She treated her bullies like a boss.
A 23-year-old British CEO has made every bullying victim’s dream come true after rejecting the applications of several women who she says tormented her in high school, including one who poured ketchup on her head. The boss detailed this karmic revenge saga in a video with more than a million views on TikTok.
“It was a coming-full-circle moment,” social media bigwig Vicky Owens said of giving her high school bullies a corporate reward.
The Manchester native is the founder of Socially Speaking Media, a Cheshire-based social media agency that focuses on elevating brands through “results-driven” content, according to the site.
After starting the business in her bedroom in 2021, she has since grown it into a thriving six-figure business and worked with big clients ranging from TikTok to the hit Netflix series “Emily In Paris.”
The company eventually outgrew its four employees, so Owens decided to post a job opening on LinkedIn in hopes of lightening the load.
That’s when she received applications from three unlikely sources from her past.
“The company was just starting to gain momentum, so I offered a recruiting position and three of the girls who were absolutely horrible to me in high school applied for the position,” the budding mogul described.
While two of the bullies just “wouldn’t give her the time of day,” one of them generally made her life hell.
“The other girl was someone who threw yogurt on my head in the cafeteria in 10th grade,” Owens remembers. “Another time I was out with some of my friends at Nando’s in year 9 or 10 and this girl walked past me and threw ketchup on my face.”
The social media guru featured in the aforementioned TikTok clip felt like an easy target at the time because she was very shy and tall with “bushy, manly eyebrows.”
While Owens simply ignored the harassment, she said the constant torment allegedly caused her to suffer panic attacks after graduating high school, as a form of bullying-induced PTSD.
Her traumatic episodes were reportedly exacerbated by the fact that her parents were divorcing at the time.
Needless to say, the burgeoning internet mogul found it ironic that “the girl who was horrible to me at school now wants to work for me.”
“I found it very interesting (that they applied),” said the Briton. “I was really confused as to whether I should respond to them (the applications) or decline them.”
Some TikTok fans had evil suggestions like inviting the terrible trio to the interview and then humiliating and rejecting them.
As satisfying as it was, Owens wasn’t about to resort to intimidation tactics. “I never lowered myself to their level (of the bully),” explained the entrepreneur, who ended up simply ignoring their applications, without any Machiavellian revenge plan.
Owens, for his part, believes that what goes around comes around, describing, “I would just tell everyone to be nice. The good you put out eventually comes back to you, even if it feels like it will never come back.
Owens even indirectly attributes his success today to bullying.
“I kept having them (panic attacks) and they got so bad that I couldn’t work or leave the house and so I had no income,” the visionary said in the video while describing the consequences of years of intimidation. “That’s when I started my business.”
Ultimately, Owens believes his success is proof that people shouldn’t let their teenage years define them.
“Even though it feels that way, high school is such a short time (in your life),” the intrepid entrepreneur said. “If you stay consistent and put your head down, you will eventually see results. »
New York Post
