Chicken Shop Date star Amelia Dimoldenberg has said young people “need nepotism” these days in order to get out of the employment rejection loop.
Career and Advocacy
The 32-year-old YouTube star is best known for her series where she awkwardly interviews celebrities over a “date” in a local chicken shop including Sir Paul McCartney, Cher and Sir Idris Elba.
She has since launched her own programme, Dimz Inc. Academy, which offers young people hands-on media training, industry mentorship and paid work placements over the summer.
Call for More Opportunities
The social media star told The Big Issue she believes “young people deserve better” and that more needs to be done to open up opportunities for people not in education, employment or training, also referred to as Neet.
It comes after former health secretary Alan Milburn published an independent review into the issue.
She said: “It is far too easy for critics to label young people disengaged.
“(Alan Milburn’s) report proves the reality is structural – mental health struggles, regional inequalities, and stripped-back youth services have systematically shut doors in their faces.
“The vast majority have everything they need to get employment but they are in a rejection loop.
“They just need someone to open a door for them. They need someone who knows someone to send their CV to someone.
“They need nepotism, basically.”
Grassroots Beginnings
She encouraged anyone who can to open their network and create opportunities to “put people forward for work experience placements” because it is “definitely” a way to help.
Dimoldenberg’s show, which has also featured stars including singer Billie Eilish, actor Andrew Garfield and presenter Louis Theroux, has been years in the making and she credits its success to the support she received during its early days.
She said: “Long before Chicken Shop Date was the global hit on YouTube that it is today, it was a column written by the 17-year-old me in a magazine called The Cut that was run out of a youth club in north-west London – which now doesn’t exist due to austerity cuts by the Conservative government.
“Without that grassroots foundation, the idea that started everything simply wouldn’t exist.”
The Chicken Shop Date influencer has curated the “Opportunity Issue” of the Big Issue with the help of friends TV presenter Maya Jama, Rizzle Kicks’ Jordan Stephens, comedian Munya Chawawa, rapper Loyle Carner and comedian Jack Rooke.
The full interview can be read in the special edition on sale this week.
