“I pay for everything” – M’sian Influencer Justifies Why She Pays PA RM2.2k Monthly After Backlash

For social media influencers, it is often hard to not be judged for the things you do and the lifestyle you live, especially since most of your content is based on exactly that.

Recently, a local social media influencer came under fire for apparently paying a low salary to her personal assistant, despite living a luxurious lifestyle.

Female influencer, Shaniena Natasya, recently uploaded a TikTok video of her monthly personal expenses, including the amount of money she spends to pay her staff.

In the video, Shaniena shared how she spends tens of thousands of ringgit per month on food, shopping, maintenance, and the salaries of her workers. 

She highlighted how she would spend “at least RM13k” on her food expenses (as she also brought her staff along) and that she would spend over RM50,000 on shopping to de-stress, up to RM600 on shisha, and even RM200 to refill Evian mineral water!

She then revealed that she pays her personal assistant RM2,200 per month.

The revelation caused outrage as netizens took to the comments section to accuse her of underpaying her worker.

“Only RM2.2k? (At least) give RM5k.”

“The t-shirt you bought is RM3k but the salary for your PA is only RM2.2k,” commented another user.

More than just that

Although the video has been deleted, it caused a lot of backlash against the local influencer who has since responded to the comments. In a follow up video, Shaniena shared that she pays for her assistant’s food, living accommodation and even treats her to shopping sprees every so often.

“The RM2.2k salary is just the basic. My PA only helps to record. Food, drinks and accommodation are all paid for by me. My PA knows how I treat them so let them judge,” she wrote in the caption.

In the video, she also shared screenshots where her PA had shown her gratitude for always treating her and paying for things for her.

She also shared several videos of her buying expensive gifts for her PA to reward her for doing a good job.

Although it is never okay to underpay someone who has worked hard, sometimes, there is more than meets the eye and we should not be so quick to judge people.

Also read: Indonesian Influencers Publicly Apologise For Bringing Their 5-Month-Old Baby on Jet Ski Ride