun fights.
The fun atmosphere is something Taylor prides herself on. “It’s not a money thing for us, so I don’t have specific rules that I have to be strict on,” she says. They can afford to be a bit less corporate and more casual than other events. There’s not the same cues and pressure to sit and be quiet, so people get up and dance when it feels right and generally let loose a little. It’s a big reason she thinks it’s so well attended each year.
In Taylor’s words, Urban X is a melting pot with every ethnicity, generation, sexuality, and side of the industry represented. Some fans come year after year to mingle with industry folks, and old school performers party with fresh faces. “OGs come out to Urban X that won’t go anywhere else,” she says. “So you’ll meet people who probably inspired you to be in the industry.” She’s been especially excited to see Midori, Devlin Weed, and Lana Sands attend.
All Welcome at Urban X
“I started Urban X because there was no space for ethnic people,” Taylor states, “but it’s not just the Black awards.”
Taylor’s proud when folks with different backgrounds tell her Urban X helps them feel at home, with trans people in particular coming to mind. “Everyone has always been welcome,” she says. The social mixing is a core part of the family reunion feel, but it also helps new folks make new connections. In the age of creator platforms, the industry feels more atomized than ever. No one wants to feel isolated, but the more marginalized you are, the worse it is to be cut off from the community. At Urban X, even independent creators with no ties to the adult world can find friends, collaborators, and a sense of something larger than themselves.
The welcoming energy isn’t an abstract goal, either; it’s the natural result of their small team and hands-on attitude. Urban X has pretty much been run by the same handful of people since its conception. Even DeVoe’s still involved. It’s all hands on deck, and Taylor takes her organizing seriously. “I’m there moving tables. I’m there moving chairs. I’m setting up. I’m talking to people,” she says. “You can literally talk to me, so people feel comfortable if there’s a problem. They say ‘Hey, Giana’ and they know I’m gonna take care of it right away.”
The Future of Urban X
With how rapidly the industry’s evolved over the course of Taylor’s career, it’s hard for her to imagine what the next decade of Urban X will look like. She’s always prioritized keeping up with the times, adding extra events for more guests and coming up with awards that celebrate changes in the industry. When Taylor looks into the future, she’s most excited to watch the weekend expand further, with a Coachella-esque festival on her mind. They already host musical performances by folks in the industry like Ebony Mystique, Blake Lovely and Pinky, but Taylor wants to kick it up a notch. In the near future, we might be seeing a large-scale outdoor music festival from Urban X. One thing’s for certain: everyone will be welcome.
