Emily "Emiru" Schunk has been playing dress-up since she was a little girl pretending to be different Disney princesses, but now Twitch's cosplay queen draws a million views a day to her livestreams, and it's video game producers who approach her to play their titles or wear the elaborate costumes of their characters at conventions. Forbes estimates the 27 year old earned around $1.5 million in the past year, not only from being the most-watched female streamer on Twitch, but expanding her content offerings beyond gaming to include a podcast and a YouTube variety series sponsored by AT&T. In addition, she runs a cosplay contest for her fans with a $100,000 purse, sponsored by Marvel Rivals, and has served as a co-owner of the content creators network One True King since 2022. In August, she even signed as an official Red Bull-sponsored "athlete," though by her own admission her athletic achievements don't go far beyond throwing out a first pitch at an MLB game this season. "Streaming started as people mostly playing video games, but now when you look at the top streamers, they're just straight up entertainers," Schunk says, citing the unique relationship streamers have with their fans. "On stream it's just you there for hours. People will see everything and eventually feel like they get to know you because, I mean, you can't fake a personality for 12 hours a day every single day for years."
