The struggle is real. The hustle is real. And Vera Sky has true grit.
With a plucky can-do attitude and quickdraw reflexes she bravely ventured into uncharted camming territory. And in this Wild West era of interactive adult entertainment, where daring newcomers can strike gold and topple the establishment, Sky staked a claim.
My cam persona has always been me trying to stay true to who I am. That’s what’s always worked best for me. It’s really hard for me to play pretend or fake something. Maybe I’m just a bad actress, haha!
She mastered the landscape and she sharpened her wits. She observed the subtle techniques of successful pioneers and dueled dashing gunslingers, harnessing their erotic arts. Bit by bit, she built up a real reputation at the local saloon, and soon, there were wanted posters in every major township, clamoring for such a criminally beautiful woman.
Arrows flew from all sides, yet she batted them aside, and upon these desert sands, a new goddess now walks … one whose fame will never die, because this world doesn’t belong to those who came before. It belongs to those yet to come. And Sky, is most certainly arriving.
A drifter with a dream, she stayed one step ahead of frontier justice, even as bounty hunters, wild-eyed outlaws, killjoy harlots and baying wolves hounded her every step. Their silhouettes danced in the firelight, threatening to hobble that nascent stardom with bitter frost and wilderness savagery, yet she smote them all and donned their pelts.
After riding off into the XBIZ Cam Awards sunset as the first-ever Best Cam Model winner, cementing her place in history forevermore, she is spurring her camming career into a full gallop. And for this special awards show issue, it was only fitting that Sky be crowned Cam Star of the Month for June! So, what’re y’all waiting for? Come gather ‘round for a campfire interview and heed this tale.
XBIZ: It’s been a whirlwind couple of years for you as a cam model. What were the hardest lessons you learned along the way, that ultimately led you to reach the pinnacle of success, landing the first-ever XBIZ Cam Awards — Best Cam Model trophy?
Sky: When I first started camming, I was naive and amateur. I thought all I had to do was be a pretty face and give guys things to stare at. But, I needed to develop personal relationships with the people watching me. And the whole time, I had treated camming like it was porn. I thought guys just wanted to hop online, jerk off, then leave … until I learned that most guys are here for something deeper than that, for a connection, for a friend. If they just wanted to jerk off, they could go to PornHub and do it no problem.
XBIZ: What is the “Vera Sky” brand in a nutshell, as far as your live cam persona and marketing strategy. How much of your real-life personality shines through? What distinguishes you from other cam models, brand-wise?
Sky: My cam persona has always been me trying to stay true to who I am. That’s what’s always worked best for me. It’s really hard for me to play pretend or fake something. Maybe I’m just a bad actress, haha!
Guys always tell me I’m the kind of girl they want to marry, not the kind of girl they want to have a one-night stand with. So, when I’m online, I make it about having a good time, catching up, laughing, finding out what’s going on in their lives. To be honest, at most, I do a sexual show once a month, and that’s because I have developed such a wonderful relationship with all of my supporters, that they don’t need to see me do those things to have a good time.
Most of my supporters have a lack of female presence in their life. I like being that presence. I like being there for them when they have bad days at work, I love helping them pick out new suits when they’re shopping, and sometimes, giving them an outlet to vent to when life isn’t going well. I’m like a virtual girlfriend! “Wifey Vera” to the rescue. Come “virtual cry” on my boobs.
XBIZ: Speaking of marketing, you absolutely slayed the voting for the 2017 XBIZ Cam Awards, ultimately outperforming well-established cam models with 10 times more followers. Take us back through the process. What was your initial plan to conquer this competition, and did it change at all during the voting period? How much of your success was due in part to collaborating with your fellow models?
Sky: This is where connections came in super handy! Right off the bat, a small group of complete strangers started voting for me like crazy. I found out they were nominees themselves, and the sweetest people! I loved it! Without discussing it, we all kind of just started supporting each other, voting back and forth for each other, retweeting stuff, asking all of our fans to vote for each other.
We never discussed voting for each other, but there was this weird unspoken connection between us all — we just wanted to see each other win! Fortunately … every … single … person ... I was rooting for won! I couldn’t have been happier.
I may have had a smaller following than most people, but the following I did have was very dedicated to voting for me and my fans really wanted to see me take this one home for the team!
Halfway through voting, I started slacking on votes, because I was coming up with a plan to get people to vote for me like crazy! And that’s when I came up with the T-shirt idea, and fortunately, my plan worked.
XBIZ: That leads us to one of the most dramatic actions you took to garner support for the XBIZ Cam Awards — coming out to your town, amidst great public fanfare. How did you work up the courage to do that? How did your local community react overall? What feedback did you get online from your fans and your peers?
Sky: I had never been nominated for anything ever, especially for something so serious, like come on! We were going to the Versace Mansion … this was a huge deal for me! I was so proud of myself that no amount of bullying or harassment could bring me down. Being nominated for XBIZ Best Cam Model was such a great push for my career that I couldn’t hide from my friends anymore. I wanted to take my career to the next level, and keeping my nomination a secret was not the way to do that. I decided it was time to come out.
I’m so extreme with things, so of course my idea of coming out would be printing out a shirt telling everyone I’m a webcam model and sprinting around my entire town and campus in it. I was so nervous at first, that I actually wore a sweatshirt around for a couple hours because I was too shy to take it off. I went driving a bit, got hot, took the sweatshirt off and without thinking, I went to the grocery store, in the shirt. And that’s where I had the first person ask me about it. It freaked me out because I hadn’t realized that I didn’t put my sweatshirt back on! Haha, the look on my face was horrible. I explained my shirt to the cashier, and got no weird looks or comments she just said, “Cool! More power to ya.”
And after that, I could give a shit what anyone said.
I live in a small conservative town, but there’s a college here, so I got mixed feedback. From the older people and “townies” I got so many “God bless you child, how could you do that” or “What’s wrong with you child? Whoring yourself out like that, no one will respect you. I’ll pray for you.” One woman literally stepped back from me and gave me this look like … she thought I was dirty. You could see the absolute disgust on her face. The younger people, like the kids I go to school with, didn’t really care. I had a lot of girls ask me how they could get involved in the business, because they could really use the extra money, and the guys … well the guys were excited because they just wanted to follow me on Twitter and see explicit pics of me ... hahaha. But, I got their vote!
And, that’s all that matters. I also wrote about XBIZ on the back of my car window, and no joke, I had the sheriff who lived down the street ask to see my car because he heard that I was “offering my services” on the back of my car ... hahaha, crazy how the rumors blow out of proportion so fast. I shared my creative idea with Twitter and wow … people loved it! I received so many messages from models saying how much they looked up to me for that, and that I inspired them to want to come out to their family. That’s what I’m here to do, inspire.
XBIZ: And what was it like sharing your inspiring journey at XBIZ Miami via the panels and networking? How did you feel when XBIZ announced you won the top honor amidst the glitz and glamour of the “Versace Mansion” Villa Casa Casuarina?
Sky: I’m really glad I had the chance to share my struggle story — it’s more of a “struggle story” than a “success story” — with everyone. So many people assumed that because I was nominated, and one of the top girls on my website, that it had been a smooth ride the entire way. Every time I shared my “200 tokens a day” story with people, their jaws fell open. No one had any idea. So many of my fellow cam sisters told me about the hard time they are having on cam as well and how happy they were to hear that someone so successful had it hard too.
Again, that is why I wanted to win. I wanted all models to know that no matter their body size, race or struggle, that there is always the chance to grow and get better. I don’t even think I was fully aware when I won the award, I was so caught up in the hype that five of my best friends had one that I forgot that I was there to try and win one myself. But my name was called, and I was shocked. I was so happy, that I almost felt paralyzed. That’s not what the best part was though.
The best part was when I was up on stage, and looked out into the audience to give my thank you speech, and for a good 30 seconds, I couldn’t even get a word out because so many beautiful faces were cheering and clapping, and screaming my name. The love I received from my friends and strangers in that moment, was almost as wonderful as receiving that award with “Vera Rose Sky” engraved in it.
XBIZ: Tell us about your post-Miami experience. Did you forge stronger bonds with cam models during the show and on social media afterwards? Will your approach to the biz change now, or are you mostly sticking to your guns? Have your career ambitions shifted at all?
Sky: I had never been to any kind of social event with cam models before. I was never really close with anyone on social media, they were associates, but that’s about it. When I was there I roomed with a wonderful girl named Catjira who is my absolute best friend in the whole world right now. Three days is all it took. I met so many familiar faces, and because we were all in such an intimate setting with each other, I don’t think I had any option but be comfortable with them.
I made friends so fast. Every single person I met was so welcoming and always had a huge smile on their face when I introduced myself to them. I’ve genuinely never felt more loved. I have so many new friends now, its unbelievable how fast we all built such a strong bond and connection, and I can’t wait until I get to see their glowing faces again at next year’s XBIZ show. My approach will never change — it is what got me here.
I would love to become known in this industry for being a motivator. Maybe I’ll write a book, or do a podcast. The win boosted my confidence a lot, so I might try modeling or something like that, but from now on, I’m taking it day by day.
XBIZ: What’s next for “Vera Sky” in terms of cam modeling. How will you turn 2017-2018 into an even greater year? Are you looking forward to next year’s XBIZ Miami?
Sky: My trip to Miami motivated me so much. There were so many hard working ladies there, making content, taking photos and camming poolside. It’s so wonderful to see that even in our time off, we are still working our asses off! Us webcam models have a hustle like no other.
I want to try new things with camming now, since I met so many lovely ladies. I would love to start doing shows with them, or even start a fun cam model advice YouTube channel.
All I can say is, Vera Sky will just be getting bigger and better as time goes on! I won’t stop until I’m a household name.
I am so excited for next year’s XBIZ show and hope to be even more involved! I would love to host the award show or be a show ambassador. XBIZ is my family now, and I will be tied to them until the day I die. After all, I am the first-ever XBIZ cam model of the year. That’s, like, gotta go down in history right? Haha.
XBIZ: Any pearls of wisdom to share with the camming community, as you reflect back on such an epic career trajectory?
Sky: Stay true to yourself. Do what makes you happy. Don’t ever let a slow camming day make you feel “less than.” This job is tough. You have to have thick skin, but the benefits outweigh the negatives so well, sometimes. Stick with it. Don’t ever give up. Try new websites when it’s slow, do new shows and get creative. Something always works out, and if it doesn’t, remember that it wasn’t you. Stay motivated, stay hydrated and take lots of bubble baths. I promise you, everything will work out for you in the end. Don’t stop the hustle!
