“I feel like a low earner”
Russian broadcaster Olga Olyasha Saxon, who relocated to Canada in November 2022, explained that moving away from Russia impacted her earnings. She noted that her monthly income now fluctuates, landing around 400 thousand rubles, with a substantial drop after leaving her home country.
She described a minimum of about 250 thousand rubles as a solid baseline. A large portion of earnings now fluctuates between 250 and 400 thousand rubles. She credited audience donations and Boosty subscriptions for support, emphasizing how lucky some months feel thanks to these streams.
Saxon shared that living in Canada is expensive when handled solo. Since she and her husband Anton work together, their combined income covers essential living costs in Toronto. Rent, food, and related expenses consume roughly half of their earnings, with the rest allocated to other necessities.
Anton also streams on Twitch, creates board game reviews on YouTube with his wife, and shares exclusive videos on Boosty.
The publisher explained her revenue streams as a creator. She estimated around 10-20 subscribers on OnlyFans, noting that because her audience is predominantly Russian-speaking, many prefer Boosty while others subscribe to OnlyFans if Boosty isn’t available to them.
She pointed out that her erotic content isn’t well-suited for OnlyFans due to its different positioning in Western markets.
“My content doesn’t perform there. I don’t expect to earn a lot or become extremely popular,” Saxon commented.
During a livestream, she reaffirmed the monthly figure of 400 thousand rubles and admitted that a month spent in Canada does not feel secure.
“I feel like I’m a low earner here. It seems others earn well and are rich, but I feel ordinary,” she admitted.
She also noted that converting rubles to Canadian dollars places her earnings above the Canadian average.
“Is this the norm at all?!”
Olyasha expressed ongoing instability during a year in Canada. Local residents with solid incomes reported changes for the worse, and she understood their frustration as living costs continued to climb.
“I understand people’s anger—life here feels unstable, prices keep rising,” she said. Real estate and gasoline costs reportedly rose around 20% since early 2022.
“Canadians seem to be spinning their wheels,” Saxon observed, suggesting that if the trend continues, earnings could drop further. Taxes also rose with earnings, reaching about 23-25%. She admitted uncertainty about the reasons behind such increases in the cost of living in Canada.
The streamer uses her personal Telegram channel to vent about Canadian prices. In June, she complained that cherries cost around a thousand rubles or about 14 Canadian dollars per kilogram, noting a sense of disbelief at the price spike.
Commenters compared fruit prices across countries, while others pointed out that Europe sometimes mirrors Canadian prices and that Russia sells fruit at similarly high prices in some stores.
Earlier, she criticized Gouda cheese prices in Canada compared with Moscow, highlighting a comparison where 160 grams of Gouda could be CA$9.29 on a delivery app. Some followers attributed the high costs to Canada’s overall living expenses rather than taste differences alone.
Back to Russia?
Despite notable downsides in Canada, the streamer has not made a permanent return to Russia. She visits Moscow for several weeks at a time because many of her advertising partners are based there, and she participates in events and interviews.
Saxon hinted in May at a possible move to the UAE, reflecting on tax and salary considerations that affect her decisions. In 2020, she had previously relocated to the United Arab Emirates with her future husband, Anton Gritsevsky.
She remarked that Canada feels unusual since real estate is costlier there than in the U.S., while salaries appear lower by comparison.
“The U.S. offers higher salaries and cheaper real estate due to different tax rules,” she noted. The couple has not ruled out several options, including moving to a smaller Canadian town, a smaller U.S. town beyond Florida or California, or even exploring an Asian country to save money.
Since October 2021, Olyasha and her husband have lived in Barcelona, where she holds residency. The couple married in Spain in May 2022. After about a year in a southern European country, they chose to relocate to Canada, seeking new opportunities while weighing long-term costs and lifestyle goals.