If you browse Cami Strella's various internet profiles, you'll notice that her posts range from sharing sensual images in tasteful lingerie to explaining interesting developments in neuroscience and debunking stereotypes about female sex workers. .
But where most service members will recognize her is in a viral Veterans Month 2020 post TikTok.
While pursuing a graduate degree in neuroscience, Strella found herself inspired to invest time in military appreciation after being personally touched by the death of a close friend and an army officer who suffered a head trauma and subsequently committed suicide.
By the time the pandemic hit in early 2020, she was looking for a way to pay for her education at once. et give back to the troops. What she found was OnlyFans, the platform on which it uploads and streams adult content for its subscribers — some of them even looking for custom videos and photos.
Observation Post caught up with Strella to learn more about her restlessness OnlyFans, her plans to help others and how she hopes to break the stigma surrounding sex workers.
Tell me a little more about yourself.
I'm 27 years old. I am in graduate school for a paramedical health program and will be majoring in neurological rehabilitation. I was born and raised in the Southeastern United States and am the child of two immigrant parents, one of whom is a veteran. My family is aware of what I am doing and they are in fact very supportive.
What inspired you to join OnlyFans?
I have been in the adult industry for three years including other online adult work. But with the COVID-19 pandemic, as you may know, OnlyFans has become the go-to platform for all types of sex workers to use as closed venues nationwide.
I worked in a gentlemen's club before, and became more and more worried about paying my graduate tuition when my program started in May 2020, so I joined the site as a creator .
Tell me about your connection to the military. Do you create specialized content for service members? If so, what prompted you to pursue this?
Many of the military and veteran community members who follow me originally found me when a TikTok that I posted went viral in November 2020. For Veterans Day last year, I posted two videos, both of which received a lot of attention.
The first video I offered a free trial to my site OnlyFans for all service members and veterans. I expected 200-300 people to accept the offer, but it ended up bringing in over 3 people in one day.
The second video was a bit darker as I shared my experience of losing someone (an army officer) to suicide after surviving a head injury after three deployments. This is what sparked my interest in wanting to enter the field of neuroscience to begin with - studying CBTs and SCIs. He's still my “why”.
If anything, I just want the service members to know that I care, and even though it may be in an unusual way, I'm fighting to help them. I also donate 10% of my monthly income to a military charity and usually have followers who vote they want me to donate.
I wouldn't say I'm creating anything specific in terms of content for members of the service, but a lot of my more public content is geared towards this community. I grew up in an area with a high concentration of service members from all branches, as well as federal government and contract workers, so I always felt embedded in the culture from a young age.
Speaking of service members, what are the most common requests you receive from them in terms of content?
In terms of content OnlyFans, I get a lot of requests to use someone's name if they order a custom video. That's what's so great about OnlyFans – it brings such a personal and intimate experience to someone, and I really enjoy talking to my followers. I have a few that I exchange letters with and it brings such a human touch to the digital age. It has also helped me stay and feel connected during the pandemic.
What are the biggest misconceptions you want people to understand about working with OnlyFans?
People seem to think that you just create an account and earn money instantly, and that's not how it works at all. If you really want to be successful with OnlyFans, you have to be prepared to invest a lot of time, money and energy, like any business.
I started in Feb 2020 and made $11,18. Now I rank in the top 0,88 percent of all creators in the world. OnlyFans, unlike other social media platforms, doesn't have a built-in algorithm for other people who don't know you to find you. It's a direct-to-consumer type model where a creator has to do all of their marketing outside of the platform.
Everyone has different backgrounds and backgrounds, but personally my family is well aware of what I am doing and supports me - I know this is not the norm and consider myself very lucky.
There are a lot of people who don't agree with me or don't like what I'm doing. For those who may not know, sex workers and the military are not a new concept - just take a tour of most military bases and you will likely see various strip clubs in the areas. surroundings.
OnlyFans, in my opinion, is just a version of this that has caught up. The ease of accessibility is attractive to creators and subscribers both for long distance reasons and to stay safe during the pandemic.
