In early 2021, Isla Moon was planning to pursue a career in neuroscience. Then, she came across OnlyFans.
“I wanted to give it a try,” Isla, who uses a pseudonym to protect her privacy, told Business Insider. “I saw that a lot of the models were the typical model that you see on Instagram, and I’m not necessarily that kind of body type. I wanted to prove to myself that I could have success.”
At the time, the Canadian creator was in her last year of undergrad studies in psychology and neuroscience, and was working as a lab tech and lab coordinator at her college. She had been applying for Ph.D. programs.
Then, a TikTok video she made to promote her content went viral. Overnight, the number of subscribers on her OnlyFans page skyrocketed, and she made the equivalent of her yearly salary as a lab tech (about $11,000) in the span of two days. In those same days, she received an offer for a Ph.D. program in a lab she liked.
She decided to drop her plans for postgrad studies and try to make OnlyFans into a career.
“It was so hard to decide. I remember I called my mom and I told her, ‘Hi, by the way, I do OnlyFans, what do you think?’ She took it so well and was just so supportive,” Isla said. “I told myself, you know what? I made my year salary in two days. Worst case, I apply again next year if things don’t work out with OnlyFans. But they worked out too well. I never looked back.”
In 2023, Isla made almost $5 million across two profiles on the platform, before OnlyFans took its 20% cut. That totals to just over $4 million net. (Insider verified this information with documentation she provided.)
Isla said OnlyFans allows her the freedom to pursue her passions like spending time in nature and traveling, and that while she works a lot more now than she did when she was in academia, the advantage of being self-employed far outweighs the stress of having a packed schedule.
Short-form content about her hobbies has been key to gaining subscribers
TikTok and other social-media platforms have been key for Isla to gain followers.
When it comes to finding an audience on social platforms, it’s a game of numbers. Since early 2021, Isla has created over 250 TikTok accounts, to be prepared in case they get banned, as many of them have. This is a common issue among creators who post risqué content. For two years, she posted up to 25 videos every day across her different profiles. Her biggest account has close to two million followers.
When virality on TikTok started to wane, she started experimenting with other platforms. The creator said she runs about 40 different Instagram accounts, several of which have hundreds of thousands of followers. She’s also begun repurposing her TikToks on YouTube Shorts, where she’s gained half a million subscribers.
Isla uses social media not only to promote her adult content but also to share her hobbies, like spending time in nature and fishing. Combining these two aspects of her life has allowed her to build a dedicated fan base of “the middle-aged man in the States who enjoys fishing and hunting on the weekends,” she said.
Many of Isla’s OnlyFans subscribers message her privately on the platform — which can be particularly lucrative. On her main account, direct messages accounted for almost $2 million of the $4.7 million Isla earned in revenue in 2023.
While the majority of the money comes from not-safe-for-work interactions with followers, many fans also chat with her about their own outdoor adventures.
“Ever since I started doing the outdoor stuff, that kind of amount of conversation really increased,” she said. “I love the spicy kind of talk, but just getting to know who I’m talking to and what they do on the weekend is a lot of fun.”
In 2024, Isla plans to introduce more safe-for-work content about her hobbies and publish long-form YouTube videos on them. She hopes the two sides of her business and personality can eventually go hand-in-hand.
“I’d like to have more brand recognition and focus more on my fishing and all of the outdoor stuff,” she said.
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