UK CEO's School Bullies Apply To Work For Her, Here's How She Handled It

A 23-year-old Chief Executive Officer (CEO) in the UK recently shared how she dealt with her high school bullies who applied to work at her successful company. In a video posted on Facebook, Vicky Owens, founder of Socially Speaking Media, shared details of the incident. "That was a full circle moment," she said of giving her high school bullies their deserved fate. She revealed that she rejected their applications, adding that "what they put out" meant they got "nowhere in life". 

In the clip, the 23-year-old shared that she posted a job advertisement on LinkedIn earlier this year after wanting to recruit more employees to work at her social media agency. This is when she received applications from the three girls from her past. "The company just started to get bigger and bigger so I put out a hiring post and three of the girls that were absolutely awful to me at high school applied for the job," Ms Owens said. 

The budding mogul revealed while two of the bullies simply didn't "give her the time of day," one of them generally made her life a living hell. "The other girl was someone who flung yogurt all over my head in the canteen in year 10," she recalled. "Another time I was out with some of my friends in Nando's in year nine or year 10 and this girl walked past and flung ketchup across my face," she said. 

Ms Owens said that she felt she was an easy target at the time as she was very shy and tall with "bushy, manly eyebrows". Due to the torment she endured in school, the 23-year-old also said her mental health suffered. Her traumatic episodes were reportedly exacerbated by having to deal with her parents getting divorced at the time, she continued. 

The CEO stated that she found it ironic that the "girl that was awful to me at school wanted to now work for me". "I found it very interesting [that they had applied]. I was really baffled whether to reply to them [the job applications] or to decline them," she said. 

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In the end, the 23-year-old revealed that she simply ignored her bullies' applications. "I never stooped to their [the bully's level]," she explained. "I would just say to everyone to be kind. The good that you put out does eventually come back to you even if it feels like it's never going to," she added. 

Ms Ownes also said that she indirectly credits the bullying for her success. "I continued to have them [panic attacks] and they got so bad I couldn't work or leave the house and therefore had no income. This is when I started my business," she said. 

She also added that her success is proof that people shouldn't let their teen years define them. "Even though it does feel like it, high school is such a short time [in your life]," the undaunted entrepreneur declared. "If you stay consistent and get your head down, you will see results in the end," she said. 

Ms Owen's video, which was first shared on TikTok, has accumulated millions of likes and comments.