One influencer risked everything to create a new life.
Lovina Hershberger, a former member of the Amish community, fled in the night in 2021 from her family’s home in Iowa, ten days after her 18th birthday. She had $24 to her name and left behind her parents and eleven younger siblings, penning a goodbye note to her family before fleeing to a nearby farm.
“Something about, ‘Sorry. And I'm OK,’” Hershberger told People in an interview published Nov. 15. "I did not tell them where I was or anything. They had no way of getting a hold of me."
As Hershberger explained, she had never used a phone or the Internet before and first got the notion to leave behind her Amish lifestyle after her father forced her to quit her teaching job in favor of working on his sawmill.
“The parents always decide what you do with your life until you're 21,” she explained, “and my dad told me that they're not going to allow me to be a school teacher again because it doesn't pay enough.”
Additionally, Hershberger noted, "I was tired of having everybody tell me how to dress, what to wear, how to wear it.”
Luckily, Hershberger’s older brother Joseph, who had previously left the Amish community, was able to help her.
"I had $24 when I left," she said. "If it wouldn't have been for my brother, I wouldn't have made it because he bought me my phone and everything and never asked for repayment."
The learning curve entering into a non-Amish society was steep for Hershberger, mostly because she didn’t have the basic documentation necessary for employment.
"Before I could get my [learner's] permit, I had to get my social security card and my birth certificate,” she said, noting her parents kept all their kids’ documentation “locked up” until they marry or turn 21. “And those two take a long time to get. You need proof that you're a real person.”
Joseph’s future wife helped Hershberger get a job cleaning homes before she began to learn how to make and edit videos on social media.
After going viral with her “I’m not just a b---h, I’m a b---h with a backstory” video, which received over 9.6 million views and 1.2 million likes, Hershberger began regularly updating her TikTok account with videos about her Amish past. The content is both lighthearted and also informative as she answers many viewers’ questions about the Amish culture and posts cooking videos.
"People started asking me questions ... I started answering them, and people love it," Hershberger said. "I'm like, 'OK, this is nice. I love talking. I love answering questions and people love hearing my answers. So this is the way I'm going to go.'"
Her skillset has also given her a new role editing the Amish Rebel podcast with her uncle, a fellow ex-Amish community member. And she recently married Eli, a man she met in a common living arrangement for those fresh out of their Amish communities.
The couple tied the knot in August and though both of their families were invited to the nuptials, neither chose to attend.
"It's definitely not just smooth sailing," Hershberger said of her ongoing attempts to reconnect with her family. "There's definitely something between us because of what I did. Because they think I'm dishonoring them, and they don't like the way I live my life."