High Steaks: Original influencer Brittney Saunders says ‘life would be nice if we weren’t on social media’
Original teen influencer Brittney Saunders, who has more social media followers than NRL star Nathan Cleary, says social media must be off limits to under-16s.
NSW
Don't miss out on the headlines from NSW. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Fayt The Label CEO and original influencer Brittney Saunders has more social media followers than the NRL’s most famous player Nathan Cleary.
More people see her content than ARIA Award-winning Australian singing sensation Jessica Mauboy.
In fact, she’s got 60,000 more followers than Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, and a whopping 570,000 more followers than the leader of the Liberal Party, Sussan Ley.
Yet, when she walks into Newcastle’s Asian fusion restaurant Light Years for lunch, there would be a certain demographic who have no idea who the 31-year-old is.
But that doesn’t bother the down-to-earth Saunders, who made global headlines for wearing a Bunnings uniform to celebrity-packed Coachella. When asked to define herself, Saunders said: “I’m just Brittney from Newie”.
Saunders’ career is a modern day internet fairytale. Growing up in Steel City, she was a 14-year-old when YouTube became a thing, so she started to make making vlogs. What wasn’t her thing was school, so she left in year 10.
“I always just wanted to work and make money. I just didn’t really like being at school. I wasn’t bad at school, but I didn’t have any interest in finishing year 12 or going to uni,” she said, as our edamame beans arrive and we, ironically, sit in a dining room filled with students celebrating their graduation from the nearby Newcastle University.
“So I did whatever I could to make money.”
Saunders estimated she had over 20 jobs to try and find what fitted. Waitress, hairdresser’s apprentice, starting her own spray tan business. You name it, she tried it.
All the while, she still made YouTube videos. Which, because of her following, started to make her money.
Then when Instagram became the social media de jour, the vlogger moved to posting sponsored posts and stories. It was enough for her to make a living from it.
And when she grew tired of promoting other people’s products, she decided to create her own. And thus, Fayt The Label was born in 2017 from her garage in Newcastle.
“When it came to starting Fayt, there wasn’t a big grand plan. It was just like all the other little things. It was like: ‘Oh, I could do a label’, she said.
“The only difference was obviously by that point I was a little bit older. I was 24 and I had the audience online, so I knew that I was going to have more customers.”
Yet, when asked if she was a 16-year-old now and wanted to start a career online, she gives a surprising answer.
“I think life would be nice if we weren’t on social media,” she said, as we share some kingfish ceviche, pork belly bao buns and wagyu rump steak with umami butter and chimichurri.
“I’m brainrot. But even if I wasn’t on social media right now and I wanted to start a business, you have to go on social media. It’s the gateway.”
From selling online to opening five stores around the country, a lot of the success of Fayt has come from Saunders’ online community.
Recently a Reddit post called her out as one of the worst brands in the country for its “cult-like” following.
In the since-deleted post, the Redditor said: “It is really just another marketing tactic, and I will never understand how people genuinely believe that these brands care about them.”
But Saunders said that’s exactly the point.
“What these people don’t realise is if you have a business of any kind, or a brand, and you have people that adore your brand and your product and your business, you win. That’s the whole point, right?”
Spending a life online has meant Saunders has developed a thick skin, however, it’s not lost on her that a lot of the critiques come from other women.
“If a bloke has a really awesome brand, let’s use the Man Shake for example. That’s a Newcastle brand. They’re like, “F--king good on you mate, you’re f--kin’ sick!” And then a woman is successful and they’re like ‘Hmm’. It’s like a deep internalised misogyny.”
Another reason for the success of the brand is its insize range, which caters for 6 to 28, without sacrificing style.
Saunders said most of Fayt’s sales come from size-14 and above women yet, when she started, she wasn’t on a crusade to change women’s fashion.
“I didn’t know anything about business besides the little things I’d dabbled in. We started off with a smaller size range but then, over time, my followers were like: ‘Bring out more sizes’ and I was, like, ‘OK, yeah’.”
Despite so much of her success coming from being online from 14, Saunders supports legislation that bans children from having social media until they are 16, saying: “The bullying and trolling is relentless. I can’t imagine being a teenager now with all the TikTok and Snapchat and Instagram.”
And she believes governments should make it harder for anyone to create a social media account.
“Right now you can pull out your phone, you can make a fake Instagram or a fake TikTok, and start trolling people and sending them messages and being horrible,” she said.
“You can block them but then they just go make another account and keep going. I feel like it shouldn’t be that easy.”
When it comes to future, true to form, there aren’t any five-year strategic plans. Which she admits would make many business advisers shudder. But she is working on a menswear line with her partner AJ.
“Men struggle just as much as women [to find clothes], they aren’t very loud about it,” she said.
Saunders recently released her first book, Just Getting Started, and also hosts her own podcast, on the highs and lows of running a business.
She’s become an inspiration for many young entrepreneurs. And, she says honestly, she’s an inspiration to herself.
“I’ve figured this all out on my own. I had no guidance growing up. I moved out of home when I was 17. Every single thing that I’ve done, I’ve figured it all out on my own,” she said.
“People don’t want to do things because of a fear of failing or fear of what other people will say.
“But starting that YouTube channel so young, and all the things that I’ve done throughout those years, it’s made me realise if you push yourself and try stuff, you can go really far.
“So I think, if anything, I inspire myself. I look back on the journey that I’ve had and I’m like: ‘Wow, good on you’.”
More Coverage
Originally published as High Steaks: Original influencer Brittney Saunders says ‘life would be nice if we weren’t on social media’
Shock over young dancer’s sudden death
A coroner will investigate the shocking death of a talented 18-year-old Sydney dancer who died suddenly in her home.
Disgraced MP Gareth Ward walks off jail time worries
Convicted NSW MP Gareth Ward has spent what could be one of his last days of freedom walking to Kings Cross police station where he is required to check in daily as part of his bail conditions.