Despite what some might think, a sex worker who visits Wagga is not ashamed to be herself and is proud of what she does. TJ Porter, 25, was a member of the defence force but found herself looking for a new career after being medically discharged. "So I've actually only been in [the industry] for about six months now - I'm still really fresh," she said. "I would say I enjoy my job, but at the same time, it's very much that I am here to be a businesswoman. "At the end of the day, I want to earn some money out of this." TJ Porter describes herself as a touring companion, which means she will often travel around NSW rather than stick to her home base in Canberra. "I actually used to work as a receptionist in a brothel a little while ago and what I learnt is that girls get really stale when they stay in the one place for too long," she said. "I was in Canberra about two months when I first started and I thought 'I am already stale'. "I needed to get out, so I went out and visited Wagga, Albury Goulburn, and from that, it's made it more popular." The first time TJ Porter visited Wagga, she cried on her second day because she missed being home. Now she travels regularly, often being away from home for up to a week. "Then I might be home for two days and then I might do some shifts in Canberra or I might go straight back on tour," she said. "You just get so used to it and you just have to build up your confidence, but it's hard being away from home. "I have a dog and I have to put him in daycare but I also have a great roommate who fully supports me and she picks up the pieces when I'm not at home." TJ Porter said, for the most part, the men tend to be older. She added for the most part she will only accept bookings with men, due to personal preference. "I have been asked to do couple bookings and I've actually sat down with them and I said, 'Why? I need you to be 100 per cent confident in this'," she said. "Sometimes when we do have that conversation, a woman goes, 'well, actually I'm not that comfortable with this' and I think, 'I'm really happy that we did this instead of just jumping into it'. "So that's probably another reason why I'd prefer not to see women as well because sometimes they get excited and they're like, "yeah, let's do this' and then they realise and they're like, "oh, maybe I don't want to do this'." TJ Porter said she offers a lot of services, but there are few that she will not offer if they make her uncomfortable. She added anything related to a foot fetish was often one she did not like doing, but as a business operator, she would still make the booking. "I actually really enjoy the girlfriend experience, but I get a lot of the pornstar ones," she said. "Even if it is just a quick in and out, I still want it to be sensual. "A lot of people actually come and they want company and they want to be heard and they want to feel like there is that connection." TJ Porter added a lot of her clients will want to talk about their day and ask her questions. "They want to feel like there is that connection even if it is only like half an hour in the smallest of time because they might not get that anywhere else," she said. "I am definitely building up more regulars and it's really lovely because I've only been here [in Wagga] for two days now and I've seen some regulars that are coming in." Currently living in Canberra, TJ Porter's social circle knows what she does for work. However, due to personal choice, she is not in close contact with her family, adding it does not impact her if they know or not. "For me, TJ is a brand and that's where I want to take it," she said. "I want to take it to be a business within the sex industry by the end of this because I'm not going to do this job for 10 years. I have an end game. "People can either be supportive of me and go, 'cool, she's actually got a really good reason for doing this' or they can go, 'cool, we don't support this, goodbye'. "I'm happy with either." TJ Porter has a widespread social media presence, has advertisements put in local papers, and online websites. She has not always been so candid about her work, adding in the first two months she was terrified to show her face. "Now I just think, 'this is who I am, this is what I'm doing,' and you have to own it," she said. "I don't ever think the stigma's going to go away, which is sad, but at the same time we just have to stay strong." When telling people about her career, TJ Porter finds they are either extremely supportive, or they do not want to hear it about. She added a lot of people will assume she has "daddy issues" or is in desperate need of money. "We had that stabbing [Michaela Dunn] in Sydney and it did definitely hurt the sex community a lot, but everyone banded together," TJ Porter said. "It's still a job. "At the end of the day, we still clock on for work." Despite people holding onto stigmas about sex workers, TJ Porter said people like her do not discriminate. "We just want everyone to feel loved and have fun," she said. "That's the main thing." Daily Advertiser