A teenager quit school to focus on TikTok instead – and has been trolled over her decision.
Kristen Scott decided against the academic route after garnering 700,000 followers at just 16-years-old.
She told BBC Scotland documentary TikTok Queen at Sixteen: “I don’t understand why people think it’s a bad thing.
“I have my qualifications and people think that social media isn’t going to last forever, it’s so stupid leaving school.
“If it doesn’t work out then I can go to college at any time.
“I feel like people really try to get involved in your business, especially with education.”
The teen’s mum, Elizabeth, is supportive of her social media career and agreed to sign the papers she needed to leave school after some deliberation.
The parent said: “Are we doing the right thing? Are we not doing the right thing?
“It became quite clear earlier in the year that this was something that she could actually do as a job.
“That made it a bit easier to stomach her leaving school.”
While she loves working as an influencer, Kristen admits online abuse has been difficult to overcome.
The TikToker told The Herald: “I feel like you need to be thick skinned to do it.
“I’ve had to deal with a lot of horrible things since a young age because of social media.”
Disturbingly, Kristen has had rocks on her and been verbally abused by strangers.
And she says people don’t realise how difficult it is working as an influencer.
The content creator added: “If you say you work in PR and advertising then people think that’s a fantastic job but you say influencer and content creator, people think it’s dumbed down.
“There’s a lot of work that goes into a contract with a company like a clothing brand.”
Kristen won’t let this hold her back though.
She added: “I have managed to grow a platform as big as I have at age 16… that shows that if you grab on to something and you keep trying, you will get there.
“I try and live my life as the main character and I couldn’t care less about what anyone thinks about me.
“If people don’t like it then their loss.”
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