Q&A with professional cuddler Donald

Professional cuddling, a service-based business in which cuddlers offer platonic theraputic touch, is a trend that has been sweeping the nation since 2014.

Durham-based Cuddle Time for You, opening Feb. 23, will be the first professional cuddling service in North Carolina. UNC class of 2012 graduate Donald, whose last name is withheld to protect his privacy, talked to Assistant Arts & Culture Editor Sarah Vassello about his role as a professional cuddler.

DAILY TAR HEEL: How did you get started doing this? How did you hear about it?

DONALD: It was right there on a job board in between the jobs you’d usually see — you know, selling insurance, plumbing, whatever — and it was just right there: be a cuddler. ‘What is that?’ So, I looked into it, and they were looking for male cuddlers, so I applied. I had some experience being a mascot character at different birthday parties and events, so that helps a lot with being affectionate with people and hugging and cuddling.

DTH: How did your friends and family react when you told them you were becoming a professional cuddler?

D: I got a lot of mixed reactions. People thought it was the most unique thing in the world whereas other people had a lot of resignations about it. They thought it was kind of a sketchy job because they associated it with not platonic connections between people.

I just thought it was different because we don’t have anything like this in the area. This is the first time something like this is coming to North Carolina, so people aren’t just used to this being a job — it’s not, ‘Hey i’m going to sell insurance’ or, ‘Hey, I’m going to be a teacher.’ It’s, ‘Hey, I’m going to go cuddle with people for a living.’

DTH: What’s one misconception about this job you hear often?

D: The biggest misconception — and I don’t hear it directly, but it gets implied by almost everyone I talked to — is that this is sex work, and that is entirely not true. We’re just providing affection for people who need it and aren’t successful in seeking it out anywhere else. Because it’s so new and so different because it’s intimate human contact, I can see why they have that assumption at first, but it’s really wrong, and it’s nothing close to what we do.

DTH: In your bio on the website, you listed previous experience in community service jobs, such as a private nurse aide for a woman with Alzheimer’s and a food service manager. How do you bring a sense of public service to this job? Is that an important role?

D: Absolutely, because at the heart of this job is just making people feel better, making them feel special and important and cared and thought of. That’s really what you want for any public service job, is to make the person feel wanted and this is a more direct, hands on — literally hands on — approach to that. There’s a strong connection — I’d say this is more direct and I’d say more powerful.

DTH: Who is professional cuddling for? What is the demographic?

D: There’s not a certain demographic. I can’t think of one person who at some point in their life did not have a terrible day or a terrible week and at the end of it just thought, ‘I need to be held; I just need to be with someone.’ No one has failed to feel that, but not everyone has the benefit of having that friend or that companion or that family member there to be there physically when they need it in the form of just simply holding their hand or hugging them or talking with them.

DTH: You graduated from UNC in 2012. What did you major in, and how would you say your your time at UNC has impacted you, especially as a cuddler?

D: I majored in history, and I had originally anticipated on being a teacher, but teaching jobs in my field are really hard to come by, and that’s why I was looking for other work when I found this job. My time at UNC has helped show me a lot of need in my community. I spent a lot of my time there doing a lot of volunteer work with churches and other nonprofits in the area and helped people from all walks of life with all sorts of needs, be it a physical need — food, water, shelter — or finances or perhaps psychological help.

What I bring from that experience into this job is that even if a human touch doesn’t solve whatever problem they’re dealing with, it certainly helps the person cope with whatever they’re experiencing. Also, my time at UNC also helped me open my mind up to all sorts of possibility, careerwise and lifewise. It really helped me see all the different things that are available in this world. I don’t think I would have even considered this job if I wasn’t exposed to those things at UNC.

DTH: This is the first professional cuddling business in North Carolina. Do you see this as a trend that can or will sweep the United States?

D: Do I think cuddling will catch on nationally? I think in a way it has. It started in (Oregon), and Jeff is opening up this business in Durham and saw the piece and learned about (what) one person was doing in that place. Businesses like this are starting to pop up. Will that continue? I hope so because of the powerful nature of what we’re offering.

DTH: What are some aspirations that you hold for this job?

D: I really want to reach out and affect someone. I really want to comfort them — I want to make them feel important and special. That’s what our clients are coming to us for, and I hope I can bring that to them in a very special and personal way.

arts@dailytarheel.com