Camila arrived in Dublin from São Paulo with a place on a master’s programme at UCD, two suitcases and a budget that ran out faster than she’d planned. This sugar baby success story follows her from a cramped house-share to graduation day, by way of Ballsbridge, Herbert Park and one honest profile on HeySugarDaddy.com.
A long way from São Paulo
Camila is 26. She grew up in São Paulo, studied business there, and spent three years working in a bank before deciding she wanted more. In 2025 she accepted a place on a one-year MSc in Business Analytics at UCD and moved to Dublin.
“I had saved for two years,” she says. “I thought it was enough. Then I saw the rents.”
Her first room was a box room in a shared house off Shelbourne Road, five people and one bathroom, a short walk from the Aviva Stadium. The location was perfect for the 39A bus out to Belfield. The price was not. Between rent, fees and the cost of simply living in Dublin 4, her savings were shrinking every week.
She picked up shifts in a café on Baggot Street. It helped, but it ate the hours she needed for study. “I was always tired,” she says. “I came to Ireland to learn and build a career, and I was spending all my energy just surviving.”
Why she became a sugar baby in Dublin
It was a classmate from Lisbon who first mentioned sugar dating, over coffee in the UCD Village. Camila’s first reaction was suspicion.
“In Brazil we have a word, saudade, this feeling of missing something. I was missing home, my family, everything. I did not want to make my life more complicated,” she says. “But she explained it was about honesty. You say what you want at the start. Nobody plays games.”
She read up first. Our guide to whether sugar dating is legal in Ireland was one of the pages she found, and it settled her main worry: sugar dating between consenting adults is legal, and payment for sex is not, on any site.
She chose HeySugarDaddy.com for three reasons. It is free for women. Every Sugar Daddy has to pass ID verification before he can message anyone. And it was built for Ireland, not a London site with a few Dublin profiles added on.
“Dublin 4 is like a village,” she says. “You see the same faces on Pembroke Road every day. I needed to control who saw my profile and to know the men were real. Verification was the most important thing for me.”
A profile with a plan
Camila treated her profile like a CV. She wrote that she was a Brazilian master’s student at UCD with a background in banking, that she wanted to stay in Ireland and build a career in finance, and that she was looking for someone established who could offer mentorship as well as generosity.
“I was very direct,” she says. “I wrote what I wanted: guidance, good conversation, someone who understands business. And I wrote what I did not want. That saved a lot of time.”
Most replies were polite and brief. A few were not what she was looking for, and she blocked them without a second thought. Then one message asked her a question about her thesis.
Meeting Declan
Declan is in his mid-fifties, divorced, with grown-up children, and works in funds management at the IFSC. He lives in Ballsbridge, a few streets from Herbert Park. His first message asked what her dissertation was about. His second asked whether she had thought about which firms in Dublin actually hired analysts with her skill set.
“Nobody had asked me that,” Camila says. “Not even my lecturers.”
They messaged on HeySugarDaddy.com for two weeks, then had a video call through the app. Only after that did they agree to meet: afternoon tea at the InterContinental on Simmonscourt Road, a public, unhurried first date with an easy exit if the chemistry wasn’t there.
They stayed until the staff started setting tables for dinner.
An arrangement built around her goals
Within a month they had agreed an arrangement that worked for both of them. They would meet two or three times a month. Declan would provide a monthly allowance, enough for Camila to give up her café shifts and move into a room of her own in a quieter house near Donnybrook. In return he had what he’d been missing since his marriage ended: good company, real conversation and someone to share the city with.
“We talked about everything at the start,” she says. “What we each wanted, what we did not want, how often we would meet. Some people think this conversation is unromantic. For me it was the opposite. I felt respected.”
If you’re curious what a typical arrangement looks like in Ireland, our sugar baby allowance guide covers the ranges.
Ballsbridge, Dublin 4, and the city she fell for
Their dates became Camila’s introduction to the Dublin she had only seen from the top deck of a bus.
Sunday mornings walking the duck pond in Herbert Park, then coffee in Donnybrook village. The Dublin Horse Show at the RDS, where she wore a hat for the first time in her life. A rugby international at the Aviva, which she admits she didn’t understand but loved anyway. Cocktails at The Shelbourne on St Stephen’s Green. Long walks along the Dodder towards Milltown, and on clear evenings out to Sandymount Strand to watch the light change over the Poolbeg chimneys.
“In São Paulo everything is big and fast,” she says. “Ballsbridge is the opposite. Red-brick houses, embassies, trees everywhere. The first time Declan walked me home past the embassies on Merrion Road, I thought, OK, I could live here.”
The mentorship that changed her career
The allowance gave Camila time. The mentorship gave her direction.
Declan read her CV and told her, kindly, that it was written for Brazil, not Ireland. He helped her rewrite it. He explained how Dublin’s funds industry worked, which firms around the IFSC and Grand Canal Dock were growing, and what hiring managers there actually looked for. He introduced her to two former colleagues for informal coffees. He never got her a job, and she is clear he never offered to.
“He said, I can open a door, but you must walk through it yourself,” she remembers. “That was exactly what I needed to hear.”
With her evenings free, her grades went up. Her dissertation, on risk modelling for fund administrators, was one of the strongest in her class. Two months before graduation, she was offered a graduate analyst role with a fund services firm in the Docklands.
Where Camila is now
Camila graduated from UCD in the autumn. Her parents flew over from São Paulo for the ceremony, and she took them for dinner in Ballsbridge and a walk through Herbert Park, the same route she had walked so many Sunday mornings.
She finished her degree without debt and with a job she loves. She now rents a one-bed apartment in Ringsend, close to the office and a short walk from the Dodder.
She and Declan still meet, though less often now that her diary is full. “He is a friend for life,” she says. “When I have a big decision, he is one of the first people I call. I did not expect that when I made my profile.”
Camila’s advice for international students considering sugar dating in Dublin
We asked Camila what she’d tell any student, especially one who has moved to Ireland from abroad, thinking about becoming a sugar baby. This is what she said:
- Know why you are joining. “Write down your goal first. Rent? Mentorship? Your career? It changes everything about who you meet.”
- Make your profile specific. “Say who you are and what you want. The right people respond to honesty.”
- Use a verified site. “Do not use social media or random apps. On HeySugarDaddy.com every Sugar Daddy is verified. That is the minimum.”
- Stay on the platform first. “Message and video call in the app before you give your number or meet.”
- Meet in public. “A hotel lounge or restaurant in town. Take your own taxi or the DART. Always tell a friend where you are.”
- Agree terms early, and walk away if it feels wrong. “If someone will not talk clearly about expectations, that is your answer. You can block or report anyone, any time.”
- Remember why you came. “For me it was always about my studies and my future. Keep that in front of you.”
For more on meeting safely, read our safety pledge. In an emergency in Ireland, call 999 or 112.
Your sugar baby success story could start in Dublin
Every arrangement is different. Some sugar babies want travel and experiences, some want help with rent while they study, and some, like Camila, want someone in their corner while they build a career in a new country. What they share is honesty about what they want and the freedom to set their own terms.
HeySugarDaddy.com is free for women, always. Every Sugar Daddy is ID-verified, and you decide who sees your profile and when you’re ready to meet. Explore sugar dating in Dublin, read more about sugar dating across Ireland, or create your free profile today.
This is an illustrative story. Names, characters and details are fictional and do not describe a real member. HeySugarDaddy.com is a dating platform for consenting adults aged 18 and over. Arrangements involving payment for sex are illegal in Ireland and are not permitted on our platform.
