My daughter had a million TikTok followers at 13 – she dropped out of school to be an influencer & can buy a £300k house
MANY teenagers love scrolling on TikTok – but one 16-year-old’s videos have done so well she can now afford a £300,000 house.
Amelie Hobson, who goes by Ami Charlize, is one of Britain’s most successful social-media stars and she dropped out of school after GCSEs to do it full-time.
Although she started out doing dance videos and lip syncs at the age of 13, she now shows her fashion and make-up routines too.
Essex-based Ami has amassed over 3.4million followers, and had already hit seven figures by the age of 13.
Not only does she have a massive following but she also runs a podcast, is a PrettyLittleThing ambassador and is publishing a new book called: My World: Challenges, Changes and Chasing My Dreams.
As reported by MailOnline, Ami’s mum Dawn Hobson, 52, said of her daughter: “She’s just leading an amazing life.”
Although she won’t say how much her teenage daughter earns from brand deals and collaborations, Ami could afford to buy a £300,000 house.
Dawn added: “For now we’re investing it. We were thinking we could buy her a house for £200,000 to £300,000 but you get stamp duty paid for your first house so she should do it when she’s older and buys the house she really wants to live in. That would save her a lot. We don’t take a penny from her, though.”
Ami insists she doesn’t consider herself wealthy, however, and recently told her 346,000 YouTube followers “I haven’t £1 million in my bank account? I don’t personally think I’m rich.”
Currently her money is managed by dad Mark, 53, who retired at 50 thanks to his successful water-treatment business, and Dawn, who worked in a City investment bank before becoming a full-time mother after her second daughter Georgia, now 23, was born.
As with many influencers, Ami is frequently bombarded with freebies from brands, but Dawn has warned her to not show everything she gets.
This is because the teen can earn what people make in a year with one brand deal.
Sadly Ami’s success has led to other people being envious of her and bullying her in school.
The TikTok star added: “I was always scared: ‘Is this the day I’m going to be beaten up?’ I’d see nasty things written about me on walls. Once, at netball, girls started throwing balls at the back of my head. I had my group of friends, but I felt no one was on my side. I’d end up texting Mum, ‘I’m ill, I need to go home.’ Sometimes I’d just walk out. It wasn’t lessons I wanted to miss, it was playground time.”
Although Ami’s teachers told her parents that life would be easier if she ditched social media, they didn’t want to take away the one area of her life she enjoyed.
Before Ami was 16, Dawn was required by law to accompany her to meet-and-greet sessions and photoshoots.
Now she is often accompanied by her management team, and if she’s at an event with alcohol she will wear a wristband to show she’s under the age of 18.
Due to Ami’s young age on social media, Dawn said she would monitor her accounts and delete any inappropriate pictures sent from men.
Often she gets over 200 messages a day.
When Ami turned 16 and finished her GCSEs (she obtained passes in just maths, English and sports studies), she decided to quit education.
Are kids allowed to use TikTok?
OFFICIALLY the TikTok app requires that users be at least 13 years old to access it.
The age limit brings the app in line with other social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and Snapchat – all with a minimum age limit of 13.
Rules state that anyone under the age of 18 must have the approval of a parent or a guardian.
But a BBC Trending investigation came across several accounts run by children under 13 – with some as young as nine years old.
The report also found the video-sharing app failed to remove online predators who were sending sexual messages to teenagers and children.
Over three months, the investigation collected hundreds of sexual comments posted on videos uploaded by teenagers and children.
While the company deleted the majority of these comments, the users who posted them were able to remain on the platform, despite TikTok’s own rules against sexual content directed at children.
The BBC was also able to identity a number of users who, again and again, approached teenage girls online to post sexually explicit messages on their videos.
All comments found by the BBC were reported to TikTok using the same tools available to any user of the app.
Dawn said it was a “hard decision” for the family as she was worried her daughter would miss out on making new friends.
However, she said she understood Ami’s reluctance, as once she had tried to join a netball team and people were either “in awe or mean to her.”
Ami’s parents decided to let her pursue influencing full-time, but said the authorities ring them frequently to check up on her.
In the UK, you can leave school on the last Friday in June if you’ll be 16 by the end of the summer holidays.
However, although you do not have to go to school, you typically have to remain in education, employment or training until the age of 18.
Ami said she has made new friends through her work, but if she “spoils” them “too quickly” it can be thrown back in her face.
She has also learned to keep any relationships private, as fans previously got angry when she split with an ex they thought she would marry.
While Ami had her first phone at the age of 10, many people feel there should be a ban on under-16s owning smartphones.
Studies have shown that there can be links between anxiety and loss of concentration with the owning of a smartphone.
Ami said she thinks 10 is the right age to get one, and said she wouldn’t have enjoyed school as much if she wasn’t able to watch TikTok.
Dawn added: “We’ve just got to make sure she stays grounded. But I love this little journey I’m on with her.”
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