The truth about Zara Dar - Q&A
Ph.D. dropout turned OnlyFans model
Disclaimer: The following is a Q&A between me (Zara Dar) and Twitter/X user YearOfTheKrakenz. I have no affiliation with this individual; they reached out to me on X after this post went viral. Below is the raw interview.
There are allegations that you have not really pursued PhD anywhere and this is just a gimmick to promote your OnlyFans. What do you have to say about that?
I actually mastered out/dropped out of my Ph.D. program, as I mentioned in my video, but contrary to what some people think, I didn’t do it to join OnlyFans. I was already doing OnlyFans part-time while in graduate school. In fact, it was my ex-partner—an Andrew Tate-like character who was familiar with the adult industry—who introduced me to it. As I also mentioned in the video, money was only part of the story. The state of academia and the current job market were the main reasons for my decision. Now, I can dedicate myself full-time to learning and sharing new STEM content with my followers. I encourage people to watch the full video for context.
Shortly after going viral, I noticed some people calling it a gimmick, which honestly made me laugh because lying about dropping out of a Ph.D. would be such a naive way to promote OnlyFans and frankly, I didn’t think it was go as viral as it did. There are far more viral ways to do that in the adult industry—just look at what Bonnie Blue or Lilly Phillips have done recently!
For some context, I had already been creating STEM-related content (for college students) on my YouTube channel for about two years as a way to promote my brand and OnlyFans. The strategy was simple and effective: I’d teach STEM concepts on a board while wearing a sexy top, hoping people would learn something new. If they were interested, they could join my OnlyFans for daily nerdy posts on my free page or explore more artistic and spicy content on my VIP page. For fun, I initially made a simple penguin robot that flapped its wings and moved around whenever I got a new OnlyFans subscriber using raspberry pi and posted the code on my public GitHub page.
Over time, more and more fans started asking me to talk about myself. Even my close friends in real life encouraged me to share more about myself and my story. At first, I told them there wasn’t much to say—I’m just your average American girl who loves learning and sharing knowledge. But eventually, I thought, “Why not?” If people were curious, I might as well share. So, I posted the video titled “PhD Dropout to OnlyFans Model”. Initially, it got very few views, but then it started going viral and made headlines everywhere.
Am I happy it went viral? Yes, of course. (1) I made over $40,000 in 24 hours, which is more than a typical Ph.D. student earns in a year, and (2) it sparked a debate about the usefulness of most Ph.D. programs today, which was my intention. When I say “usefulness,” I don’t mean purely in financial terms. I never entered a Ph.D. program to make money. I did it because I wanted to be a researcher, to dive deep into learning and discovering new things to benefit humanity. Naive, right? But the deeper I got into academia, the more I realized that the job of a professor is largely about securing funding and less about hands-on research.
Of course, there’s been mixed opinions about my decision, which is completely understandable. I welcome scrutiny and believe people shouldn’t believe everything they see online without critical thinking.
People are claiming that your social media appearance was generated using AI tools and this is not how you look like. I can see that you use a lot of editing tools for your photographs. But I want to ask you whether it's entirely AI generated?
That’s an interesting question, and one that I—and many other OnlyFans creators—receive often. First, I want to point out that no famous content creator/influencer on social media looks exactly like they do in real life. Everyone tries to present their best self online because, let’s face it, people value appearances. If you search for the most beautiful women or men, you’ll notice that most are celebrities, which tells you how much looks are emphasized.
Regarding "AI" tools, I think the term has been misused a lot lately, especially since ChatGPT got released. If by AI you mean deepfake, where my real face is replaced with another, then absolutely not. That said, I have been a victim of deepfake content in the past, and I’ll discuss that in a later question.
However, if you mean tools that enhance skin texture—which are common in movies and professional productions—then yes, I use those. I’m not great at contouring or putting makeup; I spent most of my time studying engineering and, more recently, computer science, so learning how to put on makeup wasn’t my focus. I use plugins like Beauty Box in Adobe Premiere to smooth my skin, and I also use a diffusion lens from Tiffen (bought on Amazon) for my camera to soften the overall look. Everyone on social media and in movies uses similar filters or tools.
I think some people might assume I’m AI-generated because of my plain facial expressions (I have a bit of a resting b*tch face, lol) and my large eyes, which my friends comment on in real life and is emphasized by the angle of my camera. So no, I’m not AI.
Was it always the plan that you wanted to move to OnlyFans eventually and the academic videos were just to offer you a launchpad? If it wasn't the case, then what exactly was the trigger to move to OnlyFans full time?
I want to clear up this misunderstanding: I was already doing OnlyFans as a side hobby while in graduate school to explore my artistic side. So no, the academic videos were not a launchpad for my OnlyFans — I genuinely wanted to create educational content because I enjoy sharing my knowledge. Even now, I intend to keep creating more STEM content on my YouTube channel.
I touched on this question briefly in my video, but I’ll elaborate further here. I initially wanted to become a researcher during my undergrad. However, upon entering graduate school, I began to realize that academia wasn’t what I had imagined it to be. I wanted the freedom to keep learning and diving into topics that interest me without constantly worrying about funding or other non-research-related tasks. Here are some reasons that led me to move away from academia:
(1) The Job is Mostly About Securing Funding:
Many people outside academia might not realize this, but once you become a professor, much of your career is spent writing funding proposals to secure money for your lab whether from government agencies or private corporations. A big chunk of that funding then goes to university for operations and to donors (similar to 'shareholders'). Essentially, your job becomes less about research and more about being a professional fundraiser, which isn’t what I envisioned for my future.
(2) You’re Not Doing the Research Yourself:
This was a major turnoff for me. As a professor, you’re not the one conducting experiments, running simulations, or writing papers. Those tasks are typically handled by graduate students. Your role is to review their work, provide feedback, and focus on securing funding. That’s not the kind of work I wanted in my career. I enjoy bench top work.
(3) Bureaucratic Inefficiency:
Academia is riddled with inefficiencies. For example, ordering a new piece of equipment or restocking materials often involves navigating layers of bureaucracy. I’d need approval from my advisor, a funding account code, justification for the purchase with quotes from multiple (usually 3) vendors, and then final approval from the procurement department. This made me spend more time on paperwork and less time on actual research.
(4) Sexism and Sexual Harassment in Academia:
This is a widespread issue that many have already spoken about, but I want to touch on it briefly. Beyond unwelcome physical interactions, there are constant microaggressions. For instance, a friend of mine was taking her Ph.D. qualification exams, and one of the professors jokingly said, “Why are you doing a Ph.D. if you’re such a beautiful lady?” She considered filing a Title IX complaint but was discouraged by her advisor, who told her it wasn’t a big deal. She didn’t pursue it out of fear of retaliation.
On OnlyFans, I don’t have to deal with those power dynamics. If I face online harassment, I can ignore it, and if someone tries to harass me in real life, I have my Second Amendment rights, 911, and my cousins on speed dial.
I could go on about the challenges in academia, and perhaps I will do so in a future video. But ultimately, I decided I wanted to pursue a path that offered me more freedom and autonomy, both intellectually and personally.
How do you think that your move to OnlyFans will be viewed by other women who are pursuing a career in STEM subject and those who wish to pursue STEM one day? Would you want more women to tread your path?
Every person has a unique story. Whether a woman—or a man—wants to become a professor, an engineer, an OnlyFans model, or anything else, they should have the freedom to do so. My story shouldn't be generalized because everyone should make their own choices wisely and based on their circumstances.
I want to emphasize that the question might make it seem like I left STEM, but that’s the exact opposite. In fact, I feel I am now more engaged in learning and sharing academic content than ever before.
If you want my opinion? I didn't find my Ph.D. in engineering particularly useful for me personally, especially for the reasons I’ve mentioned before. However, if your Ph.D. is, for example, in computer science and you’re passionate about advancing science—particularly in areas like physics—and want good financial prospects in academia or big tech, then absolutely go for it! Look at this year's Nobel laureates in physics, Hopfield and Hinton. They’re computer scientists who are pushing the boundaries of physics and other fields as well.
I also strongly believe in lifelong learning. That’s why I’m always enrolling in new online programs, whether they’re certificates or even full master’s degrees. I’m currently pursuing a separate master’s degree in computer science online, and I’m loving it. I’ve learned deep learning, machine learning, optimization, reinforcement learning, and more. I enjoy every part of it. I work on these at my own pace, and they inspire me to teach and share new content on YouTube.
You have received a lot of criticism for your career move on social media. Well, how do you want your decision to be viewed as? How do you want yourself to be perceived?
I’ve read many positive and negative comments on social media about my career move. However, I must point out that many people, especially the ones that like to make posts social media, clearly haven’t watched my video in its entirety without bias. They’ve formed judgments—positive or negative—based solely on the title or what others have already said about it. I know this because the average watch time on my video is barely a few seconds.
I think my decision should be viewed as a critique of academia and the bureaucracy it entails. Honestly, I don’t have a clear vision of how I want to be perceived. My main goal is to learn, improve myself, share content, and make money. If they find value in my STEM content and want to support me, they can subscribe to my OnlyFans or even gift me a nice book through my website.
I’m also open to challenging myself by teaching advanced topics in computer science or engineering if there’s interest. That said, I am aware that the more complex the topics, the less engagement they might attract, which is something I’m still trying to navigate.
There are claims that you were once called Mariam Hadid and you made anti-Islam content to boost your social media presence. Is it true? What do you want to say about it?
No, it’s not true, and this isn’t the first time someone has asked me if I am Mariam or linked to other online personas. It’s interesting how people come up with such claims. For example, I’ve even heard people say things like, “She was never educated because of religious restrictions,” which makes no sense. As someone who is spiritual (and maybe a bit of your typical ignorant American), I enjoy learning about different religions and cultures. To my knowledge, I’ve never encountered any religious scripture that discourages women from pursuing graduate degrees or education in general. In fact, I have devout Christian and Muslim friends who are highly educated, which makes this misinformation likely rooted in religious bigotry. I unequivocally condemn such attitudes.
There’s also this bizarre narrative that I’m an “AI” conspiracy or tied to fake personas like “Mariam Hadid.” (Ironically, I could probably monetize these rumors and make even more money, but I don’t.) I rarely address this directly because I don’t want my fans to mistakenly associate me with religious or cultural fetishes or expect such content on my OnlyFans. While I understand that this is a significant genre in the adult industry, it’s not something that interests me personally. To be clear, I have no issue with people enjoying any kind of consensual content, as long as they respect boundaries.
Unfortunately, I’ve also seen photos and videos on adult websites of individuals that resemble me. These are usually fake, manipulated, feature lookalikes, or not even close to me to begin with. Since I’ve been on OnlyFans for over two years, it’s not uncommon for content to get leaked or even get resold illegally—a problem many creators face. There are even websites that bulk-sell stolen content, which is a huge issue.
Regarding potentially stolen and manipulated content, I wrote a blog about two years ago detailing how I became a victim of a hacking incident. And the unfortunate part is that this can happen to anyone. My computer was infected with malware, which led to the theft of personal content, account credentials, and more. I had to format my computer to remove the malware. That experience was so traumatizing that I no longer even save passwords on iCloud. To quote my blog in case many do not read it:
You may have heard about the recent deepfake porn video of Taylor Swift that spread over Twitter. Most people recognized it as a deepfake and understood that Taylor Swift didn’t actually make a porn video. But when the victim is someone who isn’t famous, the situation is different. The lines between reality and fiction blur, especially if the deepfake is convincing enough and seen frequently.
Another alarming issue is the rise of deepfakes—both video and audio. For example, there was a case where someone live-streamed as Elon Musk, and people genuinely believed it. While some deepfakes are easy to spot, others are extremely convincing. I’ve written extensively about this in my blog. Unfortunately, current AI detection tools aren’t 100% reliable, even for simple texts. For instance, one tool hilariously flagged the U.S. Constitution as AI-generated.
I’d like to use this opportunity to remind people not to believe everything they see or hear online.
Is this all some social experiment that you are conducting just to bait people into reacting and see what they say? Is this whole incident real or just some gimmick?
What I did—dropping out of a Ph.D. program—is actually very common. In fact, up to 51% of PhD students don’t complete their programs. As I mentioned before, this is a real decision based on my personal circumstances, and I hope people take the time to watch my full video to understand why I made this career move.
I’m also glad that it sparked a broader discussion about academia. I’ve received countless messages from other Ph.D. dropouts who shared how they felt before leaving their programs. For most of us, it’s rarely just about the money—it’s about the overall experience and fit.
If people want to believe it’s a gimmick, I really can’t control what they think. Confirmation bias is powerful, and people will believe whatever aligns with their preconceived notions.