In Bournemouth, there are two extraordinary young people whose stories stand out as beacons of resilience, creativity, and ambition. Their journeys look to inspire those around them and remind them that age is no barrier to starting their own business.
Sam North is an 18-year-old who recently started his own company, Sixty6Media.
Losing his job, it opened up a new opportunity for Sam.
He said: “I unfortunately got let go from my job as a bicycle mechanic, and I was kind of at a lost point. I didn’t really know what I wanted to do, so I thought- what’s one thing that I’ve always been quite good at and one thing that I could make a career out of?- So I decided to go full time and fund my own media business.”
“I’ve faced a fair bit of discrimination due to my age because people don’t trust young people. I’ve kind of been on my own most of the way, and I’ve had to learn and research everything myself.”
“I do feel empowered though, because most people my age obviously don’t own their own business, there’s a lot of responsibility that comes with it and I feel proud of how I handle it all.”
Sam looks to pave the way for other young business owners, and show that you can do it at any age.
Lois Miller, aged 19, will soon debut her book “Don’t Fear the Fire.”
After suffering from mental health from a young age, she found comfort in reading, which inspired her to design her book.
She said: “I was always really into reading as a kid- I’d read all the Harry Potters by the age of 9. Then when I was sixteen and I’d decided I wanted to write my own work, I just focused everything on that. Evenings, mornings, any spare moment in the day I would be writing.”
“I was really struggling with depression and anxiety, and the world at the time wasn’t the most exhilarating place with Covid going on. I needed a way to escape the thoughts in my own brain, so I created a different world that I could just go to without any complications and really make it my own.”
“When I started the publishing query process, I was really anxious to put my age because most agents would be like, “She’s 19; she doesn’t know what she’s doing. But there’s also a really positive side to being a young writer. It gives you that uniqueness, and you really know your audience because I’m a young adult writer who’s also a young adult. It just works.”
Sam and Lois are two great examples of how being young doesn’t mean you can’t begin your career path.
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