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19th year as Madam of Sheri’s Ranch, the premiere legal brothel closest to Las Vegas located in Pahrump, Nevada.

🔗 DENA LINKS |  www.sherisranch.com / @RanchMamaDena

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00:00:00:05 - 00:00:10:01

Luna

And our guest today is in her 19th year as Madame of Sheri's Ranch, the premier legal brothel closest to Las Vegas, located in Pahrump, Nevada. Welcome, madam.

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Luna

Dena.

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Dena

Hi. How are you?

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Luna

I'm amazing and so excited to have you on here, because I have talked to a couple of the ladies from the ranch. But this is a very special treat. So can you please start off by telling us if you had to rate yourself on a sexual shame meter with ten being so full of shame and one being like, nah, I'm good, where do you fall right now?

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Luna

Today.

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Dena

Ten being the highest?

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Luna

Yeah.

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Dena

I'm going to assume that that means sexual knowledge.

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Luna

Just like the shame come up for you when it comes to talking about sex.

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Dena

Oh gosh. No, that would be like a 1 or 2. I been in the industry for so long, it's just I actually have to pull myself back from when I'm, like, talking with people outside of this industry and they sometimes I'll say little shocking things. And to me, it's so everyday I have to stop and I go, oh, I'm so sorry, did I offend you?

00:01:01:12 - 00:01:09:15

Dena

I did not mean that, you know? So yeah, I have to be very cognizant about what I'm saying outside of work.

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Luna

I feel that. Are there ever times where it, like, spikes up and you're like, oh, I do have shame? Or has it just been, like, obliterated for the past couple decades?

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Dena

It's really two different things. If if we're talking about sex and sex acts and different things like that. I have no shame. I really don't. It's not going to bother me if we're talking about in my personal life. I think that every one of us has something that we all kind of go, and I don't know, you know, you have those insecurities, but for work stuff to talk about things.

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Dena

No.

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Luna

I feel that I'm the same way. Okay. Can you tell us what is sexy to you? How do you define it yourself? Or like in the work that you do.

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Dena

In the work that you do? I think that with all the different personalities that have come through here, that I've had the opportunity to work with, honestly, I would say intelligence to me, when I meet somebody who's intelligent, who can articulate themself really well, and I'm not saying like with big words and all that, because then I'll be like, I don't know what that means.

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Dena

You got.

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Luna

To say what.

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Dena

I mean. Just be able to express themselves in a more in-depth manner. I think that that is what I consider sexy. I really think that a lot of people, customers coming in feel that way as well. Okay. You know, I don't think it's just about how somebody looks. Yeah, that's a part of it. But when you start talking with somebody and you're able to kind of like start to build, a little bit of a connection, it draws people in.

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Dena

And then there you go. That's what sexy.

00:02:49:01 - 00:03:07:19

Luna

Like. Yeah. And then in the context of working at a legal brothel, like what counts as sex? You know, I ask this question normally to people where I'm like, what counts is sex for you? But I imagine it has a different kind of definition. Or maybe that distinction is important, like how do you understand and define sex? The word itself.

00:03:07:21 - 00:03:28:17

Dena

It would be whatever experience or sexual fantasy somebody looking for to me would be defined as sex, because not everybody wants what most people think of as a physical act of sex. They're looking for something else, but it would still be can fall under that umbrella of sex.

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Luna

Got it.

00:03:29:19 - 00:03:38:01

Luna

In your own life, what sort of sex talk or sex ed lesson or consent education did you ever receive, if any, while you were growing up?

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Dena

Okay, I received zero growing up.

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Luna

So many of us. Okay.

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Dena

Yeah, I received zero growing up. And it was more like fumble along and figure it out on your own. Let's just say I did a lot of things in my younger years that I would go, oh, probably should have done that.

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Luna

Well, we don't learn it though. We learn.

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Dena

Right? Right. And so when I have my children, I made sure that I was very clear as to what it was so that they wouldn't make those same mistakes. So kind of interesting that way back then is, you know, back in the late 70s, it just was not talked about in town.

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Luna

Okay. So you've done a lot of learning maybe like throughout your life or on the job. Can you tell us, like how did you become the madam? You've been doing this for two decades? Like, what is your professional origin story?

00:04:29:10 - 00:04:55:21

Dena

I honestly, I was like a little peon in politics in Las Vegas, and I didn't want to do that anymore. I moved my family out to Paramount, and I was actually on a tour with my mother in law that she was with the Red Hat Society, and she didn't want to come here alone. So I came with her and I took the tour with her, and it was a big group tour back then, and we got to see the back and we had a brunch and we did all this stuff.

00:04:55:23 - 00:05:12:20

Dena

And the madam at the time by the name of Lorraine, she offered me a job on the spot and I said, wow, that's really nice. But no. And I went home and I didn't need to work at the time. And I kind of thought about it and I thought, you know, a little part time job to get me out of the house.

00:05:12:20 - 00:05:22:15

Dena

Maybe. So it came up and I talked to her, and I started out as a part time hostess a year later. LED to this because she left.

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Luna

A year later.

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Dena

Yeah, I was only in it. I, I had started in April of 2006, and by July of 2007, I had already done a couple of the different departments and she had left. And because of that, nobody else had that accumulated knowledge. At that time. I got offered the position and man, did I take some lumps on the head because I thought I knew what I was doing, but I was clueless.

00:05:51:15 - 00:05:53:11

Luna

Oh my God, what the what?

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Dena

Truly what? It truly took to be able to do this position.

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Luna

Yeah, yeah.

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Luna

I feel like I can only imagine. I mean, like in some ways it's my dream to do what you're doing, and in other ways I'm like, that seems fucking terrible. Did you even, like, know brothels existed before you went on that tour? Like, what was your relationship to, like? Oh, legal brothel. Were you like, cool sex or were you like,

00:06:16:17 - 00:06:42:15

Dena

I didn't really have an opinion. I really don't have any judgments on things like that. Never really have. I would say I did not know that there were legal places that you could frequent at that time, you know, before I started working here. So it was pretty interesting, you know, learning about it because I didn't realize there were legal places I knew about the illegal stuff in Vegas that was on and politics in Vegas.

00:06:42:15 - 00:07:18:23

Dena

Come on. Right. You know, so I knew about that kind of stuff. So coming out and realizing that there were legal establishments was fantastic to me. And then working within this industry for so many years, it's made me realize that because of that lack of knowledge out there for the public, it has made it so very difficult. For when I think of young women that are getting caught up in not so great things, because maybe they want to work in this industry, and then if they don't have good mentors or good direction, they fall into some, maybe some not so great stuff.

00:07:19:05 - 00:07:42:15

Dena

But giving them that option that they can do something legally, be able to get a paycheck, be able to get your taxes so that you can have proof of income so that you can buy a car, buy a house, you know, move forward in your future in this industry and not keep it in such a nefarious type of shady thing, because it doesn't have to be that it can be something beautiful if you allow it.

00:07:42:17 - 00:07:46:12

Dena

So to me, I think there should be brothels all over the country.

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Luna

Yeah. Oh my.

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Dena

Not a legal legal one.

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Luna

I am with you there. Can you give us like a little snapshot of, like what, a day or week or month or whatever makes sense time wise in the life is like for you as a man? I'm like, what are you doing? What are your primary concerns? You got to drive a big ship, right? And Sheri's is a larger place.

00:08:05:15 - 00:08:07:04

Luna

And when it comes to brothels, right?

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Dena

Yeah, we're pretty big. We have a hotel, we have a bar and restaurant. We hold up to 25 ladies in a week, and that rotates every week. So our roster is like anywhere from 65 to above 70 in a quarterly period, which is a three month period. So it's trying to rotate through all of that scheduling, trying to manage the people when they come in, because a lot of times, and dealing with a lot of young women who've never worked in such a structured brothel before or a brothel, and helping them to understand that they're working their business within our business, and what does that look like for them, and how do they start to

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Dena

implement that? And it starts to change their way of thinking and how they are. They're looking at things in their future versus just like, oh, go make some money, you know, and.

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Luna

You know, it's like, I don't.

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Dena

No, you can make a lot of money, but let's talk about what you're going to do with that money. Yeah. You know, you need to invest in yourself. You need to invest in your future. And a lot of times young people have not had that opportunity to have been taught that or even to be said, you know, oh, that's an idea.

00:09:18:00 - 00:09:42:03

Dena

That's an option for me. I like that, you know, and that's kind of a goal. So, look at a week for me, Mondays are my hell days, okay? Cause that's just the busy, busy, busy, busy day. It's just all accounting, all paperwork, all of my color coded spreadsheets. It's a lot of that. So doing all the admin stuff usually falls on Mondays and that can get kind of crazy.

00:09:42:05 - 00:10:05:09

Dena

And then throughout the week, it's just connecting with the staff because I have my supervisors that go to connect with, make sure that everything is running properly, operationally, and then connecting with independent contractors and dealing with what comes up with that, whatever their needs are, if they have any questions or if they need guidance, or sometimes they just need me, you know, and I have to be able to be flexible enough to be there for them.

00:10:05:11 - 00:10:10:23

Dena

And then a lot of emails, so many emails.

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Luna

And.

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Dena

It's just being able to, like I said, balance that scheduling because ladies will come in either for a week or they'll come in for two weeks and trying to fit it in to what's going on in their personal life with what I've got available for them. Sometimes, is a little bit of a juggling act that goes on with that, and still being able to have an opportunity to get to know them on a personal level without it being all business.

00:10:37:01 - 00:10:43:02

Dena

That's my week. That's what I'm doing. Talking with customers, talking with ladies, you know?

00:10:43:04 - 00:10:45:08

Luna

Okay, so you do talk to customers.

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Dena

I do talk to customers.

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Luna

What are they like?

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Dena

Well, just yesterday I had a had a fellow who's been coming here for cash as long as I've been here. He's been coming in and I've seen him progress. So he came in, he stayed in the hotel and he came in on a Monday and he wanted to just say hi and just for us to kind of visit and connect.

00:11:06:15 - 00:11:12:14

Dena

And he likes to reminisce and catch up. And it was so busy. It was Monday.

00:11:12:16 - 00:11:15:20

Luna

I couldn't do it. So I look up, I.

00:11:15:20 - 00:11:20:17

Dena

Look up on the camera, and I see it because he's in a wheelchair and I see him leaving. I'm like.

00:11:20:18 - 00:11:23:02

Luna

No, I gotta go see him. As of, I'm running.

00:11:23:02 - 00:11:41:07

Dena

Out to the parking lot and I'm stopping and I'm like, oh my God, don't leave. I just, just give me I need to say hi. You know, and that made his day because he knew that I wanted to connect with him. And it's like certain customers and certain ladies and all of it, they become family. When you see them regularly like this, they do.

00:11:41:07 - 00:11:47:12

Dena

They become family. And you want to be able to. It's like going and seeing your family. I haven't seen in a while and you just want catch up.

00:11:47:14 - 00:12:04:12

Luna

I feel that, I totally feel that. So can you tell us what is it like if someone is coming to Sherry's? Like, what can they expect? Like kind of how does it work if someone is coming to visit? I know they have tours, and I know that there's also people that go to see ladies, but like, what do people expect when they show up?

00:12:04:14 - 00:12:18:22

Dena

Well, I think you could go a couple different ways with that. You can either go with, let's say you're you just want to check the place out, you know, you heard about it, you're in town and maybe a relative or friends like, oh, let's go have lunch at one of the brothels because we have the bar and restaurant.

00:12:18:22 - 00:12:37:03

Dena

You can come in and do that. And at that time, you could take a tour with one of the ladies just to see what it's like in a brothel and kind of get more of a education as to what realistically it is. And people usually walk away going, oh, it's not anything that I thought it was going to be.

00:12:37:05 - 00:12:43:01

Dena

It's like, yeah, you know, I mean, we're pretty nice, sophisticated place. So tell all your friends.

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Luna

You know.

00:12:43:21 - 00:13:08:06

Dena

If you're coming in as a customer, maybe you've never been to a brothel. You're a little bit nervous. You can come in. We usually have a hostess that will read everybody, and she will help facilitate what it is that you're looking for. Whether you've checked out our website and you figured out who it is that you want to talk to, or you know, you've made an appointment, or maybe you were just, you know, I'm in Vegas, I'm going to try it out.

00:13:08:08 - 00:13:27:05

Dena

You come out and you don't know who you want to talk to or whatever the case may be. That hostess will help facilitate that. And at that time you can either do a liner, which is that can be kind of intimidating. We don't do a lot of lineups, or you can sit in the bar, have a drink, and then ladies will come up and chat with you.

00:13:27:11 - 00:13:52:15

Dena

And then that way you have an opportunity to communicate and see who you connect with. And that also gives you an opportunity to kind of calm your nerves and, and kind of acclimate to the place. We want customers to have that best experience. We don't want people to be scared or nervous or anything like that. So at that time, let's say he chats with a lady and that's the one.

00:13:52:16 - 00:14:19:01

Dena

There's a connection there. The mind is brilliant and you want to go chat. At that time, she's going to take because we're back to her room and he can let her know what kind of different services or different experiences he's looking to have, and then she can talk about what she offers. And at that time, they're going to talk about money, and she's going to let him know where her comfort levels are and how much you can charge for their services.

00:14:19:01 - 00:14:45:06

Dena

And then he will, you know, it's a give and take on both sides to find where everybody's happy. And then they book the money and then they go have a wonderful experience. Now we cater to couples, so when couples come in it's a little different. He's talking about two people. Usually I think that couples, when they come in and they're ready to explore, they're sexuality as a couple and they've gotten to that point.

00:14:45:06 - 00:15:18:21

Dena

I usually like to let them know, you know, have you talked about your do's? Don't and your comfort levels? Yeah. You know, a lot of times couples don't do that. They have no idea they've been together forever, but they don't talk on that level. I mean, some couples do. Yes, but some couples don't. I mean, that's scary to think that you're going to be judged because let's say you like feet or you want to experience a female, or maybe you don't want to experience FEMA, but you just want to watch, you know, I mean, any number of things that could come up.

00:15:18:23 - 00:15:39:17

Dena

And as a society and individuals, I think that we're so used to people judging us that we don't know how to vocalize this to our partners. And it is so important, so very important. And so when they come in, it's about finding out that. And if they haven't done that yet, they need to do it before they talk to somebody.

00:15:39:17 - 00:16:02:22

Dena

And then they can talk to ladies again, like, you know, as if you were a regular customer. Talk to different ladies and then have an opportunity where the two of them can kind of reconnect privately to see who they both are interested in. And if it ticks off their boxes of what they're both looking for. So it gets a little bit more complicated with couples, but I think that the experiences that couples can have when they walk away is just beautiful.

00:16:03:00 - 00:16:09:21

Dena

Do you want to come to a place that it's going to be beautiful, and it's not going to be the horror stories?

00:16:09:23 - 00:16:25:13

Luna

I feel I mean, even just like swiping on couples on field, my first question is always like, what's your experience level? Like what are your boundaries? And if they don't know that, I'm like, have fun learning with someone else. So I feel that right. Are single females allowed to come in as customers as well?

00:16:25:15 - 00:16:28:05

Luna

Oh heck yeah. Okay, cool. Yeah.

00:16:28:06 - 00:16:54:11

Dena

Yeah. I mean, yeah, women can come in. We got a number of ladies that come in to see the other ladies maybe, you know. And here's the thing. Depending on whatever is going on in the in their walk of life or their careers or whatever the case is, I mean, we cater to just about everybody. Our handicap community comes in usually pretty regular or disabled people that come in or couples ladies, single guys.

00:16:54:12 - 00:17:02:01

Dena

I mean, lots of virgins come in because they're scared and they want to learn. So yeah, we we welcome everybody.

00:17:02:03 - 00:17:08:21

Luna

I love that. Have you gotten any interesting or weird or shocked reactions when you tell people what you do or do you tell people what you do?

00:17:08:23 - 00:17:33:22

Dena

I usually don't tell people what I do outside of the industry. I mean, people know. So when I first started this in 2006 and when I moved over into the position in 2007, my oldest kids, because I have seven kids and the older ones, they were still in school and they were starting high school and middle school. So I made them.

00:17:34:00 - 00:17:58:14

Dena

The kids would say where I worked and they got judged and some placements were canceled, and some things were said to my kids, and we were turned down to be able to participate in some stuff my husband and I. So I just don't I just don't tell people what I do outside of here. Yeah, I don't want that rollover to happen to my family.

00:17:58:18 - 00:18:08:18

Dena

So now we're going to fast forward in 19 years. Those children are all married and having children grown and living their careers. But I still have a 13 year old at home.

00:18:08:20 - 00:18:09:20

Luna

Okay. Yeah.

00:18:09:20 - 00:18:12:00

Luna

Okay. That's a lot to consider.

00:18:12:01 - 00:18:26:10

Dena

Yeah. And because of that, I'm still really protective about seeing what I do because I don't want her to be ostracized or rejected over something that she wants to do because of small minded people that don't understand the industry.

00:18:26:13 - 00:18:39:01

Luna

Yeah, for sure, for sure. What have you learned about sex? And even, like, fetishes, specific sex acts, anything because of your work at the brothel? Like what would you never have known about otherwise?

00:18:39:03 - 00:18:49:20

Dena

Oh my gosh, there's so many. I'm still learning stuff real and I and I know a lot of stuff, but there's always some that go through and I go, what is that?

00:18:49:22 - 00:18:53:02

Luna

I gotta look that up. And I don't know that one.

00:18:53:04 - 00:19:18:13

Dena

When I first started as a hostess, I would say everything was kind of shocking and new and like, blow your mind. I mean, pretty basic things that we deal with all the time now. So moving forward, you know, over the years, you know, trying to think of what different things have been out there and that I think have made me take, make, take pause, I think was very specific bodily fetishes.

00:19:18:15 - 00:19:44:19

Dena

Made me kind of take pause and I and not that that's what they wanted. But how do you make that happen? Because I always look at it from an independent contractors viewpoint, you know, and how they have to operate. And I go, that's a lot of planning. How do you make that happen? The most curious thing that I started learning, which fascinated me, was milking the prostate.

00:19:44:21 - 00:20:10:06

Dena

Yeah, fascinated me. And it fascinated me. Not necessarily the milking the prostate part, the active, but how blood flow works in the human body and how when you start getting into the anatomy of all of this and how everything kind of comes together and works together. And it just made me go, wow, I never knew that I'm a bit of a dummy.

00:20:10:09 - 00:20:21:04

Dena

I never educated myself on any of this because I didn't know. Yeah. So when you get into this industry, you start hearing different things and you start reading up on different things and you start learning. It's like.

00:20:21:06 - 00:20:22:00

Luna

For you.

00:20:22:02 - 00:20:32:08

Luna

That's how I feel. It's like layers of learning because I'm like, oh, I know that there's prostate milk. I know, and now I'm like, I need to go research the specifics of the blood flow. Do I know everything you know? And so that's.

00:20:32:10 - 00:20:37:08

Luna

When I do like some fun. What would you.

00:20:37:08 - 00:20:47:16

Luna

Say makes you excellent at what you do? You've been doing it for two decades. Like what are kind of like the skills or your ability to hold or like go with all the sexy stuff, like, how are you so awesome at what you do?

00:20:47:18 - 00:21:06:23

Dena

Thank you for saying I'm awesome at what I do. I love that I would say it's always maintaining compassion, and I know that seems very simple, but really that's what it is. When you do something repetitively for so long, you can start to, especially when you're dealing with a lot of people between the different contractors and the customers.

00:21:06:23 - 00:21:29:16

Dena

That's a lot of people. Yeah. Into that is that I've dealt with. So it's not letting myself lose that compassion because yes, there are times that somebody can get frustrated. It's the same thing is if you're a receptionist and you got to answer phones all day, you know, there are aspects of your position that can start to become frustrating to you.

00:21:29:18 - 00:21:52:14

Dena

And it's not allowing that to happen for me, because if that happens and I won't maintain my compassion, and if I don't maintain that, I can't connect with people, I can't connect with the ladies, I can't connect with the customers, I can't connect with the staff, you know, and look at things from their perspective versus my perspective. Because in life, that's what a lot of people do.

00:21:52:14 - 00:22:01:05

Dena

We only look at our own little bubble total, and we don't know how to step out of that and take it in from those different perspectives. Yeah.

00:22:01:06 - 00:22:22:15

Luna

And it's such a mix in a work setting, I would imagine. I mean, here I am like collecting all these perspectives and then I'm like, there's too many perspectives. I don't know which one to think through. And so to be able to kind of find that balance of like there's, there's, there's mine. And then the job I have to do so zooming out, could you tell us how do you think your work is making the world a sexier, more loving place?

00:22:22:17 - 00:22:44:20

Dena

Education. The more we can educate the public and the more we can educate people that want to start working within the sex industry. Educate the couples out there that want to explore their sexuality in a safe place, educating, you know, our divorcees or our widows so that, hey, there's a safe place that you can come to see whether or not this is the next step for you.

00:22:44:20 - 00:23:09:00

Dena

If you want to take that step and build another relationship with somebody you know, come here and see if you're ready for that, for whatever the reasoning is, educating the public to know that there are places that you can go, because we're not just the only brothel, but those different places that you can go to experience these things in a safe environment that you can walk away with without any regret.

00:23:09:02 - 00:23:09:18

Luna

Yeah.

00:23:09:20 - 00:23:17:14

Luna

What would you say are like the sexiest and least sexy parts of your job that maybe people don't know exist?

00:23:17:16 - 00:23:31:05

Dena

I would say interacting with the girls and the customers would be at the sexiest, I guess is the word. I enjoy that. I don't dislike that. I just like answering emails.

00:23:31:07 - 00:23:42:04

Luna

Just I feel that so. I mean, doesn't by me give you just like, oh another email. Okay. And and it's like sometimes I wish I had.

00:23:42:04 - 00:23:44:09

Dena

A little voice recorder. I do better with a guitar.

00:23:44:09 - 00:23:45:22

Luna

Can I just talking to the computer.

00:23:46:00 - 00:23:56:18

Dena

So emails are I think my least favorite thing to do are oh, even though clean the the hotels, the hotel.

00:23:56:18 - 00:24:05:05

Luna

And I think that's more fun than answering e-mails. So jump in with housekeeping. You be like, let me help you out today.

00:24:05:07 - 00:24:11:14

Luna

I would love to hear what you have noticed through your work about sex related shame.

00:24:11:16 - 00:24:35:14

Dena

I would say the stigmatism of being labeled a sex worker or a prostitute. We don't use the word prostitute. We use the word courtesans because I don't like that word. I mean, yeah, it's my personal thing. I would say how people will treat. So a number of years ago, pre-pandemic, there was a vote in our county to get rid of all brothels in our county.

00:24:35:20 - 00:24:55:01

Dena

So there was a hard political push of people going out there, going door to door to talk about what brothels do in our local community, Nye County, to help people be educated before they went and voted. Yeah. So when this was all going on and there were and it was very heated, I mean, people were the debate was on.

00:24:55:01 - 00:25:13:16

Dena

I'd go into the grocery store and I'd hear people talking about it and I'd be, you know, listening. And there were so many varied views on it. And this all started during the fast assessor thing, right when that all started. That's when this preacher tuned upon himself to try and get rid of brothels in my counties again. But this isn't the first time he's tried to do it.

00:25:13:18 - 00:25:31:03

Dena

So what amazed me is I had a reverend. I don't know if he's called a reverend or a preacher or when he came in one day into the bar and he asked to speak to me. So I went out and I was curious and went, and I spoke to him and he said, I just want to say thank you.

00:25:31:04 - 00:25:58:18

Dena

And he shook my hand and I was like, thank you for what? And he said, I just want to say, you guys have always been good neighbors, and I don't feel anybody should judge you guys until them themselves stop drinking, stop smoking, stop gambling, stop doing all of that. And until everybody can focus on themselves and see what they're doing and stop that, I don't feel anybody should judge you guys.

00:25:58:19 - 00:26:19:10

Dena

And I was just like, wow, that is amazing. Thank you so much. Because at the time, you know, you're just hear a negative negative, negative. And he did that. And that just totally made my week. It made the whole thing so much a little bit easier to bear. And obviously it didn't get passed because it didn't win the vote because we're still here.

00:26:19:12 - 00:26:40:16

Dena

And the community did rally behind us, and it was more of the community that was like, you know, support us than don't support us. And that felt good to. Yeah. But yeah, I would say during moments of that created moments of shame. And then of course, in my own personal life, you know, with my kids and right, judging people and.

00:26:40:18 - 00:26:41:09

Luna

Yeah.

00:26:41:11 - 00:26:56:04

Luna

But I also can imagine, like customers coming in and maybe having a shame transformation. Or do you think by the time people get there, are they unashamed or do you ever feel like, like, do you hear from ladies about experiences with people that are shame related at all?

00:26:56:06 - 00:27:06:19

Dena

Okay, so customers will come in for humiliation parties and different things like that, and they want to be shamed. There's experience with that. Is that where you're going?

00:27:06:21 - 00:27:08:02

Luna

No, I was thinking I was.

00:27:08:02 - 00:27:21:00

Luna

Thinking more about what you were saying about it being an educational experience. And just from my time talking to people like, even, you know, I get regular people that want to come on the podcast and then once they get here, they're like, I'm nervous now, you know? And so I'm imagining the brothel version of that.

00:27:21:02 - 00:27:25:19

Dena

You know, I think shame is such to me is a very heavy.

00:27:25:21 - 00:27:26:23

Luna

Heavy negative.

00:27:27:05 - 00:27:55:15

Dena

I do know that a lot of the ladies that come in here, some don't know their value or know how wonderful they are, and maybe in their life they haven't been told enough, or they've had some very negative experiences leading up to when they came here, and when they are surrounded by such strong, independent women. And those women kind of banded together and pick them up and build them up.

00:27:55:17 - 00:28:23:08

Dena

And between the staff and the ladies that work here, that have been here for a long time, ladies, I've been here the whole time I've been here. So that community will help to heal that person, to show so that they have a safe place and they start figuring out who they are and that they are wonderful and their value to other people and their family and society and everything, that they have a lot to give.

00:28:23:08 - 00:28:48:16

Dena

They have a lot of value and to create that environment, I think is amazing to see a girl come in and then walk out, you know, six months later, head, heart, you know, she didn't stay here for six months. But within that time frame you can see that transformation of confidence, becoming business minded, having goals and starting to put things in place in their their own personal life.

00:28:48:18 - 00:29:13:04

Dena

That is higher than, let's say, when they first came in, because now their confidence in their self-worth is more in that. To me, that's huge. I like little examples. So I had a fella, he was a widower. He'd been with his wife for 60, 65 years. They've been married forever for ever since they were teenagers. We're talking high school sweethearts.

00:29:13:07 - 00:29:35:17

Dena

Wow. She passed away, and it had been like a year or two, and he came in. And again, this is this is where we fall into. Not everything is about sex. It's about sex. But it's not about sex. He needed to come in to see if he could build a relationship with another female, or even get to the point where he would want to have sex with somebody else.

00:29:35:19 - 00:30:03:01

Dena

And it was amazing to watch him blossom from such deep sadness to where when he, you know, after coming out here and spending time and it was usually with just the one lady, but spending time with her in that no pressure. And then towards the end of it here, you know, I would say it was like a year later he got a girlfriend, he started dating again.

00:30:03:03 - 00:30:04:12

Dena

And I was just like.

00:30:04:14 - 00:30:06:17

Luna

That's beautiful.

00:30:06:19 - 00:30:10:22

Dena

Yeah. So I mean, stuff like that. I mean, where else are you going to find that?

00:30:11:00 - 00:30:11:08

Luna

Yeah.

00:30:11:13 - 00:30:18:18

Luna

That's incredible. Now, this might be an impossible question. Is there like an average amount of time people spend with a lady there?

00:30:18:20 - 00:30:35:18

Dena

Well, it depends on what they want to do, honestly. I mean, somebody may come in for just, you know, they're cool with a blowjob or, you know, a quickie sex or something like that. And there's other people that come in and they want a different type of experience. You know, a quickie could be a quickie, another type of experience.

00:30:35:18 - 00:30:51:12

Dena

It could be a couple hours. There are some customers that come in and they want, you know, let's say GF, a girlfriend experience where there was somebody overnight. It's really relative to the customer. It's whatever they want. And if they've got the budget for it, we can make it happen.

00:30:51:15 - 00:31:00:19

Luna

Okay, I interviewed one lady who said her dream was a wife for a week. Has that ever actually happened? Like people do people come and get like a wife for a week?

00:31:00:21 - 00:31:07:22

Dena

Oh, I've heard of that before. Yeah, yeah, I have heard of that. But he could have a wife for a week if he can afford it.

00:31:08:00 - 00:31:11:06

Luna

Does that okay. So like.

00:31:11:08 - 00:31:13:00

Dena

For that.

00:31:13:01 - 00:31:27:18

Luna

Again if she was your wife you'd be paying for it anyway. But. Right, right. I mean yeah, you're you're paid about her. What? Some way or the other. But if you have the money for it, she can be your wife for a week. I'm sure. Plenty of ladies that would be all of that. If you want.

00:31:27:18 - 00:31:29:13

Dena

The happy wife. Or do you want the wife?

00:31:29:13 - 00:31:35:04

Luna

That's. How you do it, you know. Which one do you want?

00:31:35:06 - 00:31:42:18

Luna

And I know you're not really allowed to talk about prices at all, but, like, can you say anything about budgets and ranges for people listening?

00:31:42:20 - 00:32:04:11

Dena

I would say that all budgets are workable if the customer is willing to negotiate and be flexible in what they're looking for. Most of the ladies that work for us are flexible and willing to help. And if it doesn't work out for, let's say, one lady, there's always their girlfriend that may be more interested and working with what?

00:32:04:11 - 00:32:14:17

Dena

Somebody you know, the experience or fantasy or what the experience is that they're looking for with the budget that they have. So yeah, I can't talk prices. So I'm trying as best I can here.

00:32:14:19 - 00:32:22:05

Luna

Maybe it would it be accurate to say there are three or 4 or 5, six and seven figure experiences available?

00:32:22:06 - 00:32:23:12

Dena

Yes.

00:32:23:14 - 00:32:25:12

Luna

Okay. Yeah that's cool.

00:32:25:15 - 00:32:28:06

Dena

I can't say that. But you can say that. Yes.

00:32:28:08 - 00:32:30:22

Luna

There's that. Good. Yeah. Just to give us a range.

00:32:30:22 - 00:32:45:16

Luna

Okay. Answer this to whatever degree you feel comfortable or we can just skip it. Have you noticed an influence on your personal life, aside from the negative stuff that happened with your kids, from your work life? Like, have there been any positive inspirations, especially sex wise?

00:32:45:18 - 00:33:09:13

Dena

Yes. I think that my husband and I, we've been together for a long time, and I know on a personal level our communication. It's very healthy, our interaction is very healthy, our communication is very healthy. And I don't think that I would have had that or known about that. And I know I'm in my 50s, but we got together in my 30s.

00:33:09:15 - 00:33:35:06

Dena

And especially when you're in your 30s, you're still kind of I don't want to use the word dumb, but in your 20s you're not so smart. I mean, you're still learning so much, and I definitely was, because I've been married. Divorced a couple of times. So in your 30s, you're still learning. And I don't think I would have learned as quickly about relationships and communication as quickly as I did if I did not work here.

00:33:35:08 - 00:33:50:07

Dena

Like I said, I took a lot of lumps in the beginning because I didn't know what I was doing. So it was a lot of learning, a lot of education, a lot of everything. To get to that point where I feel like I fast forwarded by like, you know, ten, 20 years of where we would need to be.

00:33:50:07 - 00:33:52:08

Dena

So I'm really grateful for that.

00:33:52:10 - 00:34:09:02

Luna

That's incredible. So you mentioned that, like, you know, working at Sheri's, there's like this kind of family feeling or family vibe, but you also have like a very large actual family of your own. Like how do you handle work life, personal life, boundaries? Like, is there a lot? Is that easy? Is it hard?

00:34:09:04 - 00:34:37:09

Dena

There are hard boundaries. I do not intermix either, meaning work is work, home is home. So when I go home, I'm not talking about work. I'm not focused on work. When I get home, it's about a conversation with, you know, how is your day and what are we doing this week? You know what I mean? It's everything but that because I spend so much time here that when I go home, I just want to immerse myself in that.

00:34:37:15 - 00:34:55:01

Dena

So for me to keep everything where it needs to be, it's a complete line of work is here and home is here. I'm not really going to mix those two. And it just I think I have to do it that way just to keep things good in my head, you know what I mean?

00:34:55:03 - 00:35:13:05

Luna

That's what about community action around very specific sex acts. You know, you said the word blowjob. Is that something like do you talk explicitly with your colleagues for work purposes, whether it's like ladies or customers or, you know, people who are behind the desk, like, how is that you just do it regular? Do you guys ever have questions about it?

00:35:13:05 - 00:35:14:09

Luna

You know.

00:35:14:11 - 00:35:16:21

Luna

Okay, so you're just there.

00:35:16:23 - 00:35:31:14

Dena

So if somebody starts working here and they've been here for a period of time, I mean, it's nothing for us to talk about something that has to do with sex, and we're having a serious conversation about it. And then, you know, they'll stop and they'll go, I can't believe this is my job.

00:35:31:16 - 00:35:35:10

Luna

You know, this is the concern. You're aware.

00:35:35:12 - 00:36:00:18

Dena

Yeah. So when the ladies come in, they have to see a doctor. They get cleared by a doctor of any STIs right before they can start working. Yeah. So when a client comes in, they have to do a dick check and teaching ladies how to do a dick check properly. What they're looking for to keep them safe. You know, it's so easy to say that you've got a, you know, you got a pull skin down.

00:36:00:18 - 00:36:09:00

Dena

You got to look around this. You got to lift the balls. You got it. You know. And you got to use baby wipes. There's alcohol, you know, just to make sure everything's clean and there's.

00:36:09:00 - 00:36:12:22

Luna

No creepy crawlies then. Yeah. You know, I mean.

00:36:13:00 - 00:36:19:17

Dena

These are our conversations, you know? Hey, this there's this new, you know, ball game I think would be great for the S&M room. What do you.

00:36:19:17 - 00:36:26:22

Luna

Think? You know, you hold it up if you get a penis. I'm thinking if I get it for the box, you know, you know, different things like that.

00:36:26:23 - 00:36:40:23

Dena

And these are all very regular, everyday conversations that we have. And new people kind of have to take pause when they realize what the discussion is. And they're having this discussion in a very serious manner, and then it hits them.

00:36:41:01 - 00:36:46:22

Luna

Like, whoa. Okay, I love that.

00:36:47:02 - 00:36:52:05

Luna

So you well, first of all, I love that concept. I wish we all wiped each other down with alcohol.

00:36:52:05 - 00:36:57:19

Luna

Swabs before, like hooking up. That's great. I think that's to be a common practice. Like just a visual inspection.

00:36:57:19 - 00:37:03:21

Luna

I think that's actually very hot. You mentioned an S&M room. What other specialty rooms do you have? Like, what else is there?

00:37:03:23 - 00:37:32:00

Dena

You know, there's a whole array of specialty rooms and fantasy experiences on the property. There's a voyeur room where you can watch yourself banging it out. We have a new room, which is a body on body seaweed gel massage. You know, it's like a slippery and wet thing. There's different cabana bungalows in the back that are themed differently, so you can have more of a quiet experience.

00:37:32:04 - 00:38:02:16

Dena

There's a King Arthur one if you want to have fantasy role play, there's, you know, a Roman one if you're more romantic and looking for GFI, you know, I mean, there's so many. And then we can move over to Playland, which has like the school room. If you want to be a professor and you got your coeds. If you're looking into more of a massage type experience, sensual massage experience, you go into Playland and there's the hot tub that can lead into with the massage table, and then all the fun that comes with that.

00:38:02:16 - 00:38:06:04

Dena

And hopefully don't bang it out on the massage table because I don't want it broken.

00:38:06:06 - 00:38:09:18

Luna

Yeah. Oh, is it that you can go back?

00:38:09:23 - 00:38:15:04

Luna

I feel like you've probably had to replace so much broken furniture. Do people just, like, go crazy with fucking sometimes?

00:38:15:04 - 00:38:24:02

Luna

Yeah, yeah. That's okay. It's sometimes the cost of doing business is all right. I don't want to.

00:38:24:06 - 00:38:25:17

Dena

Quit the massage table, though.

00:38:25:19 - 00:38:29:12

Luna

I was going to say, yeah, let's not give people any ideas.

00:38:29:14 - 00:38:43:10

Luna

So with your experience and just, you know, kind of what you know of the world, what sex related norms like social and cultural norms have either surprised you and or what would you like to shift in this world?

00:38:43:12 - 00:39:12:15

Dena

Probably like I said, education. Yeah. Getting it out there and then get to a point where across the state there's legal places for people to go, whether you're a client or whether you're a sex worker, and the perception of how people look at that, that it's not dirty, it's not bad. These are women that are good neighbors. They're great moms, they're great businesspeople, they're pillars in their community.

00:39:12:15 - 00:39:33:03

Dena

And you would never know that they're a sex worker. But the richness in the things that they can bring to a community and the no judgment, I think that perception needs to change. And how we view sex workers and yeah, I just think there needs to be a lot more education out there. Yeah. And lack of judgment.

00:39:33:05 - 00:39:34:23

Luna

Oh, damn.

00:39:35:01 - 00:39:35:15

Dena

That's a tall.

00:39:35:15 - 00:39:58:09

Luna

Order. I was going to say, how do we do that? I guess you just need people to start doing it. I don't know. Dang. Okay, so since you began this work in your particular area of industry, in legal brothels in Nevada, have you noticed shifts or trends? You know, obviously you've been they've tried to shut you down a couple of times, but like looking at the industry as a whole, are there any larger patterns you've noticed?

00:39:58:11 - 00:40:29:21

Dena

I would say there's more sexual acceptance from couples coming in and more awareness of what people want. Let's say a lady or a gentleman come in and it's just a they're able to articulate it a lot easier then one of the ladies having to help find what that is. Okay. So I think that from 2006 to where we are now, I think there's been a lot more education with that and a lot more openness.

00:40:29:23 - 00:40:39:15

Dena

I don't know if that's from media or TV or what it's from, but there is a lot more of that. Otherwise everything else is still kind of the same.

00:40:39:17 - 00:40:48:17

Luna

I love that, and I just can't help but wonder how many people have like, learned experience essentially about prostate massages and milking syringes showing up.

00:40:48:19 - 00:40:51:20

Luna

That's what I don't know. We'll probably have a huge influx of.

00:40:51:20 - 00:40:53:22

Dena

I want to know about a positive result.

00:40:54:00 - 00:40:55:07

Luna

Coming in. Do it.

00:40:55:09 - 00:41:06:00

Luna

I talked to a lot of people who are very curious about their buttholes, but are perhaps, you know, scared of them because if they're penis owners, they've been raised in places where it's like, that's not okay, but maybe all they need is a pretty lady to help them.

00:41:06:00 - 00:41:10:19

Dena

So that's very interesting experience. I'll never forget in.

00:41:10:19 - 00:41:14:16

Luna

A good way. So I hear what.

00:41:14:21 - 00:41:22:16

Luna

If anything, are you excited to explore in your work going forward or what are you looking forward to or like? What's coming up for Sherry's in the future?

00:41:22:18 - 00:41:42:01

Dena

We've been doing some different events that are an invitation only events to be able to give customers a different type of experience, to give something to the girls. So we've been focused on that at this time. I don't know of what else we've got coming up down the pike. Corporate office usually handles all that. Yeah, and then me and chicks around somewhere.

00:41:42:07 - 00:42:05:17

Dena

I know we're looking at remodeling our bar. You know, we're looking at doing some construction. So there's that down. For my personal goals, I'm looking to make sure our orchard actually produces enough food that we can give to the community. That's my personal goal. But that's something that near and dear is gardening. I love it. So we have an orchard.

00:42:05:21 - 00:42:15:03

Dena

Only one year have we been able to give to the food banks in town, and ever since then I haven't been able. My trees are producing.

00:42:15:05 - 00:42:18:07

Luna

I mean, my origins are as a farmer, and I can only imagine that it's.

00:42:18:07 - 00:42:21:20

Luna

Difficult in the desert to farm stuff.

00:42:21:22 - 00:42:29:01

Dena

Well, yeah. No, I should rephrase that. It's not fenced in. So we have a lot of people taking.

00:42:29:03 - 00:42:31:14

Luna

Oh, that's a different issue.

00:42:31:18 - 00:42:55:04

Dena

Okay. Yeah, well, it's two different issues because you're not growing as much as the potential is there. And then what is growing? It's like you always leave something for the animals. And so I like it more like that. So if we're making enough that we can feed somebody who wants to walk the orange stuff and be able to still give some to the ranch itself and the community, that's my.

00:42:55:04 - 00:42:58:17

Luna

Goal, I love that. Okay. Can you tell us.

00:42:58:17 - 00:43:10:15

Luna

Any, like, standout stories that were like shocking or wow, obviously protecting everyone's privacy, but like, what have you encountered at the brothel that makes a good story that like, we just would never know about?

00:43:10:17 - 00:43:21:06

Dena

I would say the food stories, food fetish, there are a lot of people that are into food. I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm into food.

00:43:21:08 - 00:43:22:22

Luna

Yeah, I love food.

00:43:23:00 - 00:43:31:16

Dena

But the ones that come in and love it so much that they're able to incorporate it into a fantasy experience. Absolutely amazing.

00:43:31:18 - 00:43:32:12

Luna

Mazing.

00:43:32:13 - 00:43:36:18

Luna

Are we talking splashing like we're it's like getting all over them or is it like energy?

00:43:36:20 - 00:43:37:11

Luna

Oh.

00:43:37:13 - 00:43:38:09

Dena

All of it.

00:43:38:11 - 00:43:42:10

Luna

Where do you do that? They're like, do you like put down like how do you facilitate?

00:43:42:10 - 00:43:52:12

Dena

Yeah I love we got we have to protect the rooms and the plastic sheets and get put down and then have at it. I want to throw private people.

00:43:52:16 - 00:43:53:20

Luna

I know we do.

00:43:54:02 - 00:43:56:16

Luna

That's on my bucket list. That's on my bucket list.

00:43:56:16 - 00:44:00:19

Luna

Oh yeah. Yeah yeah yeah I want to be able to do that.

00:44:00:19 - 00:44:08:22

Luna

I would also receive a pie, but I have to be careful with sugar, so I just couldn't get it in my mouth. You know you have to be careful where sugar goes hole wise. But I would be on both ends of pies for sure.

00:44:09:00 - 00:44:17:03

Dena

But think about it. Pie is kind of been done. Yeah. You know, like at the carnivals and stuff like that. What about pudding, Jimmy? Me I would do love.

00:44:17:05 - 00:44:23:21

Luna

Oh my gosh, I feel like you could make a cool pudding slingshot or like a cupcake, like shooter or something. Or like a rubber band. Slingshot.

00:44:23:23 - 00:44:27:21

Luna

Dang, that would be fun. That's so cool.

00:44:27:23 - 00:44:31:11

Luna

Do you just see the biggest grins on people coming out, like, afterwards?

00:44:31:11 - 00:44:45:02

Luna

Like. Yeah. Yeah. And I just I look at them and I go, yeah, did not come on. I might be a little jelly.

00:44:45:04 - 00:44:47:22

Luna

Okay, so wrapping up.

00:44:48:00 - 00:45:09:03

Luna

Normally I ask people this question about like a fantasy room fantasy play space. Obviously Sheri's has a ton of fantasy rooms already, but if you suddenly got like an influx of an unlimited budget to build one new like structure building or something, and it was a playroom that like, you get to choose every detail of what would it be like?

00:45:09:05 - 00:45:33:08

Dena

I'm so pushing for this, you know? Now, I've never been, but I've seen lots of pictures of where you go. I'm not even sure where it's at, but you go and you're cabana. It's like on the water. Yeah, and it's like a private cabana. And you have you open up the screen door and it's. Or the sliding glass door and your bed, like, faces the water.

00:45:33:10 - 00:45:43:14

Dena

Oh, you know what I mean? And it's private. It's just you and water. So I want to try to create something here where it's that.

00:45:43:16 - 00:45:48:01

Luna

That would be incredible. I'm a big fan of being in bodies of water. That is.

00:45:48:05 - 00:45:49:09

Dena

Hot. Yes.

00:45:49:11 - 00:45:57:17

Luna

Okay. And lovers, you can go check out the ranch at Sheri's ranch.com. Dena, thank you so much for being a guest on six stories.

00:45:57:23 - 00:46:04:20

Dena

Oh, anytime. If anybody has any questions, they can also go to my Twitter, which is ranch mom Medina and ask away.