For girls who thought that becoming a camgirl was easy, and that they were going to make a lot of money, you weren’t entirely wrong. Actually, you were probably right because in this field, everything is possible, as was the case for Isa Mazzei.
Isa Mazzei started out by watching tutorials on Youtube for tips on getting started as a camgirl. Since watching youtube she has climbed the ladder, accumulated many fans, and earns about $15,500 a month.
Isa Mazzei, the first steps
Starting her webcam career at 23, Isa Mazzei was nervous. Getting started for the first time as a camgirl required her to do some research in order to do well and avoid falling into the traps that this particular activity can conceal.
She started with a Youtube tutorial to get a clean and perfect bed. She added glittery cushions, hung heavy dark curtains to cover her windows and have a more intimate atmosphere, and above all to protect herself from overly curious neighbours.
Then she went through the “lingerie” box, thinking about the look she wanted. Her favourite lingerie is Vintage. Isa Mazzei has always been a fan of lace, garters and stockings, true symbols of eroticism for the young woman. She added pearls for a touch of glamor and elegance.
Lo and behold, she was ready to turn on the camera. She created her profile under the pseudonym “Una”. She admits that she loved it from the first moment:
“It’s really exciting to have hundreds of people watching you.” Now 28 years old, she’s got lots of experience.
A testimony shared in a book
Isa Mazzei grew her business and even wrote a book, “Camgirl”. A graduate of UC Berkeley, she describes her ups and downs and the very lucrative side of her sex work. She even inspired the famous Netflix movie “Cam” with actress Madeline Brewer, which describes the daily life of a camgirl.
Originally from California, Isa comes from a middle-class family, where there was never a lack of comfort. Even if her life didn’t seem to be missing anything, let’s not forget that the world is never perfect. In her book, Mazzei claims that her father, who made music videos, was bipolar and that his mother, a makeup artist, was an alcoholic.
An activity that allowed her to accept herself
For Isa things were a little complicated in the beginning. Embarrassed by her physique, afflicted with low self-esteem and repressed sexually, her first liveshow required a lot of courage. Especially, due to a facial trauma she received by being sexually abused, she confessed in her book.
In middle school and high school the image of being a “slut” stuck in her head. After each sexual experience with a new partner she felt dirty. Becoming a camgirl allowed her to leave it all behind as it was like therapy.
She obtained her university degree in comparative literature and discovered Tinder at that time. Isa Mazzei became completely addicted to the app. She also tried many “typical” jobs but she was bored quickly.
In 2014, something clicked inside her during a trip to a strip club with a boyfriend. Fascinated by a dancer who was obviously confident in herself and her sexuality, who dominated the club while dancing, the idea of getting into camming was re-enforced in her psyche.
Truly looking at herself in the mirror (body dysmorphia), she realized that she was indeed sexy. Young, attractive, with a slim body and a perky breast, she thought “why not me”. If the scene made her shy, she knew the webcaming would be easier to manage. A camgirl career was born.
Her first videos
To get started, and after some research on the Internet, Isa Mazzei launched a page on the My Free Cams platform, a platform where internet users can watch the shows for free and give a tip if they are satisfied.
She carefully studied the other camgirls in order to copy some behaviours and understand the right things to do. It also helped her to understand what fans liked and would ask her to do. She had a somewhat clumsy and cheesy character at first but she was not afraid to reveal everything.
“It was a combination of a fantasy of who I wanted to be, as well as the results of my research on the most popular camgirls,” says Isa. The pseudonym Una comes from its singularity, and just like her real name, it was unusual and composed of three letters.
Her first live streams had some technical problems but nevertheless, it was an immediate success. Her strategies paid off and subscribers loved her quirky humor and her unique shows. She earned $450 from her first live stream. A great reward for the someone who loved being watched by so many men. To tell you all about it, she was in a foam-filled bathtub with a bikini and a sailor hat, and her visitors had to pay to choose which piece she was going to take off first. Tips could go up to $125 for sexy actions like removing her top or spanking herself with a paddle.
A lucrative career was launched
This dazzling success gave her a real boost, like an electric shock. Thanks to her first video and her original ideas, she quickly got many loyal subscribers on her chat. Some liked to make the other guests jealous by doing private show, which payed a big bonus. Isa Mazzei admits that her fans are “great guys” and very generous.
As Una, Mazzei earned up to $15,500 a month and about six figures a year. She drove two BMWs, rented a luxury apartment and got regular manicures living in Boulder, Colorado. To sustain her income she does girl-on-girl shows and BDSM – a very lucrative field, she says. She has made an appearance at a porn convention in Las Vegas, where she signed autographs for her fans.
Although money and fame are the primary motivators for many camgirls, this was not the case for our young Californian. Isa wanted, above all, to feel good in her body and to have a better self-esteem. Through camming, she learned to control others with her body; she took power: “I finally felt that I was safe enough to face this thing that had happened to me and begin the [healing] process,” she said.
Some downfalls, despite everything
While she gained notoriety and a fat wallet, she still had to face some bad sides of the business. She had to keep it a secret from her family. The most lucrative time for camming was at night, so she worked odd hours, sleeping until 6 p.m. most days.
Not all Internet users were nice either: a handful of trolls called her “fat” and one illegally posted her videos on a porn site.
With the pressure increasing, Una disappeared from the platform in 2016. “I started to feel like I had lost control of my digital identity,” she says. “I wanted to regain the feeling of control with my own image.”
And to disappear, Isa Mazzei did it in a very symbolic way: she organised Una’s live suicide, in front of an enthusiastic audience of regulars.
After this “death,” the young woman was able to rise again under her real name and now works in Canadian cinema in Vancouver. She doesn’t regret anything, “I’m proud of my sex work,” she said in a neutral tone “It’s something I celebrate.”