(AF) In a move that has shocked some in conservative South Asia, a female Indian marketing executive has been appointed to lead OnlyFans, a social networking platform based in London that is best known for pornographic content.
The subscription-based video-sharing website announced on Wednesday that it has appointed Indian-born Amrapali ‘Ami’ Gan as its new chief executive officer.
Gan took over from Tim Stokely, a British businessman once described by The Sunday Times newspaper as the “king of homemade porn.” He founded the site five years ago with his brother as chief operating officer and his father as head of finance. Stokely stepped down on Wednesday.
The appointment adds the 36-year-old Mumbai-born marketing specialist to the growing ranks of Indian-origin corporate leaders. Her appointment is all the more notable given that only one in 10 tech CEOs is a woman and that in South Asia’s highly conservative culture women are encouraged to cover up their bodies.
This is what is known so far about Gan and the challenge she faces after taking the helm at OnlyFans.
Who Is Ami Gan?
This is not the first time that she has taken a job that would raise eyebrows. Prior to joining OnlyFans, Gan was a Vice-President of Marketing at Cannabis Café, where she helped to rebrand and create what is believed to have been the first cannabis restaurant in the US.
She joined OnlyFans as Chief Marketing and Communications Officer last year, when the five-year-old and rapidly growing subscription-based video service was already well-known as a “porn-friendly social media platform.”
Despite such controversial roles, she has only a limited presence on social media sites.
Her early work history was more mundane. She worked as a Director of Communications at Lowell Herb Company (2019); as Head of Brand Communication at Quest Nutrition (2014-2016); Director of Marketing at Quest Apparel (2013-2014); Marketing Manager at StyleSaint (2012); and Editorial and Digital Marketing Manager at My Fashion Database (2008-2010). In 2007, she joined PepsiCo’s marketing “leadership programme”.
Gan’s Challenge
The Covid pandemic helped turn OnlyFans into a higher-profile, million-dollar business as content makers turned to the site amid lockdowns around the world. The site has claimed to have two million content creators and 130 million users.
Despite that, Indian media has reported OnlyFans is struggling to find outside investors, with venture capitalists allegedly reluctant to invest in the sex industry. Axios concluded in an August article that while it’s one of the creator economy’s largest and most successful platforms, “investors are content to watch its success from afar.”
So far, Gan isn’t saying much about what lies ahead. She said her new role will be to turn the adult content industry, which has so far been largely overseen by white men, into a “safe” zone for OnlyFans users.
“I look forward to continuing to work closely with our creator community to help them maximise control over, and monetise, their content,” Gan said. “By blending state of the art technology with creative capital, we are committed to being the safest social media platform in the world.”
• Indrajit Basu
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