Back in 2005, I was involved in a car accident which would change my life forever. Ever since that day in early May I have been a quadriplegic, paralysed from the chest down, I have also been through depression because of the reality of my injury. However, one day I was sat in my room at university and I stumbled across guided meditations on YouTube. I gave the meditations a try and never looked back. I came off of my anti-depressants and realised that it was up to me to live a wonderful life. Yes, as a quadriplegic life may be more difficult, a struggle beyond belief at times, but I owe it to myself to live the best life I can live. It was like I did a complete 360 and became this uber positive person with so much love for life.
Therefore, in 2010, I decided to create my own YouTube videos all about positivity and motivation to hopefully inspire at least one person. Back then I filmed my videos on my webcam and didn’t even edit them, YouTube is a completely different world these days! Once I started my YouTube channel I met lots of inspiring young people who all wanted to make the world a better place. Modern hippies in a way. I started to feel unmotivated by my university course, Fashion Journalism, so decided to follow my heart and leave the UCA in Epsom after a year. I’ve never looked back.
I have since raised money for Spinal Research, spoken at schools and colleges, alongside TV and radio campaigns raising awareness for road safety and spinal injuries.
One day my webcam wouldn’t work and I needed some kind of creative outlet. I always enjoyed writing so, on 23rd August 2013, JordansBeautifulLife.com was born.
I eventually got myself a professional camera and my love for my YouTube channel grew. I stepped away from my seemingly airy fairy videos and started to learn who I was. I think due to my depression I became dramatically the opposite of that but it was like I wasn’t being myself. So, I decided to combine motivational videos with makeup tutorials. I have loved makeup ever since I was young so it felt so natural to create these videos. However, I would often get questioned as to why I wouldn’t open my hands in my makeup tutorials. With comments such as ‘What is wrong with her hands’ etc I decided to create a video called My Beautiful Struggle, in which I explain my injury and a bit of my story. This video went viral and currently has 17 million views on Facebook and 5 million on YouTube.
These days YouTube is my full time job. I have worked with L’Oreal, Urban Decay, Liz Earle, Mark Hill and Illamasqua to name a few and I am currently writing my own book which is out in May 2017.
I hope you enjoy my blog all about life, beauty and everything in between.
