As far back as she can remember, Playboy Club Creator and social media influencer HotBlockChain wanted to go into law. To her, being a lawyer was better than being President of the United States.
“I’ve always wanted to be a lawyer since I found out what a lawyer was,” says Emily Cocea, HotBlockChain’s name IRL. “I always loved school, and I’ve wanted to be in it as long as possible.” Putting her thoughts about the law on paper isn’t just navel gazing, it’s a necessary step all prospective students must undertake when applying to law school.
A Playboy Model Applies to Law School
The “personal statement”, along with LSAT scores and GPA, are a crucial part of any law school application, and should be a display of a person’s grit, determination, and specific reasons for wanting to study a subject that vexes most people.
A lifelong love of learning isn’t the only thing inspiring Cocea to enter the bar. Her personal experiences meeting fellow content creators exposed her to countless stories about the predatory underbelly that sometimes exploits women who seek online stardom.
“A lot of these girls, their job is to sell a fantasy,” Cocea says. “So nobody’s coming to save them because nobody is supposed to know that there’s a problem there.” Cocea plans to study digital law, because according to her, there’s far too much gray area in the field that usually ends with vulnerable creators not getting a fair shake.
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It’s apparent to anyone that speaks with Cocea for more than five minutes why she’s attracted such a massive audience. There’s a charismatic spark, but her love of learning practically oozes out of her. Cocea’s friend Jordan Brown remembers the first time she met Emily in their freshman year at Carnegie Mellon. At the time, Cocea was wearing a bikini top and a “tiny mini skirt.”
“I thought, ‘That girl seems like the kind of girl that I want to be friends with,” Brown says. As their friendship evolved, Brown was occasionally floored once she got to see a glimpse of the real Emily. “She’s so passionate and motivated about everything she does. She makes me want to be better at everything I do.”
Aside from social media stardom and schoolwork, Cocea’s former roommate and fellow scholar Kyle McClain wonders how Emily is able to juggle her many responsibilities.
“I don’t know how she does it,” McClain says. “And she manages to be so energetic and positive with everything she does. It’s so impressive.” Behind her seemingly workaholic nature, there’s a softer side that followers and fans rarely see. “She’s consistently patient, consistently kind,” McClain says.
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Cocea’s personal statement will be spun like any effective narrative. Her origin story is one of a plucky nerd, literally running into poles with books in her hand during his first weeks in college. According to Cocea, joining Playboy as a creator was one of the crucial elements in her rise.
“People didn’t take me seriously, but when I joined Playboy, it all clicked,” Cocea says. “I’m sorry that you might not get it, get me. But there’s a billion dollar industry who does.”
HotBlockChain, Attorney at Law?
Now, the HotBlockChain brand has 1 million followers on Instagram, 2.2 million followers on TikTok, and an ever growing presence on X and Twitch. Instead of letting the seedy industry horror stories scare her away, Cocea seeks to arm herself with knowledge, to protect herself and any vulnerable creators across countless platforms.
Like any great piece of writing, the personal statement is a constant work in progress. Cocea has whittled away at it for more than six months. The narrative changed a couple of times, from a bubbly Legally Blonde-inspired whim to one that’s far more blunt and far more honest.
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“I’m afraid I’m going to butcher it whenever I get stuck,” Cocea says. “I am enthralled at the idea of getting to go to law school and I love being a Playboy model and so pretending that I can feel even the slightest bit of annoyance nowadays about any of the drawbacks of it would be disingenuous.”
While many graduates are busy making five-year plans, Cocea has her ideal future perfectly mapped out: to be a lifelong scholar.
“My dream is to be a professor and to just keep getting as many degrees as possible,” Cocea says. “School is my favorite place to be ever, under any circumstances.”
