She of the two different — yet each wildly successful — names launches the Penthouse Conversations from the 2025 Adult Entertainment Expo in Las Vegas.
A Violet Brandani Conversation
Folks here may remember Violet as Violet Summers, but through a complicated sort of situation, she ended up changing her professional name to Violet Brandani, which we now all use as though the other name never even existed (except in the pages of Penthouse, of course). Fresh off her win as “Creator of the Year – Premium Social” in the XBIZ XMA Awards, now seemed like an excellent time to offer up a bit more of Violet for everyone. Full disclosure, we will always vote on the side of a bit more Violet, whatever name she uses.
I’m sitting here with Violet Brandani (Previously Violet Summers), Penthouse Pet of the Month. Can you share an experience or a person who has had a profound impact on your career?
Violet: Honestly, Penthouse has had a very big impact on my career. It’s helped me have a name in this game, I guess, because obviously, I’m independent, so I don’t really have “I’m on Brazzers” or something, so it was really cool to have that opportunity to be a Penthouse Pet and have that forever sisterhood. I always go back to my Pet sisters and like “Oh! Let’s collab!” or “You’re going here? Let’s stick together”, so that’s really fun and even leaving my management company too — Penthouse having my back.
‘Cause that’s how we met you.
Violet: Yes, exactly. But you have my back on that and like changing my last name for me — that was really cool and very helpful, so y’all definitely have had such a huge impact on my career, and I’m very grateful to be a Penthouse Pet. [laughs]
Great answer! I love it! What’s something that people might be surprised to learn about your upbringing or your early life?
Violet: Well, I guess I come from a very conservative family … very Catholic and family oriented. When I was 5, I moved in with my grandparents, and they raised me for a long time. I love my grandparents, and they are like my parents. [laughs]
How did they feel about your career choice?
Violet: So, my grandpa passed away in 2021, but he was so proud of me. It was honestly amazing cause he was just like living through me. He would call me every single day and ask me“Where are you traveling to today?” or “What are you doing?”. He just thought it was such a cool thing that I went off and did [laughs]. And my grandma … she’s so supportive. She’s just the sweetest lady in the world. She’ll support her grandkids through anything.
You’re so lucky.
Violet: Yeah! I really am. I have an amazing family.
That’s great. What do you think is a misconception or perception that outsiders have about you and/or people that are content creators?
Violet: I think a lot of people don’t think about “Oh, they do have a sibling!”. I think a lot of them think “Oh, they’re literally all on their own. They don’t have any family talking to them” and a lot of us have great relationships with our families. Even when I was a kid, I remember looking at risqué women and being like, “They definitely don’t have their parents in their lives!” you know? [laughs] “How did they do that?” “You definitely can’t have your parents in your life and do that!” but then you grow up, and you’re like “Oh yeah, it’s just another profession.” [laughs].
That’s a great answer! I actually love that. How do you approach failure or setbacks and what lessons do you take from them?
Violet: Definitely, I get into chaos mode, “Oh my gosh! This is it! There’s no coming back from this.” And then I step back, and I’m able to be like “Ok, well, I can do this.” You know? I just have to delegate things to the right people and not try to take it all on myself. That’s something — after leaving the management company — that I realized that I can’t just sit here and do everything myself because there’s not enough time in the day … so, hiring my own team and getting the right people in the right spots to make sure things are good system, is how I like to handle that kind of stuff because otherwise I’m just going to be, like, drowning.
Another great answer. What do you think is an important issue today facing society, and how can we address it?
Violet: I think freedom. Freedom to just do what — you know … walk around the hotel [laughs] — in my this [gestures] … I’m not even showing my nipples. [laughs]
Yeah. Tell us what happened.
Violet: So, I was actually in the convention, and they told me I needed to change my outfit, and I’m in a literal microkini. My nipples are covered. My private parts are covered, but it’s like the G-string was too small … So, these little rules y’all can make up because you don’t like it … You know, like if one girl’s wearing a tank top and the other girl’s wearing the same tank top, because she has bigger boobs, she has to take it off … I get so tired of that … Like why can’t we just be naked? That’s the biggest issue in the world … [laughs] … that we can’t be naked.
That’s hilarious. How do you define happiness, and what does it mean to you personally?
Violet: Being content with yourself and not needing outside approval for that happiness and having a good support system is definitely a part of that because, obviously, you can be happy with yourself [laughs], but you can’t be alone all the time. So, that’s part of being happy: having a good support system, being content with yourself.
What does empowerment mean to you, and how does it relate to your work as a model and content creator?
Violet: Oooh, it’s very empowering doing this work. Especially in conventions like this, I love when girls come up to me, and they’re like “I love your work!” I think that’s so cool, and I want to keep going whenever a girl tells me that, because it’s just like “Oh my gosh! I’m inspiring another girl” or “Maybe she did this cause she saw me do it”, so I stay very motivated by the other girls in the industry: just them hyping me up or them doing their thing too, that keeps me motivated, cause all of these girls are such go-getters, and they’re always on … if you are not doing something, they’re going to pass you up.
Do you have a hitlist of the top 3 creators that you’d like to collab with that you haven’t yet?
Violet: Oooh., Angela White! [laughs] Always going to be on my hitlist. For sure. And then she’s not in the mainstream anymore, but I think she does OnlyFans … literally obsessed with her since I was 18 … Megan Rain. [laughs] And … who else? Elaine Cheeks! Yes! Oh, and then also Caryn Beaumont. [laughs]
Get in line girl. [laughs]
Violet: I know right!
She’s here, and she’s looking to collab.
Violet: Ok, yay. We’ve been trying to get together.
That’s what I love also about the Penthouse Pet sisterhood is the fact that everyone is collabing with each other and building each other up and supporting each other and like if you do well, they do well, we all do well, and it’s in everyone’s best interest to take everyone up the ladder.
Violet: It’s perfect. Y’all don’t make it seem like “You better post me on these days” or something [laughs] like you know it’s very “You helped me out. I’ll help you out.” I love it. I love being a Penthouse Pet, cause y’all are just so awesome.
Thank you! Ok, if you could instantly master a new skill, what would it be?
Violet: Probably like photographic memory. [laughs]
That one’s good. What would you do with it?
Violet: Literally so much. I feel like I would just remember so much more … Like look at that paper … I don’t need the paper anymore. [laughs] Something like that, you know?
So, like business — all that kind of stuff?
Violet: Yeah. Exactly.
You can be a spy.
Violet: I could be a spy! I could do a lot.
If you could do any other profession for one day, what would it be?
Violet: I would love to be a teacher. I think that would be so cool.
Why?
Violet: Just cause you get your classroom [laughs] and you get to teach them and have little debates with them … just see their minds working and figuring something out.
What age?
Violet: I would say like 5th grade. My sister’s actually a 5th grade teacher too. I’m like “Oh my gosh. I’m kind of jealous of that because your classroom’s so cute.” Oh, the stories she has when she comes home from her kids … I’m just like “Oh my gosh. You have such a cute life.”
And then also you’re in charge of forming the little brains of the future. You really have such an influence on the world through children.
Violet: Exactly! That must be so rewarding to see … them understand something or overcome an obstacle they were trying to figure out, and so I think that’s awesome. That’s the future of America you’re teaching right there.
If you could live in any other time period, other than your own, when would it be and why?
Violet: I’ve always said the roaring 20s because it’s just so glamorous, and you get to dress up. It’s a little sexy too … Gatsby and everything. It’s just a party. The 30s weren’t there yet. It’s awesome.
I love it. And your answer “Well, like the 30s weren’t there yet.”
Violet: Yeah! There was no depression. [laughs]
What role do you think social media plays in shaping the public’s perception today?
Violet: Oooh … I think it’s a huge role. I think a lot of women have body dysmorphia because of social media. It’s not just you giving your photo to someone to edit. You’re putting it on your phone. You’re using PrettyUp. You’re doing more and more and then like guys are expecting that. I mean, obviously, quality is everything and edit your photos. I love editing and making sure it looks amazing cause that’s like your billboard, but when you just keep doing more and more … people can just kind of see that, and then you don’t want to do videos, so I think that the more natural we can be on editing and stuff like that, the better, I guess. [laughs]
What advice would you give to the girl at home that looks at social media and looks at all of our images, and they compare themselves? They’re like “I’m not perfect like that. I’m not skinny like that. My skin isn’t flawless like that.” How much of it is real and how much of it is fake, and what would you say to that girl at home to make her feel better about herself?
Violet: I would say it’s all fake. Don’t even for a second waste your time on that. When I first was getting into the industry … I was doing it cause I was horny and having fun, and the old management that I was with for years was hiring me, and I was like “I don’t look like any of these girls like on your roster … on your team,” “I’m not going to fit in with this”, I was super skinny — like 100lbs … … super short, and he was like “No, that’s great. It’s so good that you look different, and you are who you are because that’s going to sell.” And I just did not understand that. So, it’s really cool that I just took that leap because it turns out that people do like my look, and I just think that girls don’t see how beautiful they are because they’re always comparing themselves to each other, and it’s just really sad.
I love that answer. How do you stay grounded and connected to your roots despite your success?
Violet: Oh, it’s easy because I live in Texas with my family, and they keep me super grounded and humble. I’m the youngest in my family, so I’m like the little one still.… [laughs] They laugh at me with everything I do. It’s so easy to be humble when you’re the youngest, I feel. Then it’s all on social media, so when I’m at home working, that’s all it is: It’s just work … and fun. Then, when I’m here, I’m like, “Oh my gosh! I’m actually — you know me!” and it’s cool to see you in person.
How does it feel when people recognize you?
Violet: It’s so exciting.
Tell me the process of meeting a fan.
Violet: They’ll usually do like a double take, or sometimes they’ll be like across the room and kind of keep staring. I’m like, “Hmm … I wonder if they know” and usually it turns out they come up to me and are like, “Hey, are you Violet?” So, yeah, you can always kind of feel like when they know or possibly suspect something.
Has anybody ever approached you at like a supermarket?
Violet: Yeah, a lot of times people in like the parking lot of the stores … always … at church. [laughs]
What?!
Violet: Yeah, a couple came up to me at church and was like, “Oh, we love your work!”
All in all, things could have turned out much worse for Violet. We could be forced to refer to her as “The Artist Previously Known as Violet Summers” — and then we’d all have to figure out how to type some weird symbol when we talk about her. What can we say, we have always favored the Princess over the Prince anyway. Now presumably everyone understands what we mean by never having enough Violet Bandani, so we would suggest link.me as a launching point and (particularly) YouTube as further research paths. Hey, some of us really like banana pudding. Besides, nobody ever said all research has to be boring.
In case you’re curious too, we had to looks it up, because while “The XBIZ Awards” makes logical sense, when they changed to “The XMA Awards” we got confused. According the Chat GPT (so we should take that into consideration), “The XMA Awards, formerly known as the XBIZ Awards, are annual awards that recognize excellence in the adult entertainment industry, honoring individuals, companies, and products that contribute to its growth and success. The awards have been held since 2003 and feature various categories to celebrate achievements in this field.” … So now we have all learned something: Never try to apply too much logic to the adult industry.
Finally, you may be wising that you could be in the audience during what has now become our AEE tradition of interviews, so we’d be remiss in not letting you know that AVN already has tickets available. And we hate being remiss. Heck, we hate being miss the first time.
