Hailing from Michigan and currently living in Florida, Siraia Star has lived a life of erotic entertainment, as well as hard work and incredible service to her family and dreams.
She shared a bit about her history as a dancer and cam star, her faith in God and how she deals with haters. It’s a celestial and inspiring read you will certainly enjoy.
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YNOT Cam: You have a long history in erotic entertainment. How did you get started?
Siraia Star: At age 18, I lived across the street from the bar Parkway Tropics. Every day, my roommate and I would sit outside n the porch and watch two of the male dancers arrive. They ran the bar during the day while the females danced. We would sit and hoot and holler at them, whistle and everything, just being silly chicks.
One day, Johnny Passion walked in and within 20 minutes came back out. He walked straight towards us. I thought, “Uh-oh. He must be mad. He’s sick and tired of us catcalling out every day.” Instead, he came up and looked at me and said, “Ever thought about dancing?”
Early dance ad.
I began laughing my ass off because I was 150 pounds, an elephant compared to the girls we watched go in. He said he was serious and that I should come on over and try. At first I was hesitant, but my roommate encouraged me to give it a try. So I walked over, and that’s how I became Starlite. I borrowed some heels and a li’l baby-doll dress, and within a year I had lost 59 pounds and was assigned as lead dancer for the girls.
What an amazing story! What happened next?
In 1990 I met my husband, who happened to be the cousin of the man who owned the bar. I stopped dancing and got married in 1991. We became foster/adoptive parents through the State of Michigan and adopted three children from one family while fostering a total of 17 others during our marriage. But my marriage disintegrated in 2002, and I was left to raise my children alone.
So, you became a single mother to many children very suddenly. How did you cope?
I began cleaning houses in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and within a year was cleaning four to five homes daily. My children sometimes tagged along to help when I needed it.
In 2004 I lost my foster dad, who had been a huge fan of baseball. I enrolled my kids in Little League and soon after became the softball player agent for the district, along with becoming a softball coach. It was during my coaching years that my left hand thumb joint was broken by a hotshot fifth-grade pitcher. I lived with it for several years until it was unbearable and had hand surgery. Soon after this, I herniated four discs in my lower back, which left me unable to clean homes.
I sat in my room one night trying to figure out what to do to support my family, and that’s when I saw the cam modeling ads online. I thought, “Welllll shoot! I can do this! After all, I used to be a stripper.” And that’s how Lady Star became a cam model.
Wow. That’s an intense story. Tell us something beautiful though. How did you come up with your amazing, unique name?
I had wanted to name my daughter Sheryl Surya, which is pronounced like my name now (Sir-ray-ah), but my husband had said “No!” Off the top of my head one day, I told a fan my name was Siraia. I totally changed the spelling simply because I knew people wouldn’t know how to pronounce it in its French form.
I got the name originally from the Olympics. Surya Bonaly was one of the figure skating athletes from France. I loved the name. It was so beautiful.
You have the most amazing way of finding silver linings. What else has been challenging on your path in cam?
The challenges I have faced during camming are mainly lack of sleep. Sometimes it seems you work so much, and you have to if you want to excel in this industry. You have to be creative and competitive, which takes a lot of time and effort, especially if you are trying to attract your own traffic.
Also, if I had a dollar for every time I was referred to as old, fat, saggy tits, saggy ass and so on, I’d be a zillionaire. I just look at those negatives and thank God for giving me the qualities I do possess and push right through them. It’s like I’ve said before, “I may not be your cup of tea, but I’m someone’s cup of tea!”
So true. So, if you could change one thing about the world today, what would it be?
If I could change one thing, it would be instead of “living to work” I’d change it to “working to live.” Too many people have to struggle hard to earn the money they need to survive and miss out on actually having a life to do the things they want. Life is too short for that. That wasn’t God’s intention when he created us. Unfortunately, man has changed life into that, and it’s an utter shame.
I consider myself a survivor coming from an extremely broken home [growing up]. Most people that have my type of history are downtrodden and broken, but I feel like I have risen above and beyond all expectations anyone has ever had for me.
My strength comes from my faith in God. Many people believe that God wouldn’t grace them because of things they’ve done or been through. Myself, on the other hand, has kept a firm belief that he loves me, no matter what. So, when you get that chance to go dancing, go dancing. When you get the chance to go to the beach or shopping, do it.
When you’re not working, what are you doing? What are you passionate about?
Outside of camming, I am very family-based. I am proud that I raised my kids to be successful adults with my youngest in college now. I have three grandsons, and I enjoy communicating with them and watching them prosper. I love to walk the flea markets here in Florida. It has become a nice pastime of mine. I love the interesting finds that you’d never see elsewhere.
I also love to share my experiences with my fans, especially on Twitter. I spend a large amount of time advertising myself out through social media and other online outlets.
I have a website, SiraiaStar.com, that has been in the top 30 million sites visited yearly. That, in of itself, is quite the accomplishment I never thought I’d achieve. Being a nobody four years ago and reaching such an audience today really astounds me.
You are definitely a very high-profile model in a unique niche. Your success is super-impressive! What advice do you have for other models in the community?
I used to get irritated when I saw other models copying me, but I realized that it’s actually an honor to have them look up to me. I’m at the point now that I give advice and support to those who come to me. I don’t feel tearing down another person helps anyone, and I’m too old to play high school games. We should all support and promote each other to boost the industry up, not tear it down.
The one thing most people regret in life is chances never taken. I have no regrets because I took that leap off my cliff and my parachute opened.
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Siraia’s currently pinned tweet on Twitter links to a video from Steve Harvey (embedded below). In it, Harvey starts out by saying “If you want to be successful, you have to jump…”
“Do the same,” Siraia said. “Jump, and jump out far! I guarantee your parachute will open.”
Find Siraia Star on Twitter at @LadySiraiaStar and on Streamate right here.
