I spent my teenage years bin diving to survive but had a £76 million business by 29 -it started with a charity shop find
A WOMAN who spent her teenage years rooting through bins to survive, has revealed how she turned her life around and now runs a multi-million pound business at 29.
Sophia Amoruso, 40, is the founder of fast-fashion brand Nasty Gal, but the California native came from very humble beginnings.
When she was just 17, Sophia left home after her parents filed for bankruptcy, and admitted to bin diving for food in order to survive.
Determined to turn her life around, Sophia, who dropped out of community college, read Starting an eBay Business for Dummies and started selling clothes she had found in the charity shop for profit on the online marketplace.
“I didn’t have any grand aspirations”, she told Perth Now back in 2016.
“I wanted to make some money doing something I thought was fun.”
In 2006, Sophia launched her own eBay store called Nasty Gal vintage, selling clothes she had found in charity shops and vintage stores.
Her clothes sold for hundreds more than she paid for them, including a £6 Chanel jacket for £761.
In 2008, Sophia launched her own online store, and her clothing sold out in just one day.
By the time she was 29, Nasty Gal was a £76 million business, and Sophia furthered her success by penning a bestselling book #GirlBoss, which tells the story of her success.
However, in 2015, Sophia decided to step down as the CEO of Nasty Gal, and in 2017, the company went bankrupt and was purchased by fast-fashion giant BooHoo.
At the same time, she went through a divorce, after her husband woke up one day and said he didn’t think the pair were right for each other.
Speaking to InStyle, Sophia said: “The divorce came first. Totally unexpectedly, the man I had just married woke up one day and decided that we weren’t right for each other.
“There I was, that lady screaming into a pillow at the Beverly Hills Hotel for four nights, unable to eat, heartbroken.”
She continued: “Then came the bankruptcy. Nasty Gal had struggled for years, so, sadly, this was less of a shock.”
Sophia did not let these set backs get to her, and has said that, at 40, she is now happier than ever, as a single woman.
Top charity shop tips for bagging a bargain
Ross Dutton has been a manager for Crisis's charity shops for four years and currently runs the charity's Finsbury Park shop in London.
Choose your area – As a rule of thumb, the posher the area, the better quality the clothes that are donated.
Don’t hang around – If you see something you like, buy it, as it’ll likely be gone when you come back
Look out for cut-off labels – Some of your favourite high street stores will have deals with local charity shops to donate stock that isn’t sold during their own sales. Often part of the deal is that they need to cut the labels off the clothes.
Stay at home – While some charities have their own site, like Oxfam and Crisis. many also sell from dedicated eBay stores, such as British Heart Foundation and Scope. You won’t get the range of bargains that you would get in a physical store, but if you’re looking for something specific it may be worth checking online too.
She now writes her own newsletter to over 130,00 subscribers, on topics like business and marketing, and invests in start ups, such as water company liquid death.
She also educates aspiring business founders through business class, a membership based digital entrepreneurship community.
Revealing her happiness at her newfound freedom via a post on her Instagram account, where she has 644,000 subscribers. Sophia said: “I’m 40, single, no kids, happier, freer, and more confident than ever.
“What’s for you will find you.
“What’s not will be your teacher.”
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