KLANG: Desperation to crawl out of deprived and difficult lives was the sole motivation for two women to shed their reservations and go live on social media.
Their moves paid off handsomely and both are now living the kind of lives they could only dream of once upon a time.
Nurfatin Atirah Wan Teh
Nurfatin Atirah Wan Teh, 29, who lives in Kampung Lubok Keriang, Kedah, started making simple live videos on Facebook about four years ago to review locally manufactured cosmetic products.
“The people selling these products paid me according to the views my videos received and I would make about RM500 a month,” said the mother of three.
The RM500 was to supplement her husband Abdul Rahman Isa’s meagre monthly salary working in an ironsmith’s workshop.
“We lived in a ramshackle wooden house with damaged walls. Life was so tough,” she recalled.
When her viewership declined, Nurfatin Atirah decided to brave herself in September last year by recording videos of her eating, which she then uploaded on her Facebook Timeline Makeup by Fatienwanteh.
There were many negative comments about the way she handled her food but at the same time, her viewership started to rise rapidly.
“That was the turning point in my life.
“As the number of viewers increased, I decided to start my business with the little money I had,” said Nurfatin Atirah, who commands a viewership of 6,000 to 68,000 each session.
She currently has her own line of cosmetics simply called Fatin Wan Teh, as well as a set of three perfumes – Ara, Qaseh and Nurul – named after her three daughters aged three, 10 and 13.
In just over a year, Nurfatin Atirah, has now built herself a better house, and is in the process of building a bungalow.
She has two shops selling her products and is also the proud owner of three luxury vehicles.
She said she could make between RM30,000 and RM40,000 monthly just by selling her products via social media.
Just like Nurfatin Atirah, L. Nishanti’s difficult life had also pushed her to do the unthinkable – to go live on social media.
“My husband was a rider with a fast-food restaurant and used to have about 10 deliveries a day for which he received RM10 for each delivery,” said Nishanti, 32, who is also a mother of three.
She added that life, which was already difficult to begin with, became tougher during the movement control order period in 2020 when her husband had merely five or six deliveries daily.
“There were many times when I had gone hungry so that my children could go to bed with a full stomach,” Nishanti said.
Wanting her children aged eight, nine and 11 to have better lives than hers, and knowing that she must do something to help her husband D. Theventiran, 36, support the family, Nishanti decided to sell an Indian condiment known as tokku.
“My mother used to make tokku for family consumption and we would give it to family and friends who enjoyed eating it,” she said.
So when Theventiran applied for and obtained the RM500 i-Citra Employees Provident Fund withdrawal during last year’s MCO, the couple decided to use the money to start off their tokku business.
Realising that she needed to go live on social media to sell her products, Nishanti boldly took the first step to produce a live video in April this year.
She then uploaded it onto her Facebook Timeline named Nisha’s Homemade Tokku.
“I was at first hesitant as I did not feel comfortable about myself, being plump, dark and not pretty enough for live videos.
“But I forced myself to appear before the camera because I simply wanted to change my family’s life,” she said.
Having a gift for storytelling, Nishanti entertained her viewers with various tales as she tucked into her meals at the same time.
Currently, she has 2,000 to 8,000 online viewers for her live sessions and makes between RM40,000 and RM50,000 monthly.
“I also have about 250 agents and suppliers under me,” said Nishanti, who lives with her family in Petaling Jaya.