“I reached the point where I was self-harming, trying to take my own life. It got so bad, I had to get out of there — even if that meant having no qualifications.”
Katie, who had also completed a level one Beauty Therapy course by the time she was 16, decided to move home to Bedford in 2006 at the age of 18 and launched her own modelling agency, KG Model Management, using contacts she had made in the industry.— to open a tanning shop before she turned 30. So in 2009, she bought a shop after borrowing £38,000 from her parents and £30,000 from the bank.
“It was difficult. I took on one member of staff and worked all hours to pay her wages and make ends meet. The salon had no reputation because we were brand new. Getting the clients in and learning to hold on to them takes a lot of time. In a bid to increase her earnings, in 2009 Katie trained in applying eyelashes and soon began teaching new lash artists across the country. By 2012 she had set up her own beauty range and an academy, KG Professional in Bedford.She says: “I didn’t set out to create what the brand is today. Initially, the main aim was to make the products to use in my salon and offer to my students. They wanted to stock the products in their salons and soon we were selling worldwide through our website.
Katie’s daughter Lola-Rose was born on August 22, 2015, and she says: “When she was sleeping I answered emails at home to make sure I had a special time with her. I wouldn’t have had that in the salon.”She says: “Staffing was my weak point and the bullying from my past left me struggling with confrontation. The thought of not being liked swallowed me up, but years of recruiting and training staff, and the day-to-day running of a team made me stronger.
I knew I should have left school when I was 13. Like an idiot I stayed on and amounted to nothing. 😫
Funny how all these successes are down to bullies. Still it’s easy to blame someone else for leaving school.