The historical Nikarete

Nikarete operated a "gentleman's club" in Corinth in the 5th and 4th century BC. In antiquity Corinth was famous for its sex business. From hellenistic literature for instance the verb korinthiazein, which loosely translated means "to fornicate", is known.
Nikarete bought young girls from the Corinth slave market and had them work as prostitutes. Some of them she called daughters, arguably increasing with this parental relationship the price her customers were prepared to pay, for free women usually were higher in demand. These "daughters" were developed by her to hetaera.
Nikarete's most famous hetaera was Neaira (or Neaera, pronounced "neh-EYE-ruh" [Νέαιρα]), whom she bought around 390 BC.

There is a possibility that Nikarete was not a single individual or even a real person. The name Nikarete has either been attributed to artistic interpretation or to an error in referring to different individuals (Neaira or Nikarete of Megara).