Brianna Coppage was fired after her employer found out about her OnlyFans gig.
If that sounds similar to headlines that made news all across the country last September, that's because it is.
Six months ago, Coppage was a high school English teacher in St. Clair, Missouri, when school administrators let her go after discovering she was moonlighting as an OnlyFans performer. Coppage made the most of the situation, riding the wave of publicity to increase her OnlyFans subscribers, and within a month made almost $1 million off the platform. She also used the opportunity to be vocal about paltry teacher pay in Missouri, contrasting the serious dough she pulled in from OnlyFans to the $42,000 she was paid annually as an educator.
But in the months since, Coppage says she came to realize that though the money is great, she needed to do more than just OnlyFans.
"I was a teacher doing public service, helping people and helping kids," she says. "That's my goal in life. OnlyFans doesn't fulfill that part." She also says she wanted to get back into more of a routine of going to work for a nine to five job for the sake of her mental health.
So last month, while maintaining her OnlyFans hustle, Coppage started applying to various jobs, all of which had strong public service components. She applied to one at the University of Missouri St. Louis and another at Compass Health, a nonprofit healthcare organization. She was hired at the latter as a community support specialist and started the first week in March.
It didn't last long.
She admits she didn't put OnlyFans on her resume but that information isn't hard to find.
Other employees made quick work finding it and they started sending management links to articles about Coppage and links to her social media as well. She says that after five days she was fired.
The situation has left her feeling despair.
"There's still such a stigma," she says of the performing she does on OnlyFans. "I thrive in an environment helping others. And, yeah, I guess I'm just not going to be allowed to do that anymore."
She adds, "We're not doing anything wrong. And we're not doing anything illegal. I just don't understand."
Compass Health did not immediately respond to a request for comment. We'll update this post if we hear back.
Coppage was adamant she doesn't want press coverage so that people would feel sorry for her. She wants to shine a light on a stigma against adult entertainment workers that she thinks is unfair. She’s certainly not alone in her predicament; last fall, the RFT reported on Rachel Worcel, a model previously featured in Hustler who’s previously done some nude work. Worcel was fired by the St. Louis-based Simon Law Firm just two days after beginning a job as a paralegal.
Having said that, if you ask us, surely there is a CEO or nonprofit director who could use someone with Coppage's resume. She's clearly very good at making the best of bad circumstances. She exponentially grew her own small business. Prior to that, as an English teacher, she was undaunted by the prospect of having to get entire classes of teenagers to somehow read books — a pretty major feat in the year 2024.
She says she's actively mulling over other jobs that would allow her to help others. She's considered cosmetology, where she could help other people feel good about how they look. But even as she plans for what she wants to do next, she can't help but wonder how it will come undone.
"It's like, how many things am I gonna get boxed out of, turned away from?" she says.
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