How Aussie 20yo makes $120k minus degree

An Australian woman has revealed how she earns $120k per year without a degree, encouraging other young women to follow their aspirations.
An Australian woman has revealed how she earns $120k per year without a degree, encouraging other young women to follow their aspirations.

An Australian woman has gone viral online after revealing how she makes $120k per year without a university degree.

Claudia Roussel, 20, was on a dream holiday in New York when she was approached by TikTok creator Suleyman Dolaev, who posts content asking people in US streets what they do for work and how much they earn.

Ms Roussel told 7News she’d seen Mr Dolaev’s videos online and was excited to be involved in the video, which has now gone viral on TikTok.

In the video, Ms Roussel reveals she works in tech sales, where she earns about $120,000 per year.

“I just got into it through reaching out to different companies I was interested in working for straight out of high school,” she told Mr Dolaev.

“I study on the weekends, so there’s a lot of hustle involved, but I eventually landed a really lower level job and worked my way up into sales.”

Ms Roussel said she worked between nine and 10 hours a day, which is a “bit longer than a normal work day, but it’s nothing unreasonable”.

Following the interview, Ms Roussel said her phone was going off the whole night.

“I was trying to get to sleep and my phone was off silent and all of a sudden I started getting notification after notification on my Instagram and TikTok,” she told 7News.

An Australian woman has revealed how she earns $120k per year without a degree, encouraging other young women to follow their aspirations.
Claudia Roussel revealed she earns $120k per year while studying. Picture: TikTok
Ms Roussel works in tech sales. Picture: TikTok.
Ms Roussel works in tech sales. Picture: TikTok.

“Some people were saying, ‘Yeah, rich daddies and private schools will get you there’, and others were like, ‘Step one: Be hot’. It was an interesting experience.

“It’s insane … I was really just trying to tell my story, and then all of a sudden people are like, ‘She slept her way to the top’.”

One person flocked to the comments to commend Ms Roussel for her “great attitude”.

“As an Aussie, we claim her! Well done Claudia. Great attitude,” one person wrote.

“That’s seriously impressive,” another added.

Ms Roussel said she “never” would have thought of herself as a role model, telling 7News she’s “only 20” and “still trying to figure (her) life out”.

However, in the viral video she encouraged other women to just have a shot at their aspirations.

“My advice would be you miss 100 per cent of the shots you don’t take. I’ve got it tattooed on me here,” she said, revealing a tattoo on her finger.

“You have to take every f***ing shot that you can … even if you’re going to embarrass yourself, even when it’s not going to work out.

“I spend most of my days cold calling and I cannot let myself be restricted by my nerves, by my fears of being turned down.

“You gotta be ruthless, you gotta be honest, and you don’t let being a girl set you back because often times people will not take you as seriously as if you were to be a man.”