Story of Award winning Portsmouth entrepreneur Keshia Stewart on how she turned her life around from a troubled upbringing
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00:00I grew up in Portsmouth, so Portsmouth born and bred. I grew up in Somers Town, so definitely
00:08living on the bread line, so to speak. I wouldn't say, I don't like to use the word poverty
00:15because when I think of poverty I think of like third world countries, but I mean we
00:18were poor and I think that there were always times where even if there was money available
00:25for the family, it wasn't used in the right way, like it wasn't used for the right means,
00:31it wouldn't necessarily be used for clothes or food, it would be used for fags and booze
00:38and drugs.
00:40Yeah, so my name's Kashia Stewart and I am an entrepreneur, I guess people like to say.
00:52I always feel a bit of imposter syndrome when it comes to that word, but in reality
00:56that is what I am, right? I'm taking the risks and running the businesses and making sure
01:02that they're kept afloat.
01:04It's hard, isn't it? It's hard to know where to start. I mean, I grew up in Portsmouth,
01:08so Portsmouth born and bred. I grew up in Somers Town, but I remember the first time
01:13where I was, and I was sent out in the middle of the night, we're talking probably like
01:20one, two o'clock in the morning, with a pot of paint and a paintbrush, and I was sent
01:26out to paint onto the wall of the side of this shop words, whore, slut. So, I would
01:37then be sent to that same local shop to steal bacon and cheese. That's how the shoplifting
01:46began for me, when I was about six years old. I remember being given like a handbag,
01:52so a woman's handbag, but it was like a big handbag. And I don't know if it was just big
02:00because I was so small, or if it was an oversized woman's handbag, I couldn't tell you, but
02:06it was a big handbag. And I would be sent to that same local shop to take big blocks
02:13of cheese, as much bacon and sausage as possible, because they had the highest value. So, those
02:19were the things from the local shop that I could get my hands on easily, that this woman
02:25and my mum could then sell, to then get speed and ecstasy, or whatever it was they fancied
02:32doing it that weekend. And then that just continued for years. So, I was used as the
02:42person that was going out and committing the crime. So, they were orchestrating it,
02:46and they were telling me what to do and when to do it, but they weren't hands-on in doing
02:51it. Do you know what I mean? And some people in the local community, and people that worked
02:56in that shop, would know what I was doing. What started as stealing for the benefit of
03:04my mum and her friend escalated to me then, when I was a bit older. Still stealing for
03:13my mum, and she knew that I was doing it, but also for my own benefit. So, probably
03:20around the age of about 11, I started smoking, smoking weed. I think I took Class A drugs
03:30like Speed for the first time when I was about 11 years old. It was the constant run-ins
03:35with the police that happened over a probably 18-month period. So, I was arrested on numerous
03:39occasions for fighting, shoplifting. And then in the end, it was the system that saved me
03:51to speak, because it was the police interacting with my school, and my teachers saying that
03:58actually, this girl's really bright, she's intelligent, we're just not seeing the best
04:04of her because of her environment. And I think that if we could provide her with some kind
04:07of support, then there's hope, right? And so, it was all of those people within our
04:13system coming together collectively that did save me. Whereas I think up to that point,
04:19as much as I felt at a really young age that I didn't want to live that lifestyle, it happened.
04:31I'd become that. I'd become that. We would go to Woolworths and steal CDs, and then knock
04:36on people's doors and sell them for a fiver. I think the road from that criminality and
04:42that lifestyle, it wasn't like an overnight thing that happened. The hardest part for
04:47me at 16 was leaving home, and leaving... I truly believed that leaving all of my friends,
04:56all of my family behind, and almost like parking that chapter, and creating a whole new life
05:02with the right thing to do. And I do still believe that, but it was really hard because
05:07you're removing yourself from everything you've ever known, the good, the bad, and the ugly.
05:12I feel really lucky. So, although Portsmouth, for me, has so many bad memories, and now
05:21I live in a nice house on the hills in Drayton, and I have a view of the Spinnaker Tower from
05:27my house, and I can see Somers Town one side and Hayland Island the other from my garden.
05:32Whilst there's a huge element of Portsmouth that holds so many bad memories, there's so
05:40much good, and I'm so grateful to live in a society and in a democracy where there are
05:48so many opportunities. So, yes, of course it takes personal grit, tenacity, motivation.
05:56Of course it takes all of that from me to get to where I am, but it also takes living
06:02in a city where people are willing to help you step up, to give you the opportunity of
06:08working in that call centre, to trust that you're not going to steal from that daughter's
06:13bedroom and so they'll invite you round for dinner. It takes a community. When they say
06:19it takes a village to raise someone, okay, I was raised by this crazy village growing
06:26up, my childhood, but then actually into my mid-twenties onwards, I've been really, really
06:34embraced and raised, really, by this deep-rooted community in Portsmouth where people want
06:42everyone to do well. Obviously there still are souls, right, but on the main crux of
06:48it, people want you to do well, people want to see each other succeed, and I think that
06:54is happening in Portsmouth now more than ever. There are so many powerful people, as you'll
06:58see on the Politely Rebellious podcast, who are all pivoting in their own way and they're
07:03all juggling their own projects and they're doing their own version of success, and we're
07:08not talking success as far as like monetary and being millionaires, it's what makes you
07:14happy and what fulfils you, and there's so much at the moment going on of people picking
07:18each other up and helping each other get to the next level, and that's just magical, that's beautiful.
07:33you