It’s selfie time!
The brains behind the no-makeup selfie phenomenon which has taken over social media and raised £8 million – and counting – for a cancer charity has been revealed to be a teenage mother.
18-year-old Fiona Cunningham, encouraged people to donate cash along with the selfies after actress Kim Novak kicked off the craze when she appeared bare-faced at the Oscars.
Cunningham set up a Facebook page from her bedroom in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire and encouraged people to post no-makeup selfies while donating cash to the Cancer Research UK.
Just only four days after launching her Facebook group, Cancer Research UK proudly announced that they had received £2million in donations from the no-makeup selfie campaign.
The young mother-of-one who lives with her fiancé Carl Cook, 26, and their one-year-old son Jenson, decided to raise awareness for the disease after losing close family members to cancer.
She said: “I read an article about Kim Novak’s decision not to wear makeup at the Oscars.”
“The no-makeup selfie craze really captured my imagination and I was amazed at the response from people around the world and just thought how great it would be if it could be done for charity.
“After seeing nothing similar on Facebook or Twitter, I thought there was something in it that it could raise awareness of cancer.
“Initially I was just going to try and raise awareness for breast cancer, but it just became all cancer and that is even better.
“A few of my family members have had breast cancer and unfortunately one of them didn’t make it.”
“Carl’s grandma also passed away from it so therefore it is quite close to home for us. I set up the Facebook group and encouraged to send in their selfies with a hasthtag linking it to Cancer Research UK.
“I thought a few people would join in and donate money, mainly my friends, but I was shocked when the page went global.
“I had to get some of my friends in to help me administrate the page straight away, it was just unbelievable.
‘I was working around the clock just trying to keep up with the pictures coming in from everywhere. I’m overwhelmed and still think I must be dreaming. I’m just very proud and it’s thanks to everyone that it’s been so successful.
“So many women wear makeup and none of us really need it. The women who have done it are all so brave in a world that expects us all to wear makeup constantly.”
Carl, a team manager at Vodafone, added: “It’s absolutely crazy how it’s taken off. Fiona has put a lot of work to make it a success and I’m so proud of her.
“The money that has been raised is incredible and it’s had a fantastic response. We want to thank everyone who has got involved.”
A spokesman for Cancer Research UK said: “It’s brilliant it’s raising so much money. It’s totally unexpected because it wasn’t something we planned.
“The fact that people have chosen to donate to us has been quite overwhelming. Just putting out a Facebook post that says text us, the fact that people actually did take that action, has been so overwhelming.
“It’s great to see people getting involved.”
