'Team Spirit': From Camming to Content, Ema Karter Aims High

This feature appears in the October issue of AVN magazine. Click here for the digital edition. LOS ANGELES—Ema Karter learned about what makes her happy while honing her craft in the webcam world. “I started with the video-chat and by doing this I came to discover myself,” Karter says. “I discovered what I like, what I desire to do in the future.” Now the Romanian stunner is one of adult entertainment’s fastest rising creators, performing more than 100 content scenes for OnlyFans with some of adult’s biggest names in the past couple years. “I collaborated with the best known people from the industry in a short timespan,” Karter tells AVN. “The scene that was a bestseller and also one of my favorites was with Jason Luv, as he was retired from the industry and was not collaborating with other models.” She also counts collabs with A-list studs such as Johnny Sins, Dredd, Keiran Lee, Danny D, Maximo Garcia, Manuel Ferrara, JMac and Alex Mack. “In video-chat I already touched the peak level; on social media I was already really known so I decided to get to the next level,” Ema says. “I wished to know this world.” And now her notoriety is going to another level after numerous recent appearances on national TV shows, podcasts and in the European press. “My favorite is the documentary recorded for Vice Romania,” she says. “We also made documentaries for BBC UK, ARTE France and Observator Romania.” Among Karter’s TV appearances are “Xtra Night Show,” “IUmor” and “Star Magazine.” The 26-year-old says this industry has helped her embrace her creative side. Now she is focused on achieving her goals and takes pride in finishing all the projects she takes on—and she does it with “team spirit.” “From the beginning I chose to aim for quality,” Karter says. “I planned everything down to the smallest detail. I had a view and I tried to do something different. I don't have a type. I like quality and I enjoy giving everything to what I am doing.” Karter was born in a small village in Romania, where she lived until she was 18. Then she moved to Bucharest to go to college. “I had a rough childhood, so I had to work from the age of 15 in order to go to school and support my family,” Ema tells AVN. She started as a tourism agent for a travel agency and also worked in a restaurant, as an assistant to an accountant and at a call center for a bank. “Each and every workplace was an experience for me so I had something to learn from all of them,” Karter says. She would quit each of the jobs because the pay was so low—she’d work eight hours a day and earn only 200 Euros in a month. Ema remembers how she would always see ads for webcam studios when she was on the internet. “And I was barely making ends meet with the money I was receiving from home. My family was sending me 50 dollars a month. So one day I decided to go for an interview to see what is it about,” Karter says. “I was 20 years old; it was November 2017. From that moment, I chose to be a webcam model.”She made $270 on her first night on cam. “And in that second I felt that was the best choice and if I started something on that field, I wanted to become an actual name, not to be just a girl who was going to do it for a period of time,” Karter recalls. “I worked at the studio for four months. I worked on all of the platforms. “After I gave up on the studio, I bought the needed equipment and I started alone from home.” Karter tried a lot of sites, but her favorite was Chaturbate, where she remains active to the present day. But she went from camming for 10 hours a day to three hours a week, building a wide range of members along the way. And now Karter is invited by Chaturbate to all of the events where the models go live, such as the AVN Adult Entertainment Expo, where she participated in a workshop with COO Shirley Lara about how to be a successful model on the site. “I will never give up video-chat,” says Karter, who won five industry awards in the past year. She received a nomination as a creator for the 2023 Fan-Voted AVN Awards. “When I saw I was nominated, I was extremely happy, especially as I realized who is also in the same category. For me, it was an honor to be in the same category with Angela White,” Ema says. Karter launched her OnlyFans in September 2020. By January 2021, she was making good money and turned all her attention to the platform. Ema made her mainstream porn debut with Danny D for Brazzers. She’s since done five more scenes for Brazzers. “In 2022 I was at an event and I saw Danny D I walked up to him and said, ‘I am Ema Karter and I want to shoot for Brazzers.’ And so, I was contacted within a week. Sometimes you have to go with the flow,” she says. Karter says she’s learned that “everything is possible as long as I keep up my ambition and work hard for my dream.” “I learned to control my emotions and be patient,” she adds. When she’s not working, she loves listening to music, watching series, going to the cinema, walking in the park, practicing sports and spending time with her family and her cat.  “I see myself in 2024 being even higher in this field, with more experience than I have right now, and I know this can become real by working and learning from the best people in the industry,” Ema says. Photography by Eli Tucker