Fleur East | Extraordinary Life Stories

0:11Fleur, I've been looking forward to this. Thank you for joining me. Yeah, thank you. Tell me who is Fleurie East? a girl short question straight in um why not i guess um a girl from walthamstow in 17 um who grew up in a working class family full of vibrancy music food laughter After always enjoyment at the centre of everything, there was always a buzz in our home. Lots of parties, lots of family, lots of noise. There was always something going on. And I guess I'm just a product of that environment. I was going to say that you exude that, you radiate that. So that's a culture from your parents and from kind of their background as well.

1:07because you just feel happy, got a real positive vibe about you. Yeah, I think my mum's from Ghana. She grew up there and she came over to the UK when she was 18. So she, yeah, that culture is just all about that. It's very laid back. If you go to Ghana, everyone is on a positive frequency. There's a lot of laughter, sharing food. It's kind of all about community and a lot of the culture involves, even at dinner time sitting around a bowl together and literally breaking bread together it's a strong friendships strong family bonds yeah you mentioned laid back there's a real drive to you as well there's a real focus purpose so that's an interesting marriage because you've got laid back people that don't do much and aren't too bothered whereas there's so many things you're doing and we'll come to that and there's so many things you probably still want to do yeah but tell me about those sort of early influences that have influenced the career-wise if you like the who and the what yeah i think just growing up my parents never really put any limits on me at all or my sister they were always just like yeah you want to do that great so encouragement always encouraged opening your opening you up to all sorts of different ideas were you the girl that had the hairbrushes the microphone in the room because we singing's a massive part you know music was obviously in your family but you went on and have gone on to be a really successful singer was that Was that all part of just being confident and expressing yourself?

2:35Well, not really. It was kind of the opposite, actually. I wasn't very confident as a kid. That's how I would describe it. I've got one word I was thinking about in overarching, to talk to apart from being positive and that positive vibe. Confident is what I would have described you as. So is that something you've had to work on? It's interesting that you picked that word because when my dad was following me on my X Factor journey, He met with Jay James, who was also in the competition at the time, and he just had a daughter. She was really young. And he asked my dad, you know, I want to know what values you instilled in your kids, you know, from a young age, because I look at your daughters and I can see that they're, you know, they're very bold in their character.

3:20Your daughter's very brave, you know, coming on this show. What values did you instill in them? And my dad said confidence. and I didn't know he'd ever said that and he'd never said that to me or my sister but it was after I spoke to Jay James and he said to me your dad said that he taught you to be confident from a young age I was like that's so interesting because I didn't even realize that that was something that he put focus on but now actually when I look back it makes sense yeah it makes a lot of sense it's brilliant because I'm a dad of two daughters 13 and 15 and confidence is something that's been smashed to pieces by social media yeah and so you you had you know limited experience of that until older years if you like but it's something that i feel as a dad i'm quite good at that sort of no limits and encouraging and so on but you've got no control over what they consume on social media and then that fear of judgment and comparison and bullying at school yeah so i was going to ask you actually quite early in this conversation you know sort of advice you'd give to someone that does look at you as confident that's my my way of describing that would be my girl's way of looking at you she's confident she's comfortable without being arrogant but you put yourself out there as well you and your sister in an entrepreneurial way in an authentic way what advice would you give to someone that doesn't feel they can do that and is hiding from fear of judgment oh that's so difficult yeah it's an unfair question but i think it's coming from a point of lived experience where you've pushed through obstacles and barriers to get that confidence that perhaps you didn't feel you had yeah you do now I think I always asked myself the question what would I say and how would I feel in 10 years time if I didn't take this opportunity and I think it was the fear of sitting there and looking back and going I wish I'd done that or if only I'd followed that and I think one thing that makes me feel sad whenever I speak to people and meet people, because I love learning about people as well, is when they say something like, oh, I did have a dream of, you know, being a seamstress, but I never followed that.

5:30Or, yeah, I did like dancing, you know, when I was younger, but I don't know, I just never really, you know, it was something I was passionate about, but I never did it. And I just thought I don't ever want to look back and think I wish I'd pursued that or regret missing out on opportunities. and I think that feeling overpowered the fear of going ahead and actually doing it the fear of not doing it was stronger than the fear of actually doing it really and I think that's what that's what pushed me forwards and then as I progressed and as I had more experiences and rejections along the way and things like that I then built a hunger and a determination and then that's where the confidence came from so you could actually say you articulate that so well you could actually say that the confidence has come from some of the knockbacks, some of the failings, and then the world didn't end.

6:18Yes. And blur still carries on. And actually another door opens, and all those experiences you only got because you pushed yourself to go. Exactly. From a fear of not wanting to be regretful, which is brilliant. But that building of resilience, where there might have been a few instances where you did get knocked back, and it knocks your confidence, what kept you going? Again, I think having the rejection... Like a challenge? Yeah, it's like a challenge. I think you can either go one of two ways. You can get knocked down and say, oh, do you know what? It's not worth it. Like, it hurts too much.

6:51I don't want to experience that again. Or you go, no, actually, I'm going to show you. I don't want you to tell me that I can't do that. And I think that's the direction that I took. I followed the latter approach. And I built a resilience through doing that. That's the word. Yeah. You exude that again, use that word again, radiate. you know it feels like if I tasked you to do something um you'd be like yeah I'll do that and actually if you look at how you're living your life you're on the radio this morning yes yeah I don't know what you're doing after this you're going somewhere and then there's tomorrow and so on but nothing's the same you put yourself out there to challenge yourself what have you not done yet that's on Fleur's list of like this is something I want to do my goodness um I've dipped my toe in the acting world so I've done bits and bobs I did like a bit part in Ted Lasso and featured in a BBC drama.

7:40That's a great show. I love that show. It's a great show. Phoenix Rise, I played a teacher in that. I would love to do more of that. Is there a role you'd love to play? Yeah, I'd love to play a superhero. I don't know why. I've always imagined, you know, like a Catwoman type figure, like a strong, empowered female figure. That's what I would love. You're manifesting it right now. That would be the dream. Yeah, I'd love to do it. I'd love to write more because I've always loved to write. And I've been able to express that through writing songs, and I write a bit of poetry as well and spoken word.

8:14But I would love to write some sort of fiction along the way, something that's quite imaginative. Because life's busy right now, right? So busy. But if you're thinking that and, again, manifesting it, that's something that you'll be able to come to at some point. The acting side of things would be great. And in terms of, I'm just curious, because you're a natural performer, what about on the stage? Yeah. Because superhero is film. it's movies right but would you like to go on the stage i would love that but it's funny because i remember being younger my dad would always say to me you can never have too many strings to your bow and so hence i'm doing about 20 000 things people always like gosh how do you how do you even focus you're doing one minute you're on the radio next minute you're on tv and then you're singing and then you're a mom and then you're doing a business and there's so many things going on but i just love exploring everything all the flavors of life so juggling intrigues me So as an entrepreneur with different business interests, and again, you and your sister are very entrepreneurial and all the things that you're pursuing and a mum, how did you juggle?

9:18Is it a myth that there's a balance? Because you look like you're sort of killing it and there might be lots of balls you're spinning and plates you keep up. But have you got a system that works for you? You know, how are you keeping all those plates spinning? I think the key is just whenever I'm in a certain role I'm in that role I'm not thinking about any of the others so so you're fully because I can tell you're fully present yeah yeah so this moment in time the same with me you've got to be on the radio it's live but that's right now I'm going to do the best I can with my ability exactly yeah okay exactly be the be so present in the moment and to the point where in my personal life I will be in a scenario or having a conversation with someone and my phone is somewhere else i don't know where it is my family hate me because they can never get in touch with me they'll have to either call my sister kesha or my husband marcel to reach me because i hate my phone somewhere and i'm talking to someone about something you're in the moment i'm in the moment but that makes you seriously good company if you think about because there's plenty of people i'm i you know i'm guilty even with my kids you know i and i'm telling them to get off phones and then my phone's going it's like oh just quit and then you can see they'll drift back to their phones and i'm a hypocrite now so you're you manage that really well yeah i think that's how i that's how i survive advice for me yeah be present in whatever it is that i'm doing and then i can dedicate myself fully to to whatever role i'm playing at that time and of course then it's for you to decide how it fits into the schedule and so on and radio it seems like you're really enjoying the radio i've been listening in knowing i'm going to meet you today and film i've been listening to the radio And it's like you seem like you really enjoy it.

10:54Yeah. So, I mean, I guess that's a question I've got is the sort of how have you found the things you want to do? Singing was clearly a passion. Yeah. How have you then looked into other things you wanted to do and decide whether they're things you want to actually pursue? Well, I think because, like I said, my parents always encouraged me to explore all of my passions. I've always done that. So from a young age, I always knew I wanted to sing. So I was always joining either a singing club in Walthamstow after school or sung in the choir at church. And so I was always exploring that. And then alongside that, education was such an important thing.

11:30My mum was always like, you need to get a degree. That was the thing. You know, at first I was like, I just want to sing. Why have I got to get a degree? But there was literally a hall of like a wall of fame, I'll call it, in my nan's house, my mother's mum. and Nana Christie had this wall of everybody's pictures when they graduated. And it was just a thing that you had to graduate and get your picture on that wall. It was something that everyone was, I guess, working towards. Expected within the family. Yeah, and expected to achieve. So at first I was annoyed that I couldn't just go out and sing.

12:06But then actually I really loved school and I loved to learn. Do you think it created a discipline for you as well? Yeah, it definitely did. and then I decided to explore journalism and that's why I studied at university and then I did a little tv presenter course while I was at uni and joined dance groups because I love to dance and so I was always exploring everything and then it's funny as soon as I got my foot in the door with music everything else then came to me through that that is interesting and actually just the journalism bit if you look at how we are all now our own personal brand so social media right you have a a really loyal engaged community on social media but you can put yourself out there with articulation probably back from stuff you learned at university that's all from a journalistic point of view so it kind of comes together yeah one of the things you've been really I think brave and vulnerable about is your your openness with mental health which I think is ultimately inspiring a lot of other people to be more open where did that come from and when did you decide you wanted to do that I think I guess I got to a place where I always feel like I'm straddling two worlds so even though I'm in the entertainment world and I've been doing this now for 10 years um I still feel like I'm still the girl from Walthamstow so there's still dreaming of doing it all so you know one minute I could be on a red carpet somewhere looking so glam and then I'll get home that night and I'll be at home with my family and stripped back and absolutely loving that and sharing all the experiences of the red carpet and I guess that's the journalistic side almost like a fly on the wall yeah that's really good grounding that shows a real lack of ego as well in the moment you can I don't say turn it on but you like live it and then you can almost share it in a probably really giggly I find it fascinating I find it so fascinating and I love it And any show I've worked on, I'll be so intrigued at how it works and what happens behind the camera and who works on it and how does it all come together.

14:10And I guess that feeds into all the things that I'm doing now. Yeah. And have you had an outpouring and felt like you've got more close to that community and engagement of fans, if you like, through being vulnerable, being yourself, being authentic? Yeah. And I think, I guess what led me to getting that, get into that place. I mean, it took a lot of hard work to get there. I think people, especially when you, when you burst onto the scene on something like the X Factor, people just assume, oh, you walked out of your bedroom and you went and auditioned. And, and that was the first thing you'd ever done in the industry.

14:43but they don't realize that years before I was working to become a singer and I was you know doing all the student unions up and down the country getting paid I mean next to nothing really to do gigs by the time I paid for transport and paid my booking agent I was making hardly anything but I was I was grafting and then layering yeah exactly and then toured with DJ Fresh for two years all around the world and then I went on to the X Factor so there was so much that happened before yeah and I think as soon as I got my platform it struck me that it was really important to show people that there's a lot of work that goes behind I guess what people see eventually you know but there's a lot of groundwork that goes into it and I wanted to encourage people because I remember being in that position of seeing others in the industry and sort of I guess being naive and thinking oh well they're really lucky they just they just got signed and that just happened yeah and you you kind of get here's the real story yeah after a lot of rejection as well you feel you feel annoyed that it's not you and and as soon as i got into that position i knew that there would be others looking at me and thinking oh well why her you know i'm a better singer than her or i you know i've been putting years into this why why is she getting that opportunity and i thought well no actually learn about people's story and learn what goes into it and then learn that people are deserving.

16:06You know, no matter what path they've walked, to get there, they've had to put some groundwork in and learn and listen to people's stories. And then I think it inspires people more to stick at it. It's relatable. Yeah, exactly. It's made it relatable. And even that Fleur that goes home having just interviewed Denzel Washington or Vinnie McArpett, you just go back as Fleur. And actually, I think that's what I feel from you. And that's what anyone that ultimately is following you or listening to you and wanting to know you, that's what you that's what you give off going back to this whole juggling but but keeping all the plates spinning but being open about your mental health what works for you so you are flat out busy and thank you for making time to talk today right in a busy schedule but you must be prioritizing and concentrating on your mental fitness yes and your physical fitness they go hand in hand so what is it that you do in a busy schedule do you have a morning routine because you know how do you fit that in before six o 'clock on the radio right so do you choose to do something later do you try and get out for a walk and fresh air what are the things you prioritize yeah i think um i always prioritize laughter that for me is a big one that's brilliant a big one and like you mentioned social media that can be quite a draining a draining thing mentally for a lot of people and i like to tell people trick your algorithm so for example if i see videos that are skits or comedy or a video of a baby laughing or light-hearted content I'll save all of those and I watch videos like that so immediately as soon as I get onto my social media the first thing I will see is either a comedy video or it's something about a parent a funny video light-hearted content and I'm laughing I'm laughing from the moment I've woken up I go into hits radio with my team James and Matt we're laughing immediately I'm with my family you know we're making fun of each other and we love it's therapy and that laughter is for me it is my top priority that is my therapy and if I can find the laughter and the joy in any situation I'm in to me it doesn't ever feel like work I don't feel I could leave the house at 4 30 a.m get back at 11 p.m and I don't feel like I've worked because everything I'm doing I'm finding the joy in it all it's not it's not stressful for me in that sense brilliant it actually reminds me again leading up to uh meeting and filming today you and kashia in business together did a social post where you were stood by product in the shop oh yeah you called out your uncle and you both laughed like that yeah it just makes me realize that's just pure authenticity and you're doing it and you're doing it to promote the business you're doing it in the most raw authentic way and having fun together what's it like working with Keshia because um being in business with your wife husband brother sister you know you having met you both outside and you're clearly close but you're in business together decision making yeah you know um you know routes to go and all that how's that all going yeah it's interesting because we we're so so close and I I think I have a theory that we're so close because we're five years apart but we shared a bedroom for years and I think I think that's what made us really really close because day and night we were always together we played together subconscious stuff as well right when you were both doing stuff you're both aware what each other were doing and exactly we were confiding each other yeah and we decided very early on and I don't know why but we decided very early on that having your sister as your enemy is probably the worst thing you could ever do did you used to fall out no we didn't we didn't actually but we would see we see so for us it wasn't strange that we were close but we learned quickly when we would speak to other siblings or when people would see our relationship and we still get this today people go wow you're really close that's really nice yeah you can feel you know like me and my sister weren't or me and my brother weren't and we would see examples of siblings that weren't close and how that would just be the worst thing ever.

20:06It was awful because there's someone that you're so close to and they know everything about you. They know you, you know, you can go out into the world and you can be different people. You wear a different mask in different situations, but your sibling knows you through and through. So we've always been so, so close. And it was almost like a, I guess, an unwritten or unspoken pact that we had that we would never make each other our enemy and that was really important to us and so working together I mean it's come so naturally because we've worked together for so long she's a makeup artist she's done my makeup throughout my career and she's always my number one and that keeps us close and then through the highs and lows of the industry I've always had her with me and she's always been the connection to family because if I was ever on a set somewhere or busy doing an interview or going up and down the country Kesha would be the plug to the family so she'd be messaging the whatsapp group or speaking to my mum Fleur hasn't been able to call you today because literally she's been flat out we're doing interviews we're doing this or she'd take pictures of what was going on in the day and send it to the family group and go this is what she's doing guys so you know she's not on her phone right now and she would be I guess the eyes and ears for everyone back at home and a chance for you to be able to ground again and Kesha to be totally with her best friend ultimately i guess that's the way you look at it yeah and we always say that we were doing tiktok and social media before it was even a thing we used to film skits at home we could spend hours and hours in our room filming skits just for fun you know on old school video cameras and yeah but look how valuable that is now yeah now it's just natural It goes back to what I was saying, you know, the whole confidence and now personal brand and social media.

21:50A lot of people, myself included, 47 years old, a couple of years ago to start sort of putting the phone in front of me to do a self-conscious stuff. You blew the doors off that by just doing skits. Yeah, we still have the videos now of us just putting little plays together or shows together and entertaining the family. And so that chemistry is just really natural. So I guess now working together on a business is different because we haven't worked together in this capacity and we're navigating, you know, what our different ways of working are. But at the centre of it, it's just what we've always been doing.

22:24And it's just more official, I guess, now. Well, it's a relationship with a purpose to ultimately achieve business success. What are the biggest challenges that you both are facing in the business? I think, honestly, the biggest challenge is juggling now our personal relationship as sisters and a working relationship. because at first we didn't really consider that we were just like oh great we've got all these ideas let's put them onto paper let's create a hair brand let's get into boots we're selling this is great but then which you've done by the way which you tick the success box yeah but you're just going to make sure you but then it's like oh but now we're business partners and you know a lot of the time we could spend a day together and we're talking about curl kitchen the whole day so you've actually got to make a conscious effort say right stop let's not do that yeah let's have a sister hug and then we talk about something else yeah because we used to spend hours together just just being sisters and not doing business at least you recognize that yeah we've in the first few months we've gone okay let's actually go out for lunch and just not talk about it yeah i mentioned the word success then and you are you're killing it in business relating that to fler and the career you've had the things you could call successful sitting here now what's your definition of success yeah that's an interesting one I think the definition for me is being happy and like I said before being able to have a career in something that you you really enjoy like truly enjoy follow your passion yeah and that you wake up and you don't feel like you're going to work I think that is success it's not like numbers it's not money it's just being comfortable waking up every day and being being happy to do what you go to earn money to do because ultimately i mean we all need money to survive but if you can crack that formula of making whatever your source of income is your your absolute passion and something that you can smile through that's brilliant i mean that for me is success and it's inspiration coming from you and i actually my my last question which might well overlap what you just said was reflecting on your life and with perspective and maturity to a young flair growing up and an aspirational um potential singer um radio presenter all the things that you're doing is there one piece of advice that you give to that person to your younger self um i would say don't limit yourself which is what your parents said to you right well because that's got you because it's funny because i think everything happened to me yeah there was a lot of groundwork but when I really got my break I was 26 years old which isn't old but in the pop world it is quite mature you know to break into the industry and I think a lot of that obviously was down to whatever happened to me whatever rejection I had you know however I took my path the trajectory if you like but then coupled with that was a lot of self-doubt because I was very very shy as a kid and I did not did not really believe in myself fully to go out there and I didn't believe that I could do it I was always like well why me so many amazing singers why would it be me and there was I was riddled with a lot of self-doubt and I I almost think if I was if I was more confident and if I believed in myself a lot sooner I probably would have opened doors a lot earlier um so I think that held me back a lot so I would just say just don't limit yourself and you can do it and just believe that you can do it it's great advice i was so looking forward to this conversation and everything i'd seen from you interviewing denzel washington to the radio you're not talking about you so i just i hope that's in some way been enjoyable for you because i've loved learning about you and you sharing everything and that's all we've got time for but you've been an absolute pleasure to speak with oh thank you thanks for having me thank you

26:17Well done. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye.