Drippin' in Finesse: The Rise of Ebony Mystique

This is the cover story of the November issue of AVN magazine. Click here for the digital edition. LOS ANGELES — Ebony Mystique remembers how gratifying it was to form bonds with her patients years before she ever stepped onto an adult set. Now the former traveling RN finds it rewarding to create connections of a different kind—with fans around the world who enjoy her energetic brand of hardcore. “I was already a nurse, so I know what that kind of gratification feels like,” Mystique says. “But to not even touch a person and they have some sort of connection with you, I love it. “I’m very appreciative of it.” Ebony tells AVN that feeling is stronger than ever as she begins the final stretch of the most eventful year of her adult entertainment career. The versatile star from New Haven, Connecticut, in 2022 landed an exclusive contract with Brazzers, won an Urban X award, launched a podcast, opened a studio space, performed abroad and now is gracing the cover of the November issue of AVN magazine. That’s not to mention becoming one of the featured models in the multimedia ad campaign for the 2023 AVN Adult Entertainment Expo in January in Las Vegas, where she moved at the beginning of this year. “All my goals that I had set forth for my entire career I feel like have happened in this year,” Mystique says. “An exclusive contract, an AVN cover—like what? Nominations, award-winning… It’s a lot. “It makes me more appreciative of the time I’m spending in my life—because it’s valuable. It’s like going somewhere. It’s like moving forward. And when you’re moving forward, it’s more convincing that you’re doing the right thing.” She continues, “Even if it don’t work out when you want it, moving forward in whatever you’re doing is always good. The fact that I’m progressing and you can see the progression is very good for me. So I like it here. “And it just makes me know that I’m doing what I’m supposed to be doing. But I’m not done yet either, because there’s so much more that I have to do. And that just makes me feel like I’m gonna get that shit done, too.” It wouldn’t be wise to bet against her. Not after the way she threw down her first 25 scenes for Brazzers—13 at press time in 2022 alone—doing everything from three-ways to four-ways to all-female and trans encounters with equal gusto and lots of squirting. Mystique’s body of work for ZZ so far has generated more than two million views on the notorious site. “What is really impressive about Ebony is the amount of range she brings to her scenes,” a Brazzers rep tells AVN. “It’s a testament to her versatility as a performer that she can effortlessly transition from hitting a comedic beat to showcasing her signature sultriness she’s known for.” Mystique became a ZZ exclusive in February on the heels of six crowd-pleasing scenes for the site in 2021, one of which was a shower session titled “Soak Her All In” with seasoned deal-closer Isiah Maxwell. “Performing with Ebony is a treat because you know you’re in for a good day and also because I leave set feeling more knowledgeable,” Maxwell, the 10-year industry veteran from Cleveland, Ohio, tells AVN. “We converse over deep topics made for us to think bigger and better. Her rapid growth in this industry is due to her intelligence. She understood early how to take control of her brand and blow it up. You’ll get all that with one conversation with her.” Her popularity on Brazzers comes as no surprise to veteran shooter J. Royal, the co-owner, executive producer and director of PinkyXXX, the site that launched Mystique’s career in 2019 when her first hardcore video went viral even though she was wearing a mask opposite Rob Piper. “To be honest, me and Pinky been in the business for about 16 years, we’ve been dealing with many girls and introducing girls to the industry and we haven’t really seen anybody build a strong fanbase as quick as she did, and also getting contracted that fast,” Royal tells AVN. “So the progress she’s made since she’s been in the industry is something I haven’t seen… My opinion is she has a certain magic when the cameras come on. I think she just makes it look fun. She puts her all into her scenes and I feel she’s good at capturing people’s attention.” No argument here. The Oakland, Calif.-native J. Royal partnered with the adult industry legend Pinky in 2006 to launch her official site with the vision of “having fun and giving the fans something that they would really enjoy.” “Pinky is just a girl who came into the business who really loves sex and loves her job and wanted to express that on film,” J. Royal says. “Of course the money is important but we were not putting the finances first.” However what J. Royal and Pinky did prioritize was creating authentic porn that the fans want to see. Enter Mystique, who has been one of the most requested performers on PinkyXXX since her splashy arrival. Her first sex scene without a mask—with Jovan Jordan—went live on PinkyXXX in August 2019; she returned five more times in the next two years, ballin’ with primetime performers such as Rico Strong, BK Brick, Damion Dayski and Maxwell—as well as leading ladies such as Kyler Quinn, Jayden Starr and Isabelle Miller, among others. According to J. Royal, who directed the action every time Mystique was on set in those early days, she made it look easy from the start. “To be honest, she took to it like she always been doing it, like it was meant to be,” Royal says.  “There wasn’t no nervousness or ‘I don’t know,’” Royal continues. “She never doubted herself and she took it like she already had that confidence as soon as she came in. “Because you’re always worried about that first scene, like how is it going to go? But you would think she was doing this for years. “That really surprised me, I ain’t gonna lie.” Royal adds, “When I look at her performing style, I think about the ’80s and ’90s porn, like those ebony stars. It wasn’t about the money, it wasn’t about nothing but just showing up and having great, passionate sex. That’s how I would describe her performances.” Born and raised in New Haven, Mystique spent a lot of time hanging out in Brooklyn, N.Y., before she began her life on the move. “There’s nothing like New York for me,” she says. Ebony admits she got into her share of trouble as a teen—“not fighting or nothing, just not listening to the rules”—getting kicked out of high school and continuation school in Connecticut and then doing some of her studies in Springfield, Massachusetts. Mystique says she was in Job Corps., in Springfield by the time she was 16 and then moved to northern California when she was 17. That was when she became interested in enrolling in a CNA to RN program, which facilitates candidates going from nursing assistant to registered nurse. Then everything changed. “By the time I was 18 I was able to enroll in the school and that’s how I became a nurse before I was 21 because I had did that program,” says Ebony, who earned her degree at San Francisco State. She reveals that her first nursing job was on a neurosurgery floor at what now is called Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital. “My instructor from nursing school got me that job,” Ebony says. She would go on to dedicate the next 13 years to her career in the medical profession, working as a critical care nurse in ICUs and more recently as an advice nurse. Ebony clocked 12-hour shifts in hospitals all over California, including in Napa Valley; Florida; Nevada; Connecticut; and Utah, among other places. During her time as a nurse she learned about being “totally selfless” and about human nature. “You learn the most about people when they’re in need,” Ebony says. “My connections with people were really important and it helped me become an adult really fast.” Still, she yearned for more “autonomy” in her life and in her profession, so she got into celebrity styling and fashion design in her spare time—a passion that was funded by her nursing job. Mystique became known in celebrity styling circles on both coasts because she always had “the drip.” “People that I know would contact me sometimes,” she says. “They were styling for these A-list celebrities so they would hit me up and ask me if I had certain items that they could use for video shoots. “So that’s where the relationship came from as far as me being the girl—a person you could hit up for certain fashion.” Ebony styled talent such as Cardi B, Destiny’s Child’s Michelle Williams, Lil’ Kim, Remy Ma, Summer Walker, London on da Track, Xscape, Karen Civil and City Girls, as well as the entire cast of Love & Hip-Hop: Hollywood. “So over the years I became more popular with that,” Mystique continues. “You knew you could call me for the pulls. And that’s what it’s called—pulls, celebrity pulls. When you see the music videos, Mariah Carey could have on six different pulls to make one look.” Ebony reveals that iconic fashion designer Karl Kani once told her she also should be designing her own pieces. “And I’ve heard it before, but I took what he said and by the next time I seen him a year later I had a full line,” Ebony says, referring to her clothing and lifestyle brand, Mimi H. Designs. “I did stuff that was easy, things that people could relate to. “If I like it, they’ll love it. And I’m picky, so it worked.” She enjoyed the perks that came from styling celebs, but doing it wasn’t necessarily sending her on the path to early retirement. “It was going as far as the notoriety, people tagging you and these celebrities and all that. But really all that give you is more DMs, more inquiries from these people. It’s not so much monetization,” Ebony says. “But it was fun. And they loved it and I was doing what I loved. I love fashion.” When she began to flourish in adult, however, she embraced the independent lifestyle she craved for so long. “The adult made it so that I was able to have autonomy and the funny thing is two years ago—I can’t remember at this moment if it was pre-Covid—but it was during my adult time, I did go back for LA Fashion Week—for a big show,” Ebony recalls. “And I incorporated a few adult stars on the runway—Ana Foxxx, Cali Caliente, September Reign. They walked the runway, it was a real show. That was two years ago, so I’m still that girl. “I’m still my fashionista self. I’m still my nursing self. … I’m still licensed to this day. I’m always gonna be licensed. Because I did that, and lord knows when you ever gonna need it again.” Even after broadening her horizons in adult—she opened Luxury Journey Studios in downtown LA this year—and making the most of her Brazzers contract, Ebony always remembers where it all began on Pinky’s site. “She is everything. Like she did not have to do none of what she did. She could’ve just shot me and we could’ve been done with it,” Mystique says. “She literally told me about OnlyFans. She literally respected me because the first few scenes we did, I told her to take ’em down. She did it for a little while then she put ’em back up. Like just being instrumental in everything. “Not like weird, not like, ‘Oh, you the new girl’ type of weirdness. She never gave me bad advice. She really put her everything into me. Like for real, even when she wasn’t thinking about adult anymore. “She really wanna see me win.” As Mystique ponders her future, she says without hesitation that she wants to explore endeavors that extend her brand beyond the adult world, while also blending the best of both. “I definitely want to do more mainstream things, mainstream movies—really show my acting skills,” she says. “Because I come from a theatrical background, actually. “I came from a creative arts school before I got all kicked out and everything. So definitely mainstream. Fashion. … I’m actually gonna try to incorporate some fashion with adult really soon.” Photography by @jroyalpresents