Advertising helps fund Big Issue’s mission to end poverty
News

I was a Big Issue vendor and now I'm a Gogglebox star

Sandra Martin believes she was able to turn her life around thanks to The Big Issue. She has since found fame on Gogglebox.

Only four years before Sandra Martin found fame on Gogglebox, she was selling The Big Issue. She lost her home after a stint in jail and struggled with alcohol abuse.

“One day, I saw someone with a copy of The Big Issue in the hostel,” she says. “I wanted an opportunity to get out there and do something positive instead of drinking, drinking, drinking.

“That was the start of my luck turning around. Suddenly lots of good things started happening. I think The Big Issue brought me good luck. Because of The Big Issue I was able to change my life around. It really feels like that.”

@sandragogglebox

Advertising helps fund Big Issue’s mission to end poverty

Do you know how Big Issue 'really' works?

Watch this simple explanation.

Recommended for you

View all
Blindboy: 'If I were prime minister I'd stop billionaires buying political power'
PM For The PM

Blindboy: 'If I were prime minister I'd stop billionaires buying political power'

Aberdeen through the eyes of a former homeless person: 'I showed Prince William around the city'
Invisible Cities tour guide showing a tour group a mural by Sheffield artist Phlegm at Holborn Junction, Aberdeen
Travel

Aberdeen through the eyes of a former homeless person: 'I showed Prince William around the city'

The football food van serving up jobs for out-of-work young people
Stuffed Gourmet Trailers food van outside St Mary's Stadium in Southampton
Food

The football food van serving up jobs for out-of-work young people

Fat Macy's: The training academy lifting young people out of homelessness and into hospitality jobs
A young person being trained in the kitchen at Fat Macy's
Employment

Fat Macy's: The training academy lifting young people out of homelessness and into hospitality jobs