Paloma Mohn

Zona: Building My Own Future Looking back at these photos from London, Thailand, and across Europe, I see a chapter of my life defined by choice, hustle, and self-reliance. After getting through my hardest times, I made a deliberate decision to enter sex work and travel the world. I want to be completely honest about that choice. I have immense respect for sex workers, especially those who do it purely to survive because they have no other options. My situation was differeny, I had a choice. I didn't do it just to keep a roof over my head; I did it to aggressively boost my financial situation, secure my future, and stack up my retirement. I can only slightly relate to the raw survival aspect of the work because of that privilege, but I chose my path, took control of it, and made it work for me. It was a wild, intense, and complex experience. I traveled across continents, took in incredible cultures, and met wonderful people I’m still connected with today. At the same time, I faced ...

2007, I had to leave San Francisco behind. I was in a dark, painful place, fighting the heaviest battle of my life trying to get over substance use. It was a terrifyingly hard time, and if I’m honest, I knew where I was headed if things didn't change. If my family had turned their backs on me, I wouldn't be here today. Plain and simple. They saved my life. Instead of rejecting me, they opened the doors to the James House in Carlsbad. It was built by a beautiful woman Joyce James with so much care, and it was filled with the most important people in my world: my sister, her husband Chris, their daughter Payton, and my mom who flew in to be motherly. When I had nowhere left to turn, they wrapped me in unconditional love and gave me a safe harbor to heal. During those long days of recovery, picking up my camera became a way to anchor myself. Focusing on photography,,, mindfully lining up shots using the rule of thirds, tracking the way the soft Carlsbad sunlight moved across a roo...