A woman turned her back on a promising career as a neuroscientist to become a pole dancer and stripper - and now earns more than her wealthy parents. Mercedes Valentine, 21, has swapped a uniform of lab coats for saucy underwear – which has landed her a position in the top 0.1% of creators on adult content site OnlyFans.
Having being diagnosed with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome when she was 15, she was left needing a wheelchair and having to relearn how to walk again. After two years of strenuous physical therapy, Mercedes was mobile again and prepared to follow in her parents' footsteps, entering the world of medicine by studying neuroscience.
But pumped with her new-found energy, she joined the university gym and signed up for weekly pole dancing lessons. When she finished her degree, a friend from her pole dancing class suggested she give stripping a go at a local bar – and Mercedes has never looked back.
