British Nigerian beauty YouTube star Patricia Bright has 2.83 Million subscribers and over 302.2 million total YouTube views – (at the time of writing)
Her popularity on YouTube has earned an opportunity to work with many amazing brands including diet coke, MAC and L’Oreal.
In 2018, she graced the front page of glamour magazine UK
Earlier this year, she launched a fashion collection with Amazon
Patricia Bright is also an author, she chronicled her difficult journey to success in a book tagged heart and hustle.
From her book excerpts, sis had it tough many times in her life.
when she was 6 years old her father was deported from the UK back to Nigeria, her parents were Nigerian Migrants
“One night there was a frantic knocking at the door and a team of policemen took him away like a thief in the night. I can still see Mum sitting on the stairs, pleading with them while my sister and I sobbed. It would take six years and a court case before my father would come back to us.”
Patricial bright narrates in her book heart and hustle
Her father was an international student with an expired visa, her mum on the other hand was naturalized in the UK after giving birth to Patricia Bright and her sister. Patricia’s mum had only her secondary school certificate, but with their father deported, she had to grind hard to carter for her girls
Her mother worked as a cleaner while also training as a nurse
She resumed early morning shifts that started as early as 5AM in the morning, and because she could not afford childcare, she had to take Patricia and her sister along- this means they had to wake up at 4am!
My sister and I would vacuum, wash the dishes and wipe down surfaces. We weren’t very big, but we were strong. Then Mum would take us to school. We knew this had to be kept secret, and deep down we were scared that they might take Mum away as well as Dad.
Her mother’s hard work paid off, she later became a nurse, bought them a house and eventually became a property broker. – she was able to send her kids to college.
Patricia learnt the Ethos of hard work from her mum
At 13 she learnt to cornrow hair for a few dollars, At 14, she was knocking from door to door delivering kitchen ware , At 16 she worked at a retail store frazers and she hated every minute of her job at the changing rooms
When it was time to at study at college, she made the strategic decision to study financial accounting rather than fashion designing to ensure she secured financial freedom for herself- it paid off.
Patricia Bright she worked as a consultant for over 5 years, earning an upwards of 40,000 pounds per year before venturing into YouTube full time.
Venturing into YouTube
Patricia Bright struggled to fit in all through her life.
As a young girl called Chinonso, her white class mates ridiculed her ethnic Nigerian name.
When she went off to College in Manchester, she ditched her native name Chinonso Otegwu to Patricia Bright- a move born out of insecurity and a desire to fit in
Yet she did not fit in, she barely made friends in a white dominated school and her room mate was very cold and distant. she even called her mum that she was miserable and wanted to come home, but quickly got a reality check- fees had been paid, she had to stay in school.
Thats when she discovered YouTube, she made videos secretly, because at that time YouTube was considered a place for misfits and unserious people.
After she graduated, She got a really good job as a financial consultant, her office was dominated by white males – again she struggled to fit in.
YouTube remained her place of expression, a place where she could talk about her obsession for fashion and hair, a place where she could really be herself without being Judged
While working as a financial consultant, she also kept her YouTube Journey a secret because it was basically considered “unprofessional“.
As the money from YouTube became too good to be true, she quit her job as a high powered financial consultant to focus on making YouTube videos full time, she applied all the hard work and life lessons to make her channel a success.
The girl who never fit in anywhere has created her own table and everyone is welcome
Patricia bright, Ted talks
She married husband, Mancunian physiotherapist Mike, in 2012 at The Orangery in Kensington. Together they have a child and another baby on the way
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