‘Almost lost our home’: Aussie influencer reveals raw truth behind her huge success

Kat Clark was working three jobs and living with the fear she’d lose her home because of a very difficult financial reality.

Six years ago, influencer Kat Clark was in massive debt and used to worry about “every cent” she spent. Now, she amassed a multimillion-dollar empire.

The 37-year-old is one of Australia’s most successful influencers. Her life, which she shares online now, is full of brand collaborations, overseas holidays, and intimate moments with her two daughters, Latisha, 20, and Deja, 13.

From the outside, her life looks aspirational, but despite her mammoth success now, the she knows what it is like to struggle financially.

Before her content creator role took off, she had amassed over $100,000 worth of debt.

She didn’t amass the debt from being frivolous, but rather, everything in her life blew up at once.

“I had three jobs to try and stay afloat because my husband and I had just failed and lost our first business, which was electrical contracting, and he was in a serious car accident and was unable to work for six months,” she told news.com.au.

“I was a full time account manager at a market research firm, I was doing eyelash extensions in the evening and I was doing club promo on the weekends trying to get people to come to the nightclub I worked at.”

Before her social media fame Kat Clark was working three jobs. Picture: Instagram/KatClark

The family struggled after this business went under. Picture: TikTok

She eventually left her full-time role to start a clean-eating cafe inside a gym, but it didn’t grow as she’d hoped it would. It went bust and she felt like she’d “added another failed business” to her resume.

The couple started “struggling” with their mortgage and bills after their first business failed and Ms Clark felt like they were going “backwards” and, no matter how hard she worked, she couldn’t get ahead again.

“We almost lost our home, every week it felt like we were going backwards. I was collecting food from charities every week,” she said.

“Life was tough.”

She said she’s been through some ‘tough’ times. Picture: Instagram/KatClark

She’s now one of Australia’s most successful creators. Picture: Instagram/KatClark

Ms Clark said that, from the outside, her life always appeared good. They were living in a five-bedroom house in Brisbane that they’d managed to buy because of an inheritance, but the mortgage quickly became too much.

“I was earning okay money but it still wasn’t enough to pay-off the debt from our business,” she said.

“That’s why we left Brisbane and downsized and now live in a townhouse on the Gold Coast.”

She said that being the sole income earner was hard when her husband could not work.

“My youngest was only one and I always dreamt of being a stay at home mum, but now I had no time to do anything but work,” she said.

She was struggling to spend time with her family because of. Picture: Instagram/KatClark

She’d previously dreamt of being a stay at home mum. Picture: Instagram/KatClark

It was during this time that she started using social media more, originally as a way to better connect with her daughters, especially because she was so time-poor.

Filming a dance could take four minutes, which at least meant she was making memories.

“I always wanted to have a close relationship with my kids and one thing I believe that brings kids closer to their parents is by playing with them,” she said.

“Deja and Tisha were obsessed with making these dances and they would always ask me to do them, and it was a quick way to connect with my kids and make them happy.”

At the same time she was creating recipes online and people were paying $10 to subscribe.

As the subscriptions began to grow, she realised the online space had so much potential.

She then started sharing her life online on TikTok, everything from her cooking, to her daily life or mum dilemmas, and people related to the content.

Now, she has over seven million followers on TikTok alone.

Kat and her family have found huge success. Picture: Instagram/KatClark

That kind of success has changed everything.

Both her daughters are becoming well-known creators on their own, Ms Clark has launched a skin care line, Kalade, and her youngest daughter, Deja, has launched a swimwear line.

She has gone from not being able to afford her mortgage to purchasing multiple investment properties.

“I can’t even put into words how much our lives have changed,” she said.

“Going from worrying about every single cent to being able to provide my family with everything they want and need is the biggest blessing.”

The 37-year-old said her success is sweetened by the fact she knows what it is like to struggle and have to pick yourself back up again after failure.

“I definitely wasn’t dealt the best cards in life. I mean, I was a teen mum, high school dropout, DV survivor, multiple failed businesses, and the list could go on. But there’s one thing I never stopped doing: working hard for what I believed my family deserved,” she said.

“My children watched me at my worst and now they get to see me at my best. Nothing we have is ever taken for granted. We are beyond blessed with our lives and the support we have from the public.

“If there are people out there who are struggling and they do follow our family, I hope they know their lives can change too.”