Co-Founder & Harvard PhD candidate Jessica Van Meir donates her stake to the adult content creators on the platform and to sex workers’ rights organization SWOP Behind Bars.
MintStars has announced a major step toward a more equitable creator economy, unveiling a new co-ownership model that will give creators a meaningful financial stake in the platform. Co-founder Jessica Van Meir revealed she is donating her shares to establish a 20% creator ownership pool. The remaining 3% of her shares will be donated to non-profit SWOP Behind Bars, a national grassroots social justice network dedicated to the fundamental human rights of sex workers, victims of trafficking, and their communities.
The new model will allocate ownership to creators based on their contributions to the platform, including revenue, referrals, and activity. Creators will receive points that correspond to “phantom shares,” giving them the right to benefit financially if MintStars generates dividends or is sold, without upfront costs or tax burdens. The system will launch in the coming weeks, with points awarded retroactively to reflect past participation, reinforcing MintStars’ mission to build a platform where creators directly share in its success. This program will launch in July.
"I'm extremely proud that MintStars will become the first adult content platform co-owned by the sex workers who use it. The adult industry has always been at the forefront of innovation in the economy, and I hope this step will create a new and more ethical economic model not only for the adult industry, but for all industries. All workers should have ownership in the companies that they help build," says Van Meir.
“SWOP Behind Bars is proud to join in partnership with MintStars. Their dedication to community ownership of labor aligns perfectly with SWOP’s decade-long work to establish and maintain that same stake in advocacy and services,” says Blair Hopkins, Executive Director of SWOP.
Alongside the financial changes, MintStars is introducing new governance measures to elevate creator voices, including a Creator Advisory Board and the transfer of voting rights tied to Van Meir’s shares to SWOP Behind Bars. As part of this transition, Van Meir will step down from her Director role to focus on her research and activism. Van Meir is a long term activist for sex workers’ rights and a PhD candidate at Harvard. The team will now be led by activist and performer Allie Eve Knox. The company positions these moves as pioneering steps toward a more inclusive and creator-owned future in the adult content industry.
