Former Parson Drove woman Sade is top influencer

In a world where social media influencers such as cleaning guru Mrs Hinch have overtaken filmstars in terms of popularity, a former Parson Drove woman has found herself joining in their success.

Shade Egun, who grew up in the village, has amassed more than 59,000 Instagram followers and more than 22,000 YouTube subscribers thanks to her love of DIY and her passion for female empowerment.

Shade, who now lives in Newcastle, has become a rising star with her profile/brand @_HomeofShade.

Now, as she’s begun to go viral, award nominations and brand deals are starting to flood her inbox, and she can’t quite believe it.

She said: “I started my YouTube account a year ago but technical issues with camera equipment meant that I stopped for a while.

“When lockdown began I bought a new camera and in one weekend I’d gained 4,000 subscribers. As more people found my videos the views and subscribers started climbing and it’s really taken off.”

Shade studied software development at university and went on to secure a job as a software engineer, but as time went on she realised that it wasn’t the job for her.

She said: “I quit my full time job about a month ago. Lockdown was actually a blessing in disguise as it gave me the kick I needed to do what I wanted.

“I’m doing something that I love now. I used to dread going to my old job and I used to spend my weekends creating things and decorating.”

Shade set up her Instagram account when she purchased her first home with her boyfriend, primarily to document the changes they made as they got to work on it.

However, as more and more people started to discover her account and ask her for interior design tips, she realised that her passion was also a talent.

She said:”People started to ask me where things are from in pictures I post and it’s just gone crazy from there. I’ve got a knack for DIY and I love creating things.

“I’m all about empowering women, as well as helping people to save money so I love it when people contact me to say that they’ve managed to do something DIY related that they never thought they’d be able to do.

“I recently had a man ask me if I knew what I was doing when he saw me wallpapering. It did make me laugh! If only he knew.”

Influencers can make a living through a number of avenues and, with dedication and perseverance, lucrative deals can present themselves.

Shade said: “There’s brand deals where brands will reach out to me and ask me to work with them.

“If I feel it fits well with me and if I would either buy from them myself or have done in the past then I accept.

“I also earn money from YouTube adverts on my videos - I only earn a quarter of a penny from each time but that soon adds up.

“Lastly, I use affiliate links which means I earn a tiny commission from items I can influence people to purchase.”

The world of an influencer can also be marred by negativity.

A number of influencers have highlighted the impact the job can have on mental health - and Shade knows this all to well.

She said: “I haven’t had anything too bad yet - but I know that it will happen at some point in the future.

“However, I’m such a perfectionist and I really give myself a hard time.

“You have to come to terms with the fact that you’ll never please everyone - everyone has different tastes.

“For example, my downstairs loo was a serious Marmite topic because of how I had decorated it.

“A Facebook group got hold of it and I was horrified by the comments on there - people were really savage.

“But, rather than focus on the negatives, I’ve learnt to laugh and shrug it off. You’ve got to have thick skin to do this.”

Looking to the future, Shade is hoping to continue to grow her brand - she has also been nominated for the interiors influencer award at The Sun’s Fabulous Magazine’s Good Influence Awards.

She said: “I was absolutely blown away to have been nominated - I even thought it was a scam at first - but it’s amazing and really quite a big deal.

“I’d really like to grow more on YouTube and continue to make an income from it, but I’d also like to open a home decor store as I’m currently working on home makeovers and giving interior design advice to people. I love it!”