WARNING: Contains images of a sexual nature.
Pornstars are the first to say that a career in the sex industry can make or break your confidence.
For Harriet Sugarcookie, a gaming girl and YouTuber who suffered from anxiety, her new career choice has helped her come out of her shell, in every sense.
The 21-year-old entrepreneur now makes a substantial living in the sex industry, appearing in her own webcam business as well as her YouTube channel and blog.
Harriet has come a long way since her teenage years.
She suffered crippling social anxiety and would lock herself in her bedroom for days on end, playing Skyrim and Final Fantasy gaming marathons.
She told the Daily Star:
When I found a game I really liked, I’d marathon it for hours and hours at a time.
I had pretty low self-esteem, because I didn’t consider myself pretty in any way. I was more of a tomboy, and I wore loads of dark clothes and listened to angsty teen music.
It didn’t help that I was incredibly shy, especially around men. I was very lonely before.
But then a friend – without Harriet’s consent – posted an NSFW snap of the young woman, originally from Vietnam, on the Reddit discussion board Next Door Asians.
After receiving positive feedback, Harriet began to engage with this online community until an admirer suggested she could actually set up a business doing what she loved.
She added:
People were talking to me and I made new friends. I was excited to get online because it was fun.
In a way I’m living every guy’s fantasy.
Her success has been palpable. She has launched a full-time career as an amateur adult performer, cam-girl, model and lifestyle blogger.
At any one time, 1,600 viewers could be watching Sugarcookie on her live X-rated webcam, which won the UK Adult Producers (UKAP) Award for Best Niche/Fetish Website for 2016.
Harriet has now carved out a reputation for her community spirit towards camming, often inviting her pornstar friends to join her in her videos, adding: “The approach I decided to take was just to share my real sex life as best as I could.”
Harriet explained that camming had introduced her to some important friends, including six long-term virtual boyfriends, who she messages ‘every day’.
She said:
I can’t really describe just how amazing it feels to be able to log on and know that there’s going to be a group of my friends waiting to see how my day has been.
But the pornstar with the sweetest name since sliced butter hasn’t forgotten her gaming past. She’s even set up a YouTube channel in which she invites pornstars to play games with her, from Connect4 to Twister.
The award-winning Sugarcookie has even managed to interview her idol, pornstar Asa Akira, discussing hard-hitting issues of race and power in the sex industry.
Harriet’s burgeoning career and her sexual openness – aided by lucrative gifts from fans and her camming website – mark a desire for entrepreneurial and three-dimensional pornstars with true to life personalities.