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

GIVE A GIFT THAT CHANGES A VENDOR'S LIFE THIS WINTER 🎁

For £36.99, help a vendor stay warm, earn an extra £520, and build a better future.
Grant, vendor

Recommended for you

View all
Disability benefit claimants at risk of poverty because of 'poor service' from DWP, MPs warn
Pat McFadden, work and pensions secretary. Image: House of Commons/ Flickr
Poverty

Disability benefit claimants at risk of poverty because of 'poor service' from DWP, MPs warn

Big Issue founder renews calls for child poverty targets: 'I am gifting the government a chance'
Lord John Bird reads his Ministry for Poverty Prevention Bill in the House of Lords.
Child poverty

Big Issue founder renews calls for child poverty targets: 'I am gifting the government a chance'

The innovative project giving homeless people a fighting chance through boxing and martial arts
Homelessness

The innovative project giving homeless people a fighting chance through boxing and martial arts

It's early January and FTSE 100 CEOs have already earned more than an average worker's yearly pay
Stock photo of UK bank notes and coins
Wages

It's early January and FTSE 100 CEOs have already earned more than an average worker's yearly pay