Camming network Chaturbate and its visionary COO Shirley Lara have a well-earned reputation for being cutting-edge, whether it’s leading the way in terms of site technology, rolling out gangbusters marketing campaigns or empowering models to feel good and do good.
This year, they’ve made a big splash in creating top-of-the-line SFW content.
It’s always so much fun to interview fellow models because we can relate on so many things ... you always learn something new from each other.
After all, independent talent have taken over much of adult entertainment, as consumers crave the intimacy and authenticity that only camming, clips and premium social media can truly provide with sexy interactivity. Even traditional porn studios have pivoted to produce either super-engaging narrative movies or asking stars who they want to perform with to capture strong chemistry onscreen.
In this digital age, particularly with the pandemic keeping folks at home, savvy entrepreneurs are leveraging SFW platforms like Twitch, YouTube and Discord to bring in boatloads of traffic. We even explored this phenomenon in a full-blown cover story a few months back. Adult stars have learned how to amass huge followings for their equally entertaining SFW personality, while adhering to the strict TOS of these mainstream sites. They funnel traffic to their premium platforms shrewdly and create much hype.
Likewise, from their “Camming_Life” YouTube series starring Lily LaBeau to its “Sex Tales” interview series co-hosted by award-winning Mel Kush and vivacious Lana Del Bae, Chaturbate is bringing fans and the adult community at large into the fold with their favorite personalities, so they can get to know them in deeper and more meaningful ways.
With a who’s who lineup featuring the likes of Sophie Dee, Dani Daniels, Mary Moody, Catjira and more, is it any wonder the camming and clips space is increasingly blurring the lines between indie and studio-shot content, as well as niche creators and million-follower superstars? Just the presence of this very article, as the opening feature in what is traditionally the “porn section” of the magazine, speaks volumes!
To dive into their recent episodes, as well as catch a glimpse of new ones, XBIZ sidled up to Lana and Mel for this exclusive interview.
XBIZ: Tell us a bit about each of your journeys into adult thus far.
Lana: I started out camming at the beginning of 2017 and each year has been more incredible than the last. The people I’ve met and the experiences both online and in-person at expos has been life-changing. I went into camming fully prepared to make it my career and I think that mindset has paved a positive and delightful path. It makes me laugh when people ask “so what’s your plan after camming?” This is the plan! Camming is not a stepping stone to my dream career, it truly is my dream career and I am thankful every day.
Mel: I started dabbling in occasional nude photoshoots and videos back in 2006. A few years later, I wrote an erotic blog, as a way to connect with my growing fan base. Late in 2012, I let go of my 9-5 to jump into the adult industry full-time and started camming on Chaturbate! I recently celebrated my 8 year “camiversary” and every year I’m overwhelmed by all the awesome people I’ve met, how much I’ve grown, and the amount of things I’ve learned and accomplished as a sex worker. Another 8 years, can it be done? I say heck yeah!
XBIZ: What inspired you both to team up for the “Sex Tales” podcast?
Lana: Shirley from Chaturbate approached me about the position and I will admit I was a bit intimidated by it at first, but I thought, “Well, I’ve never done this before, so why not try something new?!” One of my favorite things about my three-plus years in the industry is the different opportunities and experiences it creates for you. I honestly was just excited to be considered for the position. I was surprised and mind blown when they actually chose me to be a co-host. I was also excited to be paired with Mel because she’s such a veteran in the industry. We have excellent chemistry and powwowing our shared research is a blast. I am happy to say we are now not just co-hosts, we are close friends!
Mel: I was invited by Chaturbate to join the audition process. I found myself really enjoying researching the guests and piecing together cohesive interviews. After just the first audition, I knew I wanted to be a part of this!! After four or five pairings with different co-hosts, I was eventually matched up with Lana which really turned out to be quite magical, and the rest is Sex Tales history!! We bounce off each other so well, our post-research powwows are super fun! We agree on pretty much everything. It’s nice to have that kind of chemistry when learning to work so closely with someone new.
XBIZ: Discuss your debut interview with Tera Patrick. What were the highlights of your convo with such a famed figure?
Lana: I honestly loved everything about interviewing Tera. She has this calm and serene nature and listening to her speak is like receiving a vocal hug! I appreciated hearing her wisdom from 20 years in the industry and I loved how after all that time she was still so grateful to her fans. Really inspiring!
Mel: A perfect first guest! Tera is so down to earth and easy to talk to. I had a good laugh learning about her completely random cameos in mainstream cartoons, and movies like “Blades of Glory” -- so fun! Also, that time when someone stepped in lava on one of her shoots on top of a volcano, like, what? Haha. She shares some great insight on the current state of the industry too, particularly with the rise of OnlyFans. It’s remarkable what she’s accomplished in her long career, which makes it fun to hear her perspective and listen to her wisdom.
XBIZ: For your second episode with Dani Daniels, any unique insights or hilarious segments that you’d like to reminisce about?
Lana: Dani was one of my favorites to interview so far! Everything about her is genuine and sweet. She’s kind of my spirit animal in a way, I am fully impressed by how much she’s done and still doing daily within the adult industry and outside of it as well. Not only does she run her own website where she has nude-y lewd-y material and her very own brand of hot sauce, but she also has a show on Amazon Prime, “Dinner with Dani.” What a boss! I would say my favorite thing was how true she is to herself and that she wasn’t afraid to just laugh and joke around about everything.
Mel: Omigosh can we talk about what Dani shared with us about what she gets guys to do in private shows? Hahaha. Her interview was a riot, she’s hilarious! From camming to her podcast with her husband, to “Dinner with Danni,” she’s got a lot going on in her professional life, and we talk about it all! I had no idea that she had such variety in her store too, things like BBQ items (like a BBQ rub called “Rub n Tug”), and a “Get Over Your Ex Box.” Even in her store, she shows off her sense of humor. She’s unapologetically herself -- a true entrepreneur and an inspiration.
XBIZ: In your third episode, you chatted with Mary Moody about sex, relationships and threesomes. What were a few of the spiciest revelations?
Lana: Mary is a personal friend and a personal idol so getting to interview her was a dream!
Her kindness towards her members and other models is heartwarming. I also love her feisty and strong side. She’s what they call a “C-C-Combo Breaker!” I loved hearing more about her exhibitionism fetish because that’s one we both share so it was interesting to hear her take on it in contrast to mine. Fetishes can be so similar and yet so different!
Mel: I already knew Mary was a sweetheart, but she has a serious naughty side! On this episode, we all got to share some exhibitionist and squirting stories, and Mary even shares with us some “how-to” squirt advice! She describes some of her most memorable cam moments (like her girl-girl Spiderman kiss, so cuuuuute), and most memorable orgasms (hint hint -- surprise squirting!). This episode felt like 3 friends hanging out chatting about life, sex and sex work, it’s really is a true peek into our personal and professional lives.
XBIZ: Give us a glimpse of your upcoming guests, and how you go about deciding who to interview.
Lana: The “Sex Tales” producers choose our guests for us, but I do really appreciate they are always open to hearing our suggestions for upcoming guests. I think it’s wonderful they create an open environment where we feel comfortable sharing our opinions and suggestions. One of our newest guests was our fellow Chaturbate model Catjira. It’s always so much fun to interview fellow models because we can relate on so many things, and because each cam room is so different, you always learn something new from each other. For instance, her cosplay work, I learned in our “Sex Tales” interview about how much time and energy it takes to create each costume and setup. I also learned that you should always have a backup webcam just in case you squirt all over yours and break it! We also had Kendra Sunderland on the show, who like me, is a fellow Oregon native, which tickles me pink! It was amazing to interview the first ever Vixen Angel! She is such an icon in the industry.
Mel: The “Sex Tales” producers lined up the guests for us, and all of them were stellar choices for the first season. With Sophie Dee, we talk about extravagant gifts her fans have given her (it’s really crazy), and chat about some of her side projects like “Topless Movie Reviews.” Then, we had the pleasure to interview Catjira! She dishes about her cosplay success, working with Playboy and what it’s like to be a new member of the Chaturbate family. We even have Vixen model and OG library girl Kendra Sunderland on the show to talk about her political side, her wildly successful career in camming and get the nitty-gritty on what it’s like to work in professional porn.
XBIZ: How does “Sex Tales” dovetail with the content on the Camming Life channel on YouTube?
Lana: The “Camming Life” YouTube channel is kind of this awesome hub of sexy goodness!
They produced the awesome show “Cam_Girlfriend,” which if you haven’t checked out you definitely should! They also do interviews with tons of Chaturbate broadcasters about different subjects and situations, which is a really wonderful way to learn about camming directly from the cam models themselves. The channel also hosts all of our podcasts in video form so if you want to watch as well as listen it’s ideal. “Camming Life” YouTube definitely has a lot to offer. I encourage everyone to go subscribe today!
Mel: The “Camming Life” YouTube channel is such a great way to connect the mainstream world with sex workers in a humanizing way. The podcast, along with the interviews on the channel, aim to showcase the side of sex work that most of the world doesn’t see -- deep down, we’re just normal people with an interesting (and often misunderstood) job. “Camming Life” even produced a comedic web series about camming, which is freakin hilarious (and eerily relatable lol)! Chaturbate performer Lily Labeau actually stars in the series and brings her personal touch to set. It’s nice to have something out there in the mainstream that closely depicts our lives as cam models -- and without negative embellishment!
XBIZ: As Chaturbate paves the way for engaging SFW videos, how do you both coordinate marketing efforts with the company?
Lana: We post on our Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat stories and other platforms we may have. We both also have info about our podcast on our Chaturbate profiles. So it’s kind of all-over marketing. Because the show doesn’t contain nudity, we can promote it pretty much anywhere. I hope having more things like “Sex Tales” will help remove the stigma of sex work a bit and help society as a whole be more accepting.
Mel: We share glimpses of our 18+ topics in a SFW way over all our social media, with just the right amount of tease. We hope that being able to share this podcast on such a large scale will help shed a positive light on the intimate world of camming and sex work -- and all the hard-working people that shaped this industry -- breaking down those imaginary barriers that platforms (and society) have us boxed in.
XBIZ: How have each of you balanced work and personal life, during this challenging 2020?
Lana: I’ve always had a very strong work ethic and scheduled cam routine, so 2020 hasn’t changed that, in fact, I think it helped a bit. With days/months running together, I have been happy to have my daily routine. I always get enough time online with my members and when I’m offline, I spend time with friends and family. And of course, I always have enough time for naps with my precious kitties. This past year has made me extra thankful for my online friends even more than I was before. The community we’ve created together has made this challenging year so much easier. When people in my chatroom thank me for creating a positive place to escape from the craziness of today’s world, I also have to thank them for doing the same for me.
Mel: I’m a very social person, so there was definitely a bit of an adjustment at first. I’m thankful for all the virtual dance parties that were organized by my friends, they helped me get through those first few months! Having less social distractions allowed me to really focus and put a lot of energy into my work. Overall, 2020 has been a successful year, and it’s nice to see my hard work pay off. I’m excited to use this momentum and set my goals high for the upcoming year!
XBIZ: What are you most excited about, career-wise, for the future as we head into 2021?
Lana: Oh my gosh, everything! As I said, each year has been better than the last and so unpredictable. Like “Sex Tales,” for example! Who would have thought I’d be a co-host for an awesome podcast this year? I think just always being open to new opportunities is important.
Of course, I am always looking forward to the strong foundations of my cam room, like rotating monthly themes, charity shows and creating fun content. I just hope I can continue to create a happy, safe and fun environment for people to hang out and forget about their worries. Making people smile is goal #1!
Mel: 2020 was full of surprises! Professionally, if 2021 is anything like this year -- I’m here for it!! Even as I’m entering my 9th year as a full-time adult entertainer, as a “one-woman show” there’s always something new to learn or to be improved, and that’s one thing I love about my job! I’ve recently enrolled in an intense school program to further develop and sharpen my marketing skills, which I’m really excited about! It should keep me nice and busy this winter, and kick off 2021 on the right foot. I always try to seize any opportunity that floats my way, and create opportunities where I can -- the upcoming year will be no exception. Bring it on!