After moving to New York City to attend fashion school, Skye Blue was snatched up by a modeling agency — but when the agency discovered she was camming at night to help pay the bills, she was promptly dropped for violating her contract’s “morality clause.” Camming influenced Blue’s decision to work full-time in the industry, but what inspired her most was the glamour surrounding the biz.
“I would look at Playboy models and the biggest stars at the time, like Elsa Jean and Lana Rhodes, and just think it must be so cool to be them!” she recalls. “I wanted to be in all the magazines and be able to be on sets all day getting my hair and makeup done, look like a goddess and be shooting.”
I love being open and honest about who I am and what I’m doing. If a person can feel connected to you by you being authentically you, then there’s not much more you need to do.
Thanks to working with agents, Blue says, she knew enough to start off on the right foot. She took seriously the maxim “show up and show out.” However, she attributes her more recent success to her fan base.
“I was so terrified of fans before porn because of Reddit,” she explains. “They can be real bullies and I was afraid everyone was going to be like that. As I started to trust more, I learned that it’s not all about the agents or the companies but about the fans. Everything we do is really for the consumer. I think a lot of my professional growth came from learning how to talk to large audiences. There’s really so much we can learn from them.”
Taking the fans more seriously affected her personal life too, as she wanted to become the best version of herself for them. That meant holding herself accountable, sticking to a schedule and becoming more organized.
Her early days were not without challenges, as she was navigating a relationship that inhibited her ability to truly be herself on screen.
“I think after that breakup, really exploring myself let me make my performances so much better,” she shares. “I was able to start opening myself up to my co-performers and really give these passionate, beautiful scenes! Once I could do that, every scene was like a learning experience.
“I’d even take fan recommendations on what they’d like to see more,” Blue continues. “Now my scenes are so elevated from when I first started. I can walk into a room and feel so confident it will be the best I’ve done.”
Over time, she developed a sense of branding that centers on high-quality content, drawing upon her experience in the fashion industry to elevate the aesthetic of her adult content. She also strives to ensure that when she teases content on social media, the buyer gets exactly what is advertised.
“I think that was key in building my audience as far as keeping them engaged,” she says. “I love being open and honest about who I am and what I’m doing. If a person can feel connected to you by you being authentically you, then there’s not much more you need to do. I let it all out there and then allow people to ask questions, be curious and always respond to them as if they’re new to what I’m talking about. When your brand is yourself, all you can do is be yourself.”
One arena in which she can fully be herself, and in control, is producing her own content. Blue endeavors not only to make high-quality videos but also to express authentic pleasure on screen. She strives to be open about her real-life interests to give fans a sense of intimacy, incorporating such activities as painting or thrifting into her footage. She notes that these small windows into a person’s life enhance a sense of connection.
It is also important to Blue that she stays in good shape, both mentally and physically. After struggling to achieve this balance, she eventually found her flow through discipline.
“Finally I realized that it wasn’t all fun and games being my own boss,” she observes. “I had to stick to a schedule, set a morning routine and carry it out daily. If I wanted to see results, I had to put in the work. I had to set specific days for certain things, like ‘Content Trade Tuesdays’ and ‘Livestream Fridays.’”
Between her diligent work ethic and her firm commitment to engaging fans by being real, Blue has seen results. Among the milestones she prizes most dearly was reaching 150,000 subscribers on Pornhub, which led the platform to send her a plaque and a jacket. She was also nominated for 13 different awards this year, and hopes one day to be nominated in a camming or premium social media category.
“I want to create beautiful work for others to look up to, and see beautiful work that makes me want to do more,” she says, reflecting on what drives her to continue growing and evolving. “Most of my friends are in different areas of sex work, so we all have our different things, but it keeps it fresh when we all give each other different ideas from an outside perspective.”
As for 2023 and beyond, her current ambitions include diving back into content creation and trying to be her best self.
“I got really burnt out on studio work after five years, so I thought it would be a good change of pace to return to what I started in,” she enthuses. “In the years to come, I want to create things that will help performers in their advertising and the spaces where we can come together. So I’ve been slowly setting up an advertising company where we can advertise IRL instead of online, due to the uncertainty of Instagram and Twitter. I’ve been thinking of community a lot more.”
