Ukraine – The Ukrainian war has drawn legions of Western volunteers to the country, from soldiers on the front lines to aid workers delivering much-needed relief.
But an Instagram influencer from Houston, Texas, who moved to Ukraine during the war, was the only one who described herself as an “emotional support stripper.”
Volunteering with Ukrainian heroes has created many close relationships — mostly with Ukrainian soldiers — and Fan-Pei Koung, 33, now describes himself as a “$ex tourist.”
Koung used her social media presence to create a free OnlyFans account for local Ukrainian soldiers, volunteers and the occasional civilian who she thought needed some encouragement.
On the website, she describes herself as “a globetrotter currently volunteering in Kharkov”. She added that she creates content that touches on “everything from free emotional br3astfeeding for soldiers and volunteers” to raising money to distribute to volunteers.
When the OnlyFans model interviewed The Daily Beast at her Kharkov apartment in late July, she wore her hair in a messy bun and wore glasses. “I’m a $exy Ukrainian girl who wants to volunteer and might put up with it,” she said.
When Koung visited Ukraine for the first time in November 2022, romantic relationships were not the focus of her thoughts. She decided to volunteer at a women’s shelter and orphanage in Lviv, a city in western Ukraine that was considered a “sanctuary” during the war.
The city, far from the Eastern Front, escaped some of the war’s most brutal attacks. Kong recently moved to Europe, where she believes she can start her life anew, away from all the hassle of America. In Croatia, she met a Ukrainian family who told her about the Russian invasion and encouraged her to volunteer in the country.
“Everyone said to me, ‘Don’t go, don’t go.’ If you’re a foreigner here, anyone who cares about you will say anything to change their mind,” she said.
After returning to the U.S., Koung said she went through “several life spans,” including winning first prize in the NASA Space Health Challenge in 2014, dropping out of an Ivy League school and competing in the 2015 Miss Taiwan USA pageant. For the past five years, Koung has been working in Oakland, California, hosting events for children.
When she started volunteering with children in Ukraine, the work seemed like a natural progression. “The orphans overwhelmed me. They were running around, yelling, hugging me, and I rehearsed some Ukrainian words to tell them. We danced together,” she told The Daily Beast.
But the childcare role wasn’t enough for Kong. “It didn’t feel like anything special compared to what I was going through in America at the time. I wanted more. I wanted to be in the military,” she said.
One month after arriving in Ukraine, Ms. Kong left, but she still misses Ukraine all the time abroad.
“I had a flight to Tulum, Mexico because I wanted to live with another amazing, $exy Asian influencer, and we wanted to create a dream team of $exy, amazing Asian influencers,” she laughed, before continuing, “But as soon as I left, I really wanted to go back to Ukraine. I lost my mind trying to come back. “
Koung has more than 50,000 followers on Instagram and has carved out an influential platform for herself, where she posts everything from lingerie model photos to everyday video memes.