The company, which Russell helped her partner, Angus Russell, launch five years ago, doesn’t get the same publicity as some of its rivals, like Midjourney. Yet NightCafe — an entirely bootstrapped venture that’s profitable “most months,” according to Elle — has enormous reach. Its over 25 million users have created nearly a billion images with its tools.

To pull back the curtain on one of the web’s oldest generative art marketplaces, I spoke with Elle about NightCafe’s origins, some of the challenges the platform faces, and where she and Angus see it evolving from here.