A mum who was living on the streets at 17 has now been named nail technician of the year after starting her own business.
Samantha Hart, 34, described how she ended up in a "bad crowd" during her late teens and found herself homeless for four years, having no idea where her next meal would come from.
Now, the mum-of-three has been named nail technician of the year in the British Hair and Beauty Awards after completely turning her life around.
Samantha said: "I ended up finding myself homeless for around four years and got into a bad crowd and bad habits, reports Hull Live .
"I had homes and flats intermittently and I didn't know how to look after myself and wasn't shown how to be a grown up. I didn't know there were places to go for help.
"I spent some time on the streets too. I didn't know where I was going or where the next meal was coming from."
Thankfully, Samantha who admits she was "a bit of a one" growing up, was taken in by her friend's mum after three years of struggling to find her place in the world.
She continued: "A friend's mum took me in and gave me a good start. I'd been best friends with her daughter since I was 11 and she helped.
"I was there for around six months. When you're depressed and don't want to be in the world it's a hard start."
Samantha, who is in a long-term relationship with partner Mike Hall, left the country for a new start and became an au pair in Germany. While she was over there, she became pregnant with her first child.
But, by the time she was pregnant with her third, her relationship with her children's father had disintegrated and she found herself a single, expecting mother, with a one year old and a six year old.
Now back in Hull and determined to support her family, she enrolled onto a four-month course with nail flairs and before long started her nail technician training.
It was not long before she had opened her own salon Ultimate Blu in Holderness Road, east Hull - she said it wasn't easy but it is already paying off.
Samantha said: "I'd always watched make-up videos on YouTube which led to nail videos and thought, 'I'd really like to do that' and enrolled on a course and found I had a talent for it.
"I tried working in other salons and just never found my niche. I thought the only place I will fit in, is working for me.
"I spent every last penny I had getting it sorted and it took three months to get it up and running. I'm not a typical girly-girl and wanted the salon to look different to any others. I didn't want the pink or the glittery things.
"I wanted other people to feel comfortable coming in so it's kind of like an anti-nail salon. We have two staff members at the moment but are looking for more.
"My clients have followed me everywhere I have been and they're what have kept me in business."
Samantha has now found herself as a finalist in the Hull and East Yorkshire People in Business Awards for the Grit Award as well as a national winner at the British Hair and Beauty Awards 2019 as Nail Technician of the Year.
She said: "It really means a lot to me to be a finalist at the Hull and East Yorkshire People in Business Awards looking at the hundreds of entries is brilliant.
"The Grit Award is to celebrate people who have come through a lot of adversity and it means a lot to me to be nominated. Winning the Nail Technician Award was absolutely brilliant. I was watching it at home and was waiting hours for it to refresh to say who the winner was.
"I'm over the moon but I still wouldn't think I'm the best in the country because I have my idols. There were also others there from Hull which was fantastic as the city is coming an epicentre for beauty now. Tracey Westmorland was there and Stephanie Tomlinson from Simply Nail and both women are brilliant."
Samantha is now hoping to pass her wisdom on to others with the help of a course she is putting on.
The course - which is usually priced at £500 - has four sessions over two weeks and is run by Samantha in partnership with Incandescent Shine.
Samantha is running the first course at £100 and the second at £200. Both of those are now full but she is looking at running more at the subsidised price of £350.
She said: "It's going to be in the week to make it easier for women whose children are at school and that's why I don't want to have it at full price to make sure other single parents can do something like this if they want. I want to do a lot more too."
