Kennie Bukky, co-founder at The Pivot Place.
Courtesy: Kennie Bukky
Kennie Bukky, a millennial skilled, made a six-figure wage in 2024 and attributed her excessive earnings to 2 key methods: constructing an viewers on social media and studying high-paying expertise.
Despite being underneath 30 years outdated, Bukky balances a number of jobs and earned simply over £100,000 (roughly $130,000) in 2024.
However, it wasn’t all the time this fashion. When she graduated from college in 2017 with a bachelor’s diploma in forensic science, she felt her prospects regarded bleak.
“Straight out of college, I used to be fairly involved about cash, wanting on the salaries, it simply wasn’t that nice,” she instructed CNBC Make It in an interview.
But she knew she needed a excessive wage — and so set about making that occur.
“I used to be very intentional about what profession paths I used to be taking place and the way I used to be exchanging my time for cash,” she defined. “Money’s all the time been a difficulty … [and] I noticed that it is vital to go for high-end careers in order that I can mitigate that,” she defined.
This angle noticed Bukky pivot into the monetary companies sector the place she noticed there was cash to be made.
She skilled to be a compliance officer and has labored on this position for firms together with KPMG and Visa. Now, regardless of being on a break from the 9-to-5 for the previous yr, she’s commanded six figures as a full-time content material creator, in addition to by her work as a digital youth engagement officer, profession coach, and public speaker.
Bukky selected to maintain her authorized title and age personal for privateness causes, and CNBC has verified her earnings by way of bill statements.
‘I felt like I had a lot worth to share’
Bukky stated that constructing a private model on social media was key to incomes a excessive revenue.
She has almost 130,000 followers on TikTook and over 35,000 followers on Instagram and creates content material round profession recommendation and wealth-building for her demographic of principally younger, bold girls of shade.
“I simply needed to share my profession and private finance data, as a result of I felt like these are issues that I’d mastered at fairly a younger age and actually do nicely at,” she stated.
“I felt like I had a lot worth to share, and that not directly became me constructing a private model.”
As a results of her rising viewers, she’s been in a position to collaborate with manufacturers like LinkedIn, Deutsche Bank, Microsoft, ACCA, Bing, and HSBC on social media.
Becoming a social media persona gave Bukky the momentum to co-found The Pivot Place in 2023, a enterprise that helps folks construct expertise to switch into non-coding tech roles.
‘Skills pay the payments’
Bukky stated she’s in a position to cost increased charges for the companies she gives as a result of she invested in upskilling.
“I’ve fairly an enormous perception that if you spend money on your self, expertise, and data, that may have an excellent excessive ROI [return on investment] by way of simply how a lot you’ll be able to earn as an individual, which generally is greater than the inventory market will ever pay you,” Bukky defined.
When she was 23 years outdated, Bukky was working as an onboarding analyst at RBS on a £28,000 wage. She then jumped to a managerial position that paid £40,000.
“I used to be very intentional about understanding that I needed an enormous leap. I did not wish to simply be right here and obtain a 3% increase each couple of years,” she defined. “What that concerned was going for a job that was much more senior than what I used to be on, and studying to confidently promote myself for roles that had been fairly senior.”
Although she struggled with imposter syndrome on the time, Bukky needed to problem her notion of what she was able to. To put together for the position, she did a variety of self-study utilizing free on-line assets.
She suggested younger people who find themselves making an attempt to hit a six-figure wage to search for methods to construct “high-income expertise” that may improve how a lot their time is value. Bukky really useful taking programs, becoming a member of communities or boot camps, and even beginning a facet hustle to do that.
“Skills pay the payments. You have to construct high-income expertise. You have to not stay stagnant by way of how a lot your time is value,” she added.
