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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

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Learn more about our impact

When most people think about the Big Issue, they think of vendors selling the Big Issue magazines on the streets – and we are immensely proud of this. In 2022 alone, we worked with 10% more vendors and these vendors earned £3.76 million in collective income. There is much more to the work we do at the Big Issue Group, our mission is to create innovative solutions through enterprise to unlock opportunity for the 14million people in the UK living in poverty.

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