Gan was the vice president of marketing and publicity at Cannabis Cafe in West Hollywood before joining OnlyFans. She had also worked at companies such as Lowell Herb Co., Red Bull, Quest Nutrition, etc.
New Delhi: Indian-born Amrapali Ami Gan took over as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of popular subscription-based creator platform OnlyFans in December 2021. Gan joined the company in September 2020 as Chief Marketing and Communications Officer and in just over a year, she was promoted to CEO after founder Tim Stokely left the company.
Goose early life and time before joining OnlyFans
Amrapali Gan was born in Mumbai and grew up in Virginia as the only child of her parents. Gan, currently based in Miami, previously lived in Los Angeles. She received a bachelor’s degree in public relations and organizational communications from California State University, then completed an online certificate course on entrepreneurship at Harvard Business School.
Gan was the vice president of marketing and publicity at Cannabis Cafe in West Hollywood before joining OnlyFans. She had also worked at companies such as Lowell Herb Co., Red Bull, Quest Nutrition, etc.
The ‘unlikely CEO’ at OnlyFans
Given the short time she had spent with the company, Gan’s promotion to CEO came as a surprise to many. Why was Gan chosen for the CEO seat? According to Jane Stevenson, the world leader for CEO succession at consulting firm Korn Ferry, Gan’s rise reflects the new weight companies are placing on communication skills, Fortune reported.
“The ability to tell the company’s story” has become more valuable amid the blurred work-life boundaries spurred by the coronavirus pandemic, Stevenson said.
The Fortune report quotes one Mike Curtis who was Gan’s former colleague from Quest. She used to be involved in areas of business such as corporate strategy, even though her job as CMO or CCO does not typically deal with such matters. Curtis said, “All roads came back to her … she had her hands in every project.”
Gan was close to the company’s founder, Tim Stokely, and she says they are still friends. The same report describes how her “unorthodox background” determines how she operates as CEO. She does not see her leadership from a hierarchical perspective. According to Fortune, she’s just as happy to talk to an entry-level staffer as she is to a celebrity considering joining the platform.
Sometimes she pairs stage-ready outfits with sneakers at big events like Web Summit, a tech conference, or an evening gala. Or she wears an OnlyFans hat at Dishoom, a hip Indian restaurant in London, where the host asks if she has an account; instead of clarifying that she’s OnlyFans’ CEO, she smiles and replies, “Yeah, it’s a great platform.”
Not just about pornography
While OnlyFans became popular with teen girls and others sharing sexually explicit premium content, Amrapali Gan is leaning on her unusual background in communications to transform the platform into one that empowers sex workers, but also provides a safe outlet for creators of all kinds , from personal trainers to chefs.
Although OnlyFan is mum on the progress of the company with Gan at the helm, she was listed on TIME 100 NEXT in the year 2022.
“I’ve been passionate about getting to know our community and seeing how the company has disrupted the creative economy and the adult entertainment industry,” Gan told TIME in an interview, where she talked about working in technology, an industry led by men and to take over the helm of this company.
Gan calls OnlyFans, “a platform really ahead of its time”. She talks about the diversity of content it offers and how it has helped creators connect with their community and fans. She herself has an account on OnlyFans where she posts about her dog Foxx, fragments from her daily life, interviews, events, her likes and dislikes. She also talks about her passion for a healthy body – with videos of rock climbing, pilates.
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