A quality manager at a pioneering hair care company said she was forced to borrow money from friends and family to live after her employer stopped paying her wages.
Bashirat Ademeyo, who was brought to the UK from Nigeria by her family at the age of five, quit her job in October last year after her employer Ruka Hair stopped paying her salary, citing financial uncertainty at the company.
Ms Ademeyo, 32, is unable to access housing help or benefits because of her leave to remain immigration status and had been left struggling to afford her rent and other living costs over winter.
Speaking about the ordeal, she said: "At the beginning of 2024 my pay was being delayed by a few weeks, but then by summer 2024 they stopped paying.
"We were told that they hadn't made enough revenue to be able to make payments, and that they were waiting for money from investors. My August salary was only partially paid, and then my September and October salaries were unpaid. We were told that they were expecting funding in mid-October.
"Then we were all on a call where the CEO explained that the funding wasn't coming and they didn't know when it was going to land. One of my colleagues quit on that same day.
"The way she delivered that information to us was very callous and unfeeling. She gave us about two minutes to regroup and digest what had been said and then she went straight into responsibilities for the upcoming pop-up."
Ms Ademeyo handed in her notice in September, with her last day being the 31st October. She wanted to share her experience to highlight the precarity of her leave to remain immigration status, which leaves her without a safety net to fall back on.
She was going to take Ruka Hair to an employment tribunal at the end of April in an attempt to recoup more than £6,400 - but two days after The Independent contacted the company for a response, they paid Ms Ademeyo.
Speaking about the impact of not being paid and having to search for new employment, she explained: "It has had a massive toll on my mental and emotional wellbeing. I've been struggling with the stress, and the uncertainty, especially because I've been finding it difficult to find a job.
"I felt I had to leave because there wasn't an urgency to give us our money, and I couldn't continue to be exploited. I didn't want to continue working for free.
"Now for the past two, three months I've had to borrow money to pay rent, bills and other living expenses."
Ruka Hair - a hair extensions company specifically design ed with Black Hair textures in mind - has been featured in Vogue, Elle, Glamour and by The Independent's IndyBest team.
The brand has been sported by the likes of Serena Williams, who wore one of their ponytails while competing in Wimbledon in 2022, and is stocked in Selfridges.
Other employees have reached private settlements with Ruka Hair over their unpaid wages, and the company said they have repaid the majority of outstanding payments.
Varaidzo Tendai Moyo, CEO of Ruka Hair, said that Ms Adeyemo was a "valued and important part of the Ruka story", adding: "We fully support her bringing to light her experience of a turbulent period in a start-up".
Ms Moyo explained that the company experienced a "funding collapse", which impacting their ability to pay employees' wages. She said that this was communicated to the team and they were "encouraged to flag if any urgent/ emergency cash was required".
She said that in-person team meetings were organised "to check on wellbeing and the desire to continue working at Ruka given the current economic and incoming fundraising challenges."
Ms Moyo said she did not take a salary from the business for the majority of 2024, and used personal funds to pay Ms Ademeyo some money to cover her October rent.
She added: "Over the past two years, we've hired over 60 per cent immigrants and 80 per cent women in our team. The depth of diversity in our team is something that we're incredibly proud of, but it also made us deeply conscious of the mental impact of financial instability.
"There are unique responsibilities that immigrants disproportionately experience; supporting family members, bearing the brunt of care work, and contributing to remittances.
"The entire Ruka team, including Ms Adeyemo, navigated this difficult period together - it was deeply painful".