- Zara Dar left her doctorate in bioengineering to become a full-time creator, including on OnlyFans.
- She turned to content creation after becoming frustrated with academia.
- Her content combines STEM education with more adult OnlyFans, where she has earned over $1 million.
A bioengineer who once thought she would become a professor decided to abandon her doctoral program and become a full-time creator, including creating content on Only fans.
The 24-year-old from Texas, who uses the handle Zara Dar on social media, knew it was a gamble, but she couldn’t see herself following in her teacher’s footsteps.
Dar sent him Business Insider Only fans The dashboard, which shows her net income since her debut on the site in January 2022, was $1.4 million, putting her in the top 0.1% of creators. In an interview with BI, she said the sum was “something I never imagined possible.”
She made $50,000 in her first three months on OnlyFans. She now publishes more regularly. His income for December 2024 was $240,000.
After launching OnlyFans, Dar began posting talks on YouTube and Pornhub in 2023, focusing on science, technology, engineering and math, or STEM. Both her YouTube and Pornhub accounts link to her OnlyFans page and channel users there.
On OnlyFans, in addition to posting STEM content, she posts erotic photo shoots and exchanges messages with fans, a major source of income for creators on the platform. According to its dashboard, Dar’s total revenue from messaging is $661,000.
Dar said that doing STEM talks on YouTube and PornHub as well as adult content on OnlyFans “makes my approach not only unique, but also more relevant to who I am.”
She chose OnlyFans after becoming frustrated with academia
Dar spent two years in graduate school at a top university, earning a master’s degree and working toward a doctorate in biomedical engineering. Dar does not publicly share where she studied for privacy reasons. BI verified his degree and confirmed the institution.
Dar told BI that she left her doctoral program at the end of 2024 after realizing “it wasn’t the right fit.”
Her doctoral research focused on computational biology and drug discovery, where she explored how computer models can replace animal drug experiments.
But her research was less concrete than she thought. Her professors seemed to spend more time trying to get funding than working in the lab, she said.
“I think as a professor I would feel disconnected from the actual work associated with my name,” Dar said.
Dar said she received this stipend as a doctoral student “barely enough to cover basic living expenses,” which was stressful. She started thinking about other ways to make a living.
Zara Dar and her YouTube plaque, marking her reaching 100,000 subscribers. Zara
Her STEM niche led OnlyFans to promote her work
Dar discovered that her STEM niche made her stand out on OnlyFans, which promoted her videos on its main page.
His YouTube channel recently reached 150,000 subscribers. Her videos include explanations of neural networks, machine learning concepts, and how she developed her own OnlyFans notification bot.
“It made me realize that I could have a real career by continuing to share educational and artistic content on OnlyFans,” Dar said.
Dar has had setbacks. Her Instagram, where she discussed topics such as the Leidenfrost effect and Schrödinger’s cat, was banned for sexual content because she showed cleavage, which dented her income. The account has since been reinstated.
She has focused more on her social media presence since she stopped studying.
Her YouTube video about dropping out of her doctorate earned Zar $40,000 in just 24 hours, more than her annual stipend as a graduate student, she told BI.
Dar said several management companies contacted her to offer their services to help her manage her page, but she has refused them until now.
Dar said OnlyFans isn’t for everyone
For many, OnlyFans does not provide a stable income. The total paid to creators in 2023 equated to nearly $1,300 per creator, according to an analysis by Variety. Dar said she had to continually post videos and photos and interact with fans to stay popular. Dar’s OnlyFans main channel is her STEM content on YouTube and Pornhub, which is hard work but one she enjoys.
She also worries about her private life. “Being so visible on the Internet has its downsides,” she said.
She said many people thought she gave up on STEM while doing OnlyFans.
“The truth is quite the opposite. OnlyFans has given me the freedom to learn, research and share everything I’m passionate about,” Dar said.
Despite all that she earns, Dar says she is careful with her money, invests it, tries to live frugally, and avoids luxury purchases.
Dar advised creators considering OnlyFans to find a niche and “never do something you’re not comfortable with.”
“My experience on OnlyFans proves that you don’t have to create porn to make a substantial income,” she said.
Dar said that there is a diverse range of content on OnlyFans and that she aims to be unique with her erotic content by only posting artistic photoshoots that she feels reflect who she is.
“One of my photoshoots explores the two paths I face in life: continuing to work for others or working independently,” she said.
“In this set, I wrote a poem inspired by Robert Frost’s ‘The Road Not Taken’ and wore a helmet while going topless to symbolize the choices available to me.”
Dar told BI that in addition to her content creation, she would like to offer STEM courses online or start a social media consultancy. She is also pursuing another master’s degree in computer science online.
“Working full-time online allows me to pursue my education at my own pace and pursue what I love,” she said.