From 78 Cents to a Sex Worker Media Movement: The Real Story Behind Cherry Dana
The unfiltered episode that launched a mini sex worker series, a safe space, and a sex-positive shift in storytelling for Cherry Dana.
Undressing My Life – Episode 1 Recap Blog with Cherry Dana
In February 2021, I uploaded the first episode of my YouTube series Undressing My Life. It wasn’t about trending. It wasn’t about shock value. It was about stripping back the assumptions—and telling the real story behind my journey in the adult industry.
This was my confessional. My foundation. My f*#k-it-here’s-everything moment.
Here’s what you missed (or what deserves to be rewatched with fresh eyes):
🩱 From Dance Floors to Lingerie Waitressing
I started with a background in dance and fitness. Five part-time jobs. A hustle that didn’t quit. I began lingerie waitressing around age 22–23. I had already been doing bikini modelling and comps, so it made sense to move into something that actually paid.
By 2017, I had gained traction on the Supe app and even had an OnlyFans account—though at the time, it was clunky, slow, and nowhere near what the platform is today. Online work wasn’t paying much, and I was still driving back and forth between Newcastle and Sydney to waitress, even after moving back into my own place in Newcastle around age 29.
I had met the owner of Supe while I was on holidays in LA, and I was one of the original girls on the app. The algorithms started to change, and I stepped away for a bit. But after two earlier offers, he came back with a third one—this time with better timing. I finally accepted, and that contract gave me a weekly pay rate of $4K USD per week — which converted to about $5K AUD at the time — just to post, promote, and be one of the faces of the platform.
That same week, I had 78 cents in my bank account and had asked my mum for $20 to buy food for George, my dog.
Proof that rock bottom is often just the floor before the trampoline.
🎥 The Birth of CherryDTV
The original concept for CherryDTV started with me trying to build my own platform—essentially, an Australian-made version of OnlyFans. It kicked off after a wild first date with a guy who had an IT and coding background. He didn’t leave my house for four days. We drank, vibed, brainstormed, and a week later, I hired him to work with me.
We worked insane hours—12 to 16 hours a day—building a custom website and trying every workaround we could think of. I wanted CherryDTV to be a hub like The Chive meets OnlyFans, blending sexy content with blogs, interviews, games, and more.
But the roadblocks were real. Being based in Australia made payment gateways nearly impossible to secure for digital adult content. Ironically, physical services like brothels could get merchant support—but not digital creators. Overseas banking and licensing options existed, but they required citizenship, residency, or putting my money into someone else's name. And trust? That was risky business.
We experimented with monetisation—starting with a free subscriber section where users could access locked content in exchange for an email sign-up. Since we couldn’t use proper merchants, we embedded adult ads. But they paid terribly, and Google AdSense was out of the question.
Then we levelled up. I had a bot scraping the web to embed trending porn categories directly from Pornhub, X videos, etc. The twist? We also ran original content like:
🔥 Blog interviews with creators
🕹 A cheeky adult game called Willy Whacker—where a flying penis knocks butts and boobs from the sky while users unlock sexy photos of me with each level
💬 A user forum where fans chatted, uploaded content, and competed for top scores
It worked too well—I once crashed my site sending 200,000 followers in one day. My shared server couldn’t handle the traffic and got suspended. That’s when I realised I needed infrastructure that matched my ambition.
Over time, I had nearly 18,000 subscribers. At one point, CherryDTV was ranked 145,000 out of 4 million websites globally within 6 months— something I built from scratch with no funding, no big team, just vision and grind. But running it all? Exhausting. Between constant backend management, reviewing embeds, and maintaining fresh blog content, I became emotionally and creatively numb to the very thing I loved.
Eventually, I moved to Sydney, parted ways with my ex (we only dated short term but worked together for about 8 months after we broke up, we still occasionally do freelance projects together). I pivoted CherryDTV to focus more on blogs, interviews, and the psychology of sex work.
I rebranded the old site into Girls of CherryDTV—a platform to showcase sexy, girl-next-door creators with fun energy and datable vibes. Think sexy with substance, cheeky with community.
🧠 Mental Health Meets Sex Work
I wanted to create more than just a spicy page. I wanted to create community. CherryDTV spoke to the workers behind the glamour. The humans behind the usernames. It centered mental well-being and empowerment, especially in Australia, where support and open conversation were lacking.
We weren’t just talking about sex—we were dismantling shame.
🍒 Girls of CherryDTV: Girlfriend Vibes, Real Stories
Sexy, fun, Aussie girl-next-door energy—but with depth. These weren’t carbon copies of Instagram influencers. These were women with warmth, humour, and substance. Content that made you feel like you knew them—and maybe even wanted to date them.
It was the kind of sexy that stayed with you. Not just for your right hand.
💬 The Real Talk Moments That Hit Home:
"My sex machine doesn’t touch me."
“I made someone wait 3 months for sex and they ghosted me. Slept with someone on the first date, we dated for a year.”
"You’re not uncomfortable because it’s wrong. You’re uncomfortable because you’re uneducated."
"This industry isn’t just sex, drugs, and stereotypes. It’s resilience. It’s real."
📣 Want to join the movement? CherryHub is the evolution of everything Episode 1 set in motion. It’s the safe space I wish I had starting out. Whether you’re a creator, a curious follower, or someone who wants to talk about sex and mental health without the shame—you’re welcome here.
✨ Join CherryHub 🍒
Watch Episode 1 below - this is from 2021 (my life has changed again since this)
📩 Share this post with someone who needs to hear it.
Thanks for reading, lots of love CherryD
