A mum has revealed she’s taking her 12-year-old daughter out of school to focus on her career as a budding influencer.
Mum Kat Clark, from the Gold Coast in Queensland, has 5.2 million TikTok followers and was voted Creator of the Year at the website’s annual awards in 2022.
The 37-year-old hosts popular Aussie podcast ‘Basically Besties’ with her daughters Latisha, 20, and Deja, 12 – for whom Kat has ‘very strict’ parenting rules.
‘Traditional schooling worked [for Deja] in primary school because I had a corporate job,’ she recently said on podcast It’s All Her with Jody Lucas. ‘Since coming into this new career, there is a lot of travelling involved. I’m often flying to Sydney.’
‘Deja’s even starting to get opportunities as well now, so 9-3, Monday to Friday schooling isn’t working for us because we’ve found that we’ve had to take her out of school quite a bit.’
Kat shared that she has enrolled Deja into home schooling for the next year.
We think that’s best for her, just because we don’t want her to miss out on these opportunities. TikTok takes a lot of time. It’s just what works for our family.’
The mum claimed it was the ‘perfect time’ as Deja can still go back to traditional schooling a year later if she doesn’t enjoy the lifestyle.
Her other daughter, Latisha, finished high school and originally enrolled in law school immediately after – but dropped out six months later to pursue podcasting.
‘With Deja, if she wanted to be a doctor or lawyer – we’d encourage her to go after those dreams. But currently those are not what her goals are. We’re willing to work with her whatever happens,’ the mum said.
Kat also revealed that she taught her daughters to ‘be themselves’ and ‘not to change for anyone’.
‘I honestly love working so closely with my daughters. It’s so much fun, it’s like working with my best friends,’ she said.
The mum claimed that traditional schooling no longer works for Deja and she’s instead going to be home schooled for the next year so she can focus on her podcast and brand deals
Kat’s other daughter, Latisha [right], finished high school and originally enrolled in law school immediately after – but dropped out six months later to pursue podcasting.
