Spreading the Pink: Anna Von Frances

 “When I'm not having sex I'm pretty inspired to find it,” admits Anna Von Frances, perhaps Toronto’s best known gal-about-town. While it may be cold and snowy right now, Anna is busy preparing for the busy spring and summer seasons. She is the founder of PinkMafia, an all-female promotion and event planning company that focuses on entertainment, particularly music.

There are three main arms to PinkMafia, all of which run Von Frances all over the place. There’s the all-female street team that operates in Toronto, Calgary and Vancouver. There’s their entertainment blog, Knee Socks Beat Cleavage that sometimes includes little sex-related gems like Sex Etiquette…I Tried It. I Liked It. And there is their corporate event planning, which has included throwing parties for Ubisoft’s Toronto launch party, a Juno weekend event hosted by rapper Drake and a national all-female DJ tour called Get Er Done.

What some might not know is that Anna also has a nom de plume and writes some of the funniest nightlife commentary for Xtra. As Anna Pournikova, she is completely fearless in approaching people and taking their photo, and then writing some of the sharpest, funniest and raunchiest things to appear in with that photo. The lady has a knack for knowing just what to say.

With all of this, it is surprising to learn that sex doesn’t get in the way of work for Anna. This is music, entertainment, clubs and parties, surely there must be times that an intro has been missed, a flyering assignment has gone wrong or a musician hasn’t been picked up at the airport because of a hot little tryst. “I wish I was having enough sex (there's an implied "good sex" here) that it was a problem at work,” laments Anna.

But that ain’t stopping someone as dynamic as Anna from making her mark. Like many before her, Anna didn’t have to look far for inspiration in her work and almost everything else. “My mom is my biggest inspiration for everything BUT sex. Jenna Jameson is still holding court for me there.” Creating a company and environment that puts women front and centre in the music industry is an important achievement. Everything from the all-female street teams to the all-female DJ tour is helping further break down the strong male bias the music industry still has.

Maybe that is why PinkMafia is a perfect fit for Anna. When asked where her sexual persona lives, she replied “My pants. I'm always getting accused of thinking with my proverbial ‘dick’.”