A woman has revealed how she pulled herself from homelessness, going from working in fast food joints and struggling to make ends meet to earning £10,000 as a beauty influencer.
Shantania Beckford has transformed herself into an entrepreneur, with 220,000 followers on Instagram, but her life wasn’t always so glamorous.
Moving from Jamaica at the age of nine, Shantania found herself in Birmingham, helping her mother pay the bills as a cleaner after finishing her school day.
But after her mum returned to Jamaica, Shantania was left without a home and spent the next year sofa surfing at family, friend’s or colleague’s homes, often sleeping on a mattress on the floor.
All the while, she worked 45 hours a week in her local chicken shop alongside studying full time at college.
In a YouTube video published on Shera, (@shera_oficl ), a digital platform dedicated to empowering women, the 30-year-old talked about her fight for survival – and how she came out firmly on top.
Shantania said: “After college I would take an hour bus from Dudley, back home and then work till 1am, then go home.
“I was making £400 a month. Sometimes there was no electricity [where I was staying] so I would just stay in college till it closed, then shower in the cold water.
“I was doing makeup throughout this as a way to escape. Creating helps me to escape and it gave me extra money, so make up has been a side hustle for a long time.”
She was able to move into a hostel, practicing her favourite hobby of makeup on the other residents and earning a little money on the side whilst also working shifts at Wagamama.
In January 2014 she was given her own council flat and Shantania was thrilled to finally have her own space and decorate her new home.
She decided to take the plunge and created a designated space for filming makeup tutorials so she could share her passion on YouTube.
She previously told http://NeedToKnow.co.uk : “I saved for a Canon camera, my lights, and for a laptop, and then I taught myself how to edit and the basics of YouTube.
“The first thing that I ever did was a zombie make up tutorial. I went to Poundland and bought all the zombie make up stuff which cost me about £6.
“It was finally a chance for me to be myself finally and show who I am.
“I started with pure intention to just have focus and do what I can.
“I was doing about 50 hours a week work plus doing my YouTube – I was on a mission!
“Within six months, I had 10,000 followers and I was so happy.”
Sharing her skills on social media, Shantania has built a loyal following of 221,000 followers on Instagram and 313,000 on YouTube, and has been able to monetise her skills – now earning around £10,000 a month from her content.
She said of her following: “It was very different to have all these people like you and think you’re funny and like your personality – it made me feel accepted and seen.”
After working at Wagamama for a year, Shantania was eventually able to quit her job and become self-employed at the age of 23 as an influencer and makeup artist.
She said: “It hasn’t stopped, I just kept moving out of different homes and slowly building myself up, whilst living within my means.
“The one thing I learnt about social media – I don’t need to fake anything for attention, I just need to be myself.
“Because of my background, I’ve always had the awareness that I need to always help no matter what situation or position I’m in.
“For me, I don’t really post what I do for people online, I want to help people who were in a similar situation to me.
“The life you have is yours and you don’t want nobody else life.
“Make yours great, that’s your mission for this lifetime – to learn love grow and make your experiences beautiful.”
