A law student raking in more than a million dollars a year posting adult content online has revealed the one boundary she will not cross.
Emily Cocea, an undergrad at Carnegie Mellon University, was a student like any other - she went to lectures and study sessions, as well as picking up a part-time job to help cover the $90,000-a-year price tag of her degree.
The only twist is that her side hustle was generating seven figures annually - the 22-year-old, who was born and raised in Los Angeles, has recently taken home $1.3 million.
The adult content creator had always dreamed of becoming a lawyer, but when her dad passed away when she was just 15 years old, her family was thrown into what she calls 'really severe financial unrest' - and flipping burgers at McDonald’s wasn’t going to cut it.
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As TikTok started taking off, Cocea spotted an opportunity, and while still in high school, she launched four accounts to figure out which persona hit hardest with her target audience - men aged between 18 and 24, 'specifically in tech'.
When she turned 18 she started monetizing off of posting adult content as 'hotblockchain' - making $250,000 in the first year alone.
Through college, her routine became relentless - lectures during the day, Twitch streams after class, and hours of responding to subscribers who paid to talk to her.
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"I realized I will never be the prettiest girl in the world," she said. "But what I can be is the girl who sells exclusive content and is in school."
And while her content is undeniably risqué - bikinis, lingerie, and playful raunchy posts - she’s vowed to never post nudity online, no matter how much she gets offered.
"There’s nothing I’m uncomfortable answering," she said. "But I’ve never posted nude content."
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Explaining how she profits off of adult content without nudity, Cocea said: "For the most part, especially when you don't do porn, people subscribe to you because they like you and they want to talk to you."
Cocea is now a law student at University of Michigan, and she’s made it clear her online career hasn’t held her back.
“This is not a barrier to scholastic or professional success,” she added.
"If you want it enough, if you’re smart enough, that comes through in the interview and that definitely comes through in the test score.
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"I know a lot of girls who have said, ‘oh, well I did this for money, but now I feel like I couldn't go back to school or anything'. And I think you always can.”
Joe Yates