Shellbie’s story: “I have confidence going forward into the working world”

Shellbie, from Coventry, applied for the Thrive Not Just Survive grant in 2019 after hearing about it from her CLIC Sargent Social Worker. She used the grant for a micro-blading course in the hopes of starting a career in beauty.

In 2018 Shellbie was diagnosed with triple negative breast cancer and hadn’t worked since then – also having given birth to her young daughter during this time. She entered remission in July 2019 and started thinking about her career.

Shellbie said: “I’ve always been interested in beauty and wanted to work in that area, but was never too sure what direction to take. After speaking to my family I decided I wanted to learn how to microblade – a type of semi-permanent tattooing treatment for eyebrows which is really popular at the moment. Not many people offer the treatment where I live and so I thought it was a good opportunity for me to start a business.”

Shellbie was awarded with a grant for £1,600 which funded a two day microblading course just before Christmas. On the course she learnt all the skills to be able to set up her own business. She was then getting ready to launch but then the coronavirus outbreak put her plans on hold for the time being.

“I had my logo designed and was all ready to get going and the pandemic happened, however I am so glad that I managed to get my course done. It’s great that I now always have microblading to fall back on, I’ve got my qualification and it is something I can always do from home if I want to.

“I’m so grateful to CLIC Sargent for offering this grant. It’s made a big difference to me and I have confidence going forward into the working world, whatever the future may hold.

“The grant was really easy to apply for – I am quite a visual person so decided to create a powerpoint for my application. I like that there were options to present the information however you like.”