An exclusive interview with Amy Childs.
Anyone familiar with the phrases ‘Vajazzil’, ‘shut-up’ and ‘alright’ will probably be familiar the phenomenon that is ‘The Only Way is Essex.’ Or TOWIE for those in the know.
TOWIE is a reality TV show that lets us peek in to the lives of a group of Essex dwelling mates. TOWIE was ground breaking in the way it blurred the lines between observational reality TV and scripted drama. It spurred many copycat shows and was a launch pad for many cast members/subjects; many going on to forge success TV careers. One of the most successful is Amy Childs, who not many know is severely Dyslexic. Earlier this year we managed to grab Amy for a quick interview in the middle of her busy schedule.
Like many Dyslexic’s Amy has a spiky profile, meaning she can excel at certain tasks that many find daunting or stressful but can find more basic tasks, especially things that require short term memory, extremely difficult. For instance Amy is one of the few ex-TOWIE members to build a solid career, business and brand on the back of the shows exposure. She’s had her own reality TV show, a clothing line, owns a beauty salon and is now worth millions. Even after all she’s achieved it’s the more dippy side of her character the media like to portray.
Speaking to Amy it’s clear that she’s an astute and clear minded business woman. She told me, “The TV show yeah it’s a bit of fun, I am really dippsy and sometimes I say something and go, what’d I say that for, but that’s me. When I left TOWIE I had to think, yeah you struggled at school but now you have to be a brand, you’ve got to be a business. I’ve now got two businesses’, I’ve got a clothing line that’s just gone into Dorothy Perkins, the high street store. So yes I am Dyslexic but I have done really well from it.”
When I asked what she attributes her success to she told me her recipe for success is a mixture of having a great team, hard graft and being passionate about what you do. “You have to be passionate. Even before I was doing TOWIE, I was working 7 days a week, you know. I had a full time job doing beauty and then I’d come home and have all my own clients. So even before TOWIE, I was a workaholic.”
It’s great to see Amy benefit from her hard work. Amy’s been a grafter for as long as she can remember but at school, even though she tried immensely hard she only left school with one GCSE. Amy’s school days are long gone but they still have an effect on how she views her current success. “At school my teachers used to pull my mum and dad in and be like, ‘she’s really struggling’ and that was really hard for me. But now I can’t believe it, I can’t believe how well I’ve done; even opening up my own beauty salon, I was like 22 when I opened that. I never in my life thought I would have opened a Salon so young. Everyday I’m pinching myself. I can’t believe this happened to me, I can’t believe that happened to me, I appreciate everything.
It’s hard to know what Amy has planned next, but whatever it is you can bet it will be fabulous, successful and probably spray tanned.
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The Codpast is a multimedia production from www.extraordinaire.tv
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