CamLife PIONEER SHOWCASE Ella Darling
This issue’s CamLife Pioneer Showcase is the Incomparable Ella Darling , Ella Darling is a live webcam performer, entrepreneur, and public speaker
Ela Darling. The name may seem familiar and with good cause. She’s got her own TED Talk video – Starting Over -with over 80,000 views to date. In the last year, she’s been featured in Rolling Stone Magazine, New York Times, The New York Post, The Guardian, Daily Star, Jezebel, Express, VR Scout, and handfuls of other media outlets, each fawning over the sexy young innovator. This year she won “Crossover Star of the Year” from XBIZ. So, who is Ela Darling, and what makes her a pioneer worth covering in both adult and mainstream media?
Ela Darling has been described as the world’s “first-ever VR Cam Girl”. For more than a half-decade since she’s grown from performer to entrepreneur to political activist. Hailed as a visionary by both her peers in adult entertainment and tech, the former reference librarian earned a Master of Library Science degree at age 21 from the University of Illinois. Ela explains her decision to become an adult entertainer instead in her now-famous TED Talk, explaining she craved more challenges in life, which she found in adult entertainment. 
By 22 she had moved to Los Angeles and was starring in commercial pornography. Ela brought her pioneering spirit with her into the industry, racking up scenes and moving behind the camera to film her own as well. Ever driven, she yearned to create better, more immersive content, rather than the comfortable lesbian scenes she was capturing. Her world changed one day in early 2014 while cruising popular internet site Reddit when she came across her future best friend and business partner in a subgroup chatting about the possibilities of VR. Little did she know she’d be meeting him, flying across the country to crash his dorm mates Dungeons and Dragons game at the University of Maryland. 
That day Ela and her new partner recorded her first virtual reality sex scene, featuring just her in an R2-D2 swimsuit and striped gym socks. Shunning the idea of using other performers or actors, Ela sat on the bed and spoke to the camera as if it were a close friend. For years she had been looking for a way to better connect with her fans, not just in the physical act of accomplishing release to her clips, but emotionally and psychologically as well. VR brought all of these elements together for her and more. By treating the viewer like a loving partner, instead of just a part-time lover, she had managed to bridge the divide between mere two-dimensional fantasy and role-playing and creating that authentic girlfriend experience consumers of adult content yearned for. Using multiple cameras from hundreds of angles, she was able to “stitch” together with a 360-degree view of the room, fully immersing the end user in the experience of being with the girl of their dreams. In no time at all, Ela was streaming weekly VR shows live from her bedroom back in Los Angeles.
Others quickly took notice of the world’s first VR webcam woman, and her company VRtube.xxx, which was later licensed to CAM4.com. Her shows allowed cam fans to transcend the traditional two-dimensional approach to connecting with their favorite cam model and be in the room with her instead. Fans quickly rallied to her cause, heaping praise on her and chiding users who were unsupportive of her vision.
Since then Ms. Darling and her business partner have built their own stereoscopic camera solution along with stitching software. She has worked with CAM4 to bring this technology to cam performers worldwide. She’s been recruiting and training other performers for almost two years ensuring that CAM4VR is more about their performances than just on her own No doubt Ela and her ideas have been a boon to both industries, as well as adult entertainment overall, which has warmly embraced the former librarian as one of their own.
la Darling continues to help others. She served as the President of the Adult Performer Advocacy Committee and also chaired a committee for the Performer Availability Scheduling Service. Last January she ran for public office. She continues to speak up for sex workers all over the world, as well as a host of other political and social issues –from the importance of net neutrality to her concerns about the potential damage sex robots and AI might have on human intimacy.
And yes, she still finds time to play Dungeons & Dragons.
Ela Darling is a true pioneer in every sense of the word. Her entrepreneurial spirit and commitment to improving our experiences of human sexuality and interconnectedness make her the perfect choice for our Pioneer Showcase. We here at Cam Life salute this sexy cam innovator and wish her even more success and happiness!
Showcase Written By DCypher
