Cherry the Mistress was studying to be a sex and relationship therapist - but found a much better way of making money.
The OnlyFans model decided to drop out altogether after realising creating content full-time would be far more lucrative.
As a proudly hairy Onlyfans star, the 20-year-old says she can earn around £12,4560 to £16,500 ($15,000 to $20,000) per month through her adult content, making 10 times more than the wages she'd made at her old day job.
Although Cherry now regards her therapist training as "ironic" given the field she's gone into, she arguably uses many relevant people skills day-to-day, including being there to chat with lonely fans and responding to those who make custom requests.
Nearly two years into her new career, the former student says she's very happy with her lucrative line of work, which she says has helped boost her body confidence no end.
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Cherry, who is from the US, told the Mirror she first set up her OnlyFans account at 18, having just moved out on her own for the first time to attend college in an expensive town.
She recalled: "I could barely afford to pay all my bills for the job that I worked at the time, so I was like, 'you know what, I'm going to give this a shot and see if it works out for me'. And it did!"
Before giving the platform a go for herself, Cherry, who had made the personal choice to stop shaving at this point, hadn't known there would be any hairy models on OnlyFans.
With these two factors combined, Cherry ended up finding herself a niche and has since been delighted by the number of adoring fans showering her with compliments about her body hair.
Cherry said: "I didn't want to shave just to make people feel comfortable. Once I stopped shaving, that's when I found there was a lot of attraction for me on OnlyFans."
She added: "It was interesting to find out people were into hairy models and stuff like that, but I think, at the same time, people are into so many different kinds of things, and it was cool to see that people could be into me I guess!"
Since setting herself up on OnlyFans, Cherry says her self-confidence has improved massively, all thanks to the many complimentary messages she receives from subscribers.
She revealed: "They'll compliment literally anything about me, and it's so sweet and empowering. They'll be like, 'oh I love your hair, I love the mullet, I love that you don't shave, that's awesome' or they'll be like, 'I love your curvy body'.
"Literally, the list goes on and on. They send really sweet messages."
However, much like many people who conduct their work online, Cherry has had to contend with some negative comments mixed in with the bad.
She continued: "Whenever I post myself on Instagram, Twitter, or TikTok, it's very 50/50. Sometimes some people are like, 'that's awesome. I love that you're normalising body hair for women, it's super empowering'.
"And some people are like, 'that's disgusting, you need to shave, you just need to find a boyfriend', and I'm like, 'whatever!'"
Luckily, Cherry doesn't let this sort of negativity drag her down.
She loves her work and is now even part of the Hairy Creator Collective, a group of supportive hairy OnlyFans creators who hope to normalise body hair.
Regardless of any rude comments she may receive, Cherry has found plenty of success through celebrating her hairiness, and, most importantly, plenty of confidence within herself.
Are you an Onlyfans model with a story to tell? Email us at julia.banim@reachplc.com
