Story & Lesson Highlights with Elaina St James of Charlotte

Elaina St James shared their story and experiences with us recently and you can find our conversation below.

Elaina, it’s always a pleasure to learn from you and your journey. Let’s start with a bit of a warmup: What are you being called to do now, that you may have been afraid of before?
I am feeling it’s time to share what I’ve learned with others. Especially women in midlife – their 40’s, 50’s and beyond that fear their best days are behind them. I have been told almost from the beginning of my online career that I am an inspiration. I always thought I would pivot to using my voice to help other women. I’m not ready to abandon my main income, which is my fan sites that cater to men, but I do feel called to add this to my plate.

Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
I’m Elaina St James, widely known as America’s Favorite Cougar, single mom, who took a risk when I started on Instagram and OnlyFans in the Spring of 2021. I had struggled financially for so many years and I felt in my gut that this was my chance to help give myself and my son a better life. Pretty quickly on I was making more money than I ever had before – far surpassing my dead end insurance job. I took the plunge to become a content creator and have’t looked back. I have been featured in numerous media stories including People Magazine, TMZ, Newsweek, Business Insider and Huffington Post. I have written a book, self narrated the audio version, produced a line of funny merchandise, started a podcast and even have my very own intimate toy. It’s been quite a wild ride for a middle aged mom from the Midwest.

Thanks for sharing that. Would love to go back in time and hear about how your past might have impacted who you are today. Who were you before the world told you who you had to be?
As a child I wanted to be a singer, model, actress, basically I wanted to be a star. I looked up to Cher, Dolly Parton, Carol Burnett, personable, strong women who showed power and independence. But then as a teen I realized I didn’t have a singing voice and the world told me I wasn’t pretty enough and I was definitely not thin enough, so I lowered my expectations. My dream just became to find a husband and become a stay at home mom.

What have been the defining wounds of your life—and how have you healed them?
I was a single mom, trying to make the best choices for my son. After running a daycare so I could be home with him, I knew I needed to make more money, so I studied and got my real estate license and signed on with a local office. It was terrible. I worked so hard, being involved with the community, walking around neighborhoods, making calls, working open houses and after 3 months nothing had worked and my savings were running out. I got a job selling cars. My background was consumer product sales before having my son, but the weekly overnight travel just wouldn’t allow that with a young child and no help. Early on my Mother had said she would be able to help but she had gotten sick when my son was a toddler and never regained her strength and energy. So I started selling cars and not only are all the stereotypes based on truth (male dominated and shady) they required me to be there all hours of the day, night and weekends. I worked hard, hustling every day. Customers liked me and my honesty but my son suffered and I often didn’t have help for anyone to watch him when a babysitter wasn’t available. There were too many times he waited for me in the dealership lounge or at home where I had camera’s all over. It was awful so when I heard of an office job with normal weekday hours I jumped at the change. It was steady but it was also dead end and I lived in fear at all these positions that I would never be able to retire, that I would always be a poor single mom and that was a constant pain.

I think our readers would appreciate hearing more about your values and what you think matters in life and career, etc. So our next question is along those lines. Is the public version of you the real you?
The public version is probably 75% me. It’s too hard to fake too much and long time followers and fans can see thru inauthenticity. Obviously personal details for safety reasons I keep private and there is also the fact that my public version is a much happier, got it all together person than the real me that often struggles with anxiety.

Okay, so let’s keep going with one more question that means a lot to us: If you knew you had 10 years left, what would you stop doing immediately?
As a cancer survivor and after losing my mom suddenly last year, I don’t think I would do much differently right now. I am working very hard to provide for my son and myself, we are taking more trips to see the world together, that I would not change. I would still work hard but my reasoning would shift from wanting to make as much money for my retirement and my son, to just make as much money as possible to leave my son when I’m gone. I wish I could say I would worry less about money, but I wouldn’t because my last breath will be thinking “did I do enough so that he’s ok?”

Contact Info:

• Website: https://elainaverified.com
• Instagram: @elainastjames
• Twitter: @elainastjames_1
• Facebook: @elainastjamesverified
• Youtube: @elainastjames