One school teacher created her own fairy tale ending by becoming a full-time princess.
Olivia Cutforth decided to quit her job as a teacher in 2021 to pursue her career as a princess for children’s parties and corporate events.
The 27-year-old from Peterborough, in England, had dreamed of starting her own “princess-ing” business after working in the industry for six years.
“I was so desperate to start my own company because I had all these ideas,” she told Kennedy News and Media.
“I had this ambition and vision to run my own company, never thinking it would take off the way it did. I thought I’d just keep it as a side hustle, do some stuff at the weekends and carry on being a teacher.”
So, when the pandemic hit, she took action and started her children’s entertainment company, “Beyond A Princess,” which hires impersonators to attend events.
Cutforth quickly developed a fanbase of nearly 34,000 followers on TikTok, which gave her the push to start her business formally.
“I saved up everything I made from school and put it straight into princessing,” she said.
“My first two big dresses were my Cinderella dress and Belle dress, which were my ‘wow’ dresses. I got them from a designer in Vietnam and they were $621.95 each.”
She mentioned that maintaining such elaborate princess looks to put a dent in her pockets, but “within a couple of months [she] made the money back.”
The “Beyond A Princess” owner’s success allowed her to expand her UK company to “a team of eight and ten girls working for [her] and performing every weekend.”
“I made sure all my team are trained singers, dancers and actresses so the kids are getting an authentic experience because all the girls sing just like the princesses,” she said.
Cutforth’s cast features Disney princesses like Cinderella, Belle from “Beauty and the Beast,” Elsa from “Frozen” and Ariel from “The Little Mermaid.”
However, not every cast member wears an enchanting crown — the company also offers a dark side of impersonators including Disney’s Maleficent and Netflix’s Wednesday Addams.
“I had a vision that it was going to be high quality, interactive and different and that’s how it blew up a bit,” she said.
“I make a lot more than I was making as a performing arts teacher, or anything I’d done before.”
“Princess-ing” has even allowed Cutforth to purchase a $311,535 three-bedroom house, which she is really proud of.
“Within six months of me going full-time [with the company] my boyfriend and I bought a house,” she said.
“Buying my house was a really big achievement, I remember thinking ‘Wow I’ve done this from princessing’.”
Reflecting on her journey, the princess fanatic said she’s “always been someone who’s never known what they wanted to do.
“In my early twenties, I had a different job every week because I was just waiting to find my passion,” she said.
Taking a leap of faith in herself, Cutforth has now found her passion.
“Princessing is magical,” she said. “It’s so heartwarming as you know you’ve really made their day and you know they’ll be talking about it for years to come, that’s so special.”