Young Aussie woman’s huge success after making unusual career move
An Adelaide woman has revealed the unusual career move she made in her 20s that has led to her now raking in an impressive six figure salary.
National
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A young Adelaide woman has managed to make a career out of something most people are only able to do as a hobby – and she has gained an impressive following while doing it.
While it is not uncommon for Amber Wadham to spend her days sitting at a desk staring at a computer screen, her career couldn’t be anymore different from a boring office job.
The 26-year-old is a popular gamer who is known by her thousands of fans online as PaladinAmber and makes a living live streaming herself playing video games.
She boasts more than 116,000 subscribers on live streaming platform Twitch, along with 50,300 Instagram, 64,800 TikTok and 38,000 YouTube followers.
Amber was just 20 when she quit her job at a large department store due to ongoing issues with her boss.
She told news.com.au she confided in a friend that she was “panicked” about what she was going to do for work.
“They mentioned Twitch and what it was all about. So I checked out the site and thought ‘I could do this if I really put my mind to it’ and I started streaming a week after I quit,” Amber said.
Amber said she realised “almost instantly” that this was something she could make a career out of if she put her mind to it.
“I knew that like any industry things take time, effort and dedication and I knew that gaming was a serious career from other YouTubers or Twitch streamers I had watched,” she explained.
Gaming has always been something Amber was interested in, but said the fact she gets to say it is her job “almost feels surreal”.
“I don’t know many people that get to say that they can wake up and spend time with a community of people that they get along with, play games and call it their job,” she said.
Are you a successful young Aussie? Share your story: alexandra.foster@news.com.au
The 26-year-old brings in a six figure salary from streaming, along with other things like paid partnerships and campaigns.
“It all depends on the amount of effort you’re willing to put in,” she explained.
But while Amber loves the work she does, it doesn’t come without its challenges.
As a woman in the industry, the Adelaide gamer has faced continued harassment and sexism just for doing her job.
She explained there is an untrue and unfair belief among some in the community that female gamers are not as funny or entertaining as their male counterparts.
“Which we all know isn’t that case. The harassment has died down more as I continue on each year and set my boundaries of what I will and won’t tolerate,” she said.
Amber isn’t afraid to call out unfair treatment when she sees it and is known for using mock “breaking news” segments and fake infomercials to clap back at any viewers that dare to make inappropriate or sexist comments during her live streams.
Amber gained attention back in 2019 when she hit back at a viewer who asked “how much for foot play” during one of her streams.
“I’ll tell you how much,” she said as cheesy, fake infomercial graphics and music played in the background.
“For just a small fee of $19.95 plus shipping and handling, imma tell you to get f***ed.”
In another clip, Amber hit back at a viewer who asked her if she was “straight, bi or single” by cutting to a “breaking news” segment in order to respond.
breaking news; streamers don't wanna do the horizontal tango with you... pic.twitter.com/6diCuXwqEO
— Paladin (@PaladinAmber) July 23, 2019
“Breaking news. I am a female on the internet but I don’t want to date any of you. This just in, it is possible for people to be on the internet and not want to do the horizontal tango with one another or with any of you guys,” the Aussie gamer says.
“So I am not going to answer that, it is none of your f**king business. It doesn’t matter. I am a gal being a pal on the internet and if you like my content you can hang out, you can even subscribe. Or you could even just not do that and just hang out and watch, that’s cool too.
“But don’t ask me about my sexual preferences or dating. Back to you guys.”
Despite coming with its challenges, Amber wouldn’t change her job for anything and wants to keep creating content for as long as her fans and community let her.
“I say that because really without them you can’t keep doing it,” she explained.
Originally published as Young Aussie woman’s huge success after making unusual career move
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