Adult film performer/director Misha Montana sat down for a candid interview with ‘Soft White Underbelly’ host Mark Laita to discuss her personal experiences in the industry as a working mother, stroke survivor, and advocate for sex workers.

“I’ve always wanted to advocate for the human side of this industry from the beginning… I want to be an uplifting figure, the best that I can be,” she explains. “To be totally ostracized by society because of something you do for a living that a majority of the population consumes, I’ve never been able to understand that, so it was kind of my mission to change that perspective.”

She notes that “I worked in law firms, I was going to go to law school, I had all these career paths chosen for me, and I was never fulfilled… even though I’m capable and intelligent enough to do those things and had all the resources and tools that a lot of people don’t have, this is what I wanted to do. It brings me so much joy, but it gives me so much purpose in my life too.

“After the stroke, I started having a really serious depression… I deal with consistent memory loss; sometimes I don’t remember the day, I definitely don’t remember what I did three days ago unless I wrote it down… I actually started drinking really heavily after the stroke, which is the opposite thing you should do after having a stroke!”

Montana says she has learned to prioritize self-care and taking the steps to make better choices. “You have to take care of yourself; your mental health is so critically important… when you have invisible illnesses like I have, and a lot of people, a majority of the population has some form of invisible illness… it’s important that people have those conversations that are difficult to have so we can get awareness and provide resources and have access to medical care and mental care.

“Every situation that I have been in that’s been negative, has led to something more positive, or it’s built my foundation to be stronger to withstand other things that I will experience down the line. I’m actually very thankful for those moments, as tragic as they may be, as difficult as they are, as painful as they are, they are beautiful moments if you look at them that way… as an opportunity to grow yourself and to really slow down and listen to yourself too. Every moment that’s dark is something I use as a tool to better myself, and I even use it creatively too.

“The most important lesson that I’ve learned in my life… not be so hard on yourself or take what other people say about you too seriously… your career doesn’t define you, your money, your success, all of those things are not real. What you have at the end of the day is you, your character, and that’s how people will remember you.

“Were you a compassionate person, were you a kind person, were you giving, are you happy in your life? If you have those things as a strong foundation, all these other superficial things don’t matter. How we leave this world is the most important thing, and I think that’s the most beautiful thing about life, too, and I wish more people would see that. If people had more compassion, then the world would be a much more beautiful, happy place.”

• Be sure and follow Misha Montana on Twitter at @TheMishaMontana.