A mother who moved into social housing for the first time at the age of 16 tells how she turned her life around and now wants to encourage others.
Stacey had her first child when she was 17 and said she had no GCSEs at the time.
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But now the mother is an independent entrepreneur with a successful beauty business and training academy and she owns her own house.
She went to her TikTok page @sprekenmetstacey to share her story. One of her videos has since gone viral and has been viewed over 1.1 million times.
Stacey shared photos of her housing search, which started with showing her social housing home where she lived at the age of 16.
She then explained that she moved to two more social housing units and ‘settled for any job from the age of 18’.
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But when Stacey was 27, she decided to focus on studying beauty before working as a beautician.
However, it wasn’t that easy for her as “childcare was a struggle” so she decided to strike out on her own and start her own beauty business.
When she was 30, Stacey bought a house and built a salon next to it.
She says: “When I quit my apprenticeship at 16, I was told I had ruined my life.
“I went from no GCSEs to childcare at 24 [and] “From hating it to finding a career I loved at 27.”
Stacey continues: “I set goals, visualized how it would happen and worked hours to make it happen.
And despite having “a few setbacks,” Stacey was determined that nothing would stop her from succeeding.
Now Stacey is 33 and has her own beauty business, house and a car that is hers.”
She also has a training academy and a podcast.
Stacey says: “Nothing is impossible, it’s never too late to start.
Here I am wondering if I should retake my GCSEs at 26 and feel too old for it but you have inspired me to get my life in order! Had to see this
TikTok user
“You can get what you want if you believe in it.”
The video attracted a lot of attention and more than 900 people took to the comments to share their thoughts.
Someone wrote: “You should speak at schools.
“What an inspiration.”
To which Stacey replied, “I get told this a lot.
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Another added: “I’ve been there too, didn’t know what I wanted, had a baby, broke up and now I’m building my holistic therapy business, it happens.”
A third said: “Well done, now keep your hard work, put it all in trust so no one can take your hard work away. We never know what we have done.” future but protect.
“Your hard work always pays off.”
Someone else added: “Yes girl.
“Here I am wondering if I should retake my GCSEs at 26 and I feel too old for it but you have inspired me to get my life in order! I needed to see this.”
What it’s really like to grow up in social housing
Fantastic reporter Leanne Hall tells what it’s like to grow up in social housing.
I grew up in an apartment building in a social housing district and can therefore tell quite a few wild stories.
From the neighbor throwing dog poop at the janitor for asking to mow the lawn (I imagine they ended up on the Jeremy Kyle show later in life) to arguments over missing packages, I’ve seen it all.
Although things often go wrong, I think it is usually because families living in social housing get to know each other so well that they forget that they are neighbours and not family.
Yes, things can quickly go from zero to a hundred, but you know that no matter what, you can count on your neighbor to lend you some milk or to keep an eye on the kids playing outside.
And if you ask me, it’s much nicer to live in a close-knit community where boundaries can be crossed than never knowing your neighbors’ names while living on a posh street.
