Michelle Feeney: Founder and CEO of Floral Street

0:00From GEICO Subconscious News, I'm Tammy Racing Thoughts broadcasting from your brain. You think you live in a pretty safe place, but you just heard about a break in four miles away, which isn't close, but it isn't far either, you know? Art Palpitations is on the scene. I sure am, Tammy, and I don't even know why I drove out here, because as you know, you got customized renter's insurance through GEICO, so your stuff is covered. Oh, well that's great. Any sign of crime there, Art? Just some light littering, Tammy, but like they say, a little litter can lead to a lot. Wise words. It feels good to worry less.

0:28It feels good to GEICO. Chicago talks. A lot. Hold on, let me step over here. People are talking too much. We debate about food, deep dish, tavern style, who's got the best beef. We yell across rooms, across blocks, across generations. Yes, nice earrings, Grammy. And now we're doing it on our phones, too. Video calls from the L train, group chats that never shut up. Neighbors texting you the score before your TV catches up. Come on! Get a load of this guy. Ketchup. On a dog. Yeah, we've got thoughts. too loud? In Chicago, you're gonna hear it. Because nothing here gets built without conversation.

1:06Nothing moves without connection. So if you think you know AT &T, it might be time to rethink that. Because their network has improved, like, a lot. So Chicago can keep speaking its mind with AT &T Wireless and AT &T Fiber. Chicago won't stop talking. Our improved network backs it up. AT &T, connecting changes everything. AT &T Fiber, limited availability in select areas. Welcome to the Jazz Shapers podcast from Mishkondorea. What you're about to hear was originally broadcast on Jazz FM. However, the music has been cut due to rights issues. The world's greatest jazz, soul and blues. From the world's greatest artists.

1:46This is Jazz FM. Jazz Shapers with Elliot Moss in partnership with Mishkondorea. It's business, but it's personal. Welcome to Jazz Shapers with me, Elliot Moss, bringing the shapers of the business world together with a musician shaping jazz soul and blues. My guest today for this final Jazz Shapers of the season is none other than, drumroll, Michelle Feeney, founder and CEO of Floral Street, a British fragrance brand. Starting her career in PR, then launching her own PR agency in New York, Michelle was headhunted by none other than Estee Lauder Companies and led MAC Cosmetics to become the world's biggest makeup brand.

2:26where, working with the United Nations, she also spearheaded the MAC AIDS Fund, helping children living with HIV around the globe. As CEO of Saint-Tropez, she helped turn a niche brand into a mainstream global success. There's a theme developing here. And in 2017, while in her 50s, Michelle launched Floral Street, challenging the perfume industry's damaging environmental impact. As Michelle says, Floral Street is an upstart brand, aiming to do everything differently, from making recyclability and sustainability the core of our brand and, and I love this by the way, challenging the use of sexuality to sell scents.

3:00Michelle Feeney is my business shaper, as I said. She's the CEO and founder of Floral Street. They make lovely perfumes and do a lot more. But before we get into that, that was Diana Ross. And Michelle, you know Diana Ross or you worked with Diana Ross many years ago. Yes, I did. We had a series of famous, more mature women that we decided to make Mac icons and Diana Ross is one of those. and, you know, I was, wow, I'd grown up, you know, listening to her music and dancing and I was responsible for taking her to Paris Fashion Week and she's the only person I work with as a famous person that's actually made me cry.

3:44And I took her to Paris Fashion Week. There was... When was this? What year, roughly? Well, it must be about 20 years ago now, I must say. Somewhere between 1997 and 2004. Yeah, that's right, yeah. No, it was the early 2000s, actually, to be honest. And I took her to the John Galliano show. They requested. We had a huge event for her the following night, which a lot of Paris was coming to. And we went backstage, and they attempted to take a photograph of her with John Galliano and the head of LMVH. And I stood in front of her and said, no, you can't take photographs. And we went back to the hotel, and she just shouted at me in front of everyone.

4:25I said, what are you doing? And I said, I'm protecting you. You know, we're paying you. I still order companies. It's our night tomorrow night. And I didn't want that photograph to get out before it's your very big night tomorrow night. And she left the room and I just burst into tears because I was so stressed. But she came back and she said, I'm really, really sorry. And I didn't mean to do that to you. and in front of everyone, which I thought was so honourable and fantastic. And then I went on to work with her for the rest of that year and we had a great relationship. But I think it's, you know, you realise the vulnerability of some celebrities and the life they've lived.

5:07And you have to really understand that when you're working with them, I think. I've heard people asking you, why were you a success in PR? And I think you've just answered the question. And I think why are you a success in business? and yeah, founder of this great business, the woman behind Mac and various other successes as well. There's, in your eyes, as you're telling me that story, there's huge empathy. Is that the key to why you, Michelle, are so successful, do you think, if you strip it all back? I think so. I think I like, weirdly, what I don't like about now is as a founder, you have to be, sorry to be jazz hands you know you have to be up front you have to be constantly on some social media going aren't I fabulous and you know I'd rather stand back and be the person behind somebody in some ways and be empathetic and working with people like Mary J Blige when she was very young and she she'd never left the hood almost you know and I've then got journalists from all around the world speaking to her.

6:11And I had to build trust, you know, that I was there for her, not for me. And not to be her friend, to be her business friend.

6:23And maybe that is my success. You know, I'm always thinking of the whole situation, not just that moment in time. And how do you see it all? Where does that come from? Because obviously this is a lot to do with human understanding and dynamics in real time. because PR is live and then running a business is live yeah it's all happening literally it's panning out in front of you where's that super skill come from I think I was kind of born somewhat with a gift of that and then growing up in you know in the middle of Birmingham with my fantastic parents who had about four jobs but I sort of grew up in shops and I grew up in Irish community and and you're almost translate watching people and translating people without even understanding what you're doing you know and I think the Irish side of me has always been open nobody's better than you everybody you know be good to everyone so I think it's that's what's help me um and have have faith in myself you know or self-esteem that you build during your childhood with with families is so important for you to step in the room you know michelle feeney my business shaper founder and ceo of a beautiful business called floral street named after of course common garden floral street one of my favorite streets by the way young memories of going to paul smith yes which is right on their iconic shop iconic man of course as well from nottingham not far from birmingham sort of that way if you're a londoner you just don't you close your eyes and go up there um we were talking about uh well you were talking about your super skills and these things that have happened and there is a recipe which i will probably repeat towards the end of the program around what being irish means i think i read somewhere that you really you got a feel for that when you landed in new york and this is young young woman in her 20s decides to go up sticks no real plans you said i've never had a plan I've never had to you know I've never had to do a job interview or go for a job you turn up in New York and then within a while you're going hold on a sec being Irish means something were there moments in your very little life where now you look back and you go okay that's that's the root of some of this stuff was it stuff you saw or things you felt I just think when you're in a huge community of any kind you know in a in a in a foreign country really because if you think you know, I was born in 1963, so I'm quite old.

8:54And growing up in the middle of Birmingham in the 60s was, you know, we were with such amazing communities of Jamaicans and Indians and Irish, you know, and it was a lot of people had left home and come over and were lonely and were, they got together on a Saturday night after a very, very hard week of working. and I think that community, that openness, that love of music and dance, you know, I did Irish dancing and I played the piano accordion but it brings people together and people had to believe in each other. If you're in an immigrant community, you have to believe in each other. Yeah, well often you're under attack unfortunately or you're othered and it's different and as a Jewish person you're feeling, well I am Jewish and you feel it.

9:47And the first time in my lifetime, this is a difficult time for many communities, one is definitely feeling that. Just tell me though, the way you created the communities at MAC and the communities at Saint-Tropez and now this community at Floral Street, do you think, not that you're replicating that, but that you've understood the importance of people feeling like they're part of something bigger? Absolutely. So I call it, you know, cult branding. and that's what I think I've learnt throughout my life is how you cult brands, how you speak to a certain community and the biggest lesson I had was from Tommy Hilfiger himself because I...

10:24I love all these names, aren't I? You can take the woman out of PR, but this Michelle Phine... No, but they're genuine as well. I know, I know, that's what's amazing. He wrote me a letter for my green card and everything. As you would get, obviously. Yeah, exactly. It was Tommy. It was Tommy. Michelle here and I need a bit of help. Tommy says, of course, Michelle. Yeah, exactly. But he, the way his company branded at the time in the 90s was to go to the communities of rap, which were new and hip hop, and start to work with them. And he understood that America was made up, you know, which I had to learn very quickly of many different communities.

11:04Even in music, you know, the stations were separate. You know, you only listen to country or you only listen to this. MTV did not play R &B, did not play, did not have Michael Jackson on their station. No, exactly. It's extraordinary. So it was so, and I was like, oh my God, this country is so siloed, you know, in comparison to our country, which I think is amazing in general. So he sort of showed me how to market to different groups of people and speak to them with relevancy. and I think that has always well Lim Franks taught me that in the 80s we were you know in fashion and everything and it was about relevancy but bringing new ideas into that and take what he did was bring that culture out to a wider audience and I call it the Tommy Hilfiger effect because it is you know communities and then you bond that community together and and it becomes a bigger market so yeah I think taking the time to learn not bouldering in thinking you know it all you know having that understanding of music played such a big part in marketing in the 90s of fashion and beauty and and Mac I didn't do Mac alone by the way I was I was you know head comms and marketing and the MacAce Fund, we were seven people who took it.

12:34And I did launch 40 countries. But again, having to go to a country, I loved that role of going to a country, being dropped in, having to do your homework, having to sit with somebody and learn about how that country worked rather than bombarding in. I think British companies at that point weren't weren't doing that well in other in america and that's because they came in and go we're british and and actually you're british it's great it's got a quirk but then how you're going to relate to those communities absolutely um so yeah and i think my background from when i was a kid really has done that how am i going to relate yeah you know stay with me for much more relating from michelle feeney my business shaper she's the founder and ceo of floral street she'll be back in a couple of minutes right now we're going to hear a taster from the mishcon innovation series which can be found on all the major podcast platforms.

13:27Lydia Kellett invites business founders to share their practical advice and industry insights for those of you thinking about starting your very own thing, just like Michelle has done twice. In this clip, we hear from Bianca Rangecroft, founder and CEO of Wearing, a fashion app on a mission to upend the buy, use, dispose model. The Mishcon Innovation Series. Inspiration from founders of cutting-edge businesses. In association with Jazz Shapers, with Mishcon Derea. And if you had to give a piece of advice to somebody looking to break into the fashion tech world, Bianca, what would that be? I'd say two things.

14:02The first, if you're a founder and you're starting this journey, I'd say really focus on your strengths. Solve for what you cannot do and be really, really honest with what that is. because the ROI and you focusing on your strengths and building that out as potentially the face of the brand or the face of the technology or the face of the operations of the company is so crucial because time really is money. And this journey is a marathon and you really can't burn out because you are the MVP. And so solving for what you're not good at allows you to remain as much as possible in a percentage of enjoyment of the work that you do rather than in a percentage of, I've just got to get this done to keep things moving.

14:42So really picking that team, being honest with yourself about what you can and can't do is really important to just getting there faster and in a better mental health state. The Mishcon Innovation Series in association with Jazz Shapers with Mishcon Derea. This is Jazz Shapers with Elliot Moss in partnership with Mishcon Derea. It's business, but it's personal. You can enjoy all our former business shapers on the Jazz Shapers podcast, and there's plenty of time over the summer as well, because this is the last in this series, as I said earlier. And you can hear this very program again if you pop Jazz Shapers into your favorite podcast platform.

15:22My guest today is Michelle Feeney, founder and CEO of Floral Street, a British fragrance brand. So this is not the first time you set a business up, and yes, it was in your 50s, and yes, that's unusual, and we'll talk about that a little bit. But the DNA of Michelle in terms of being picked up by Lynn Franks for the younger part of the audience here on Jazz Shapers, an absolute legend in the world of PR, like the number one person in PR essentially in the 80s and kind of define what PR looked like actually I would say. What is it about you that said, that's great but I'm going to do my own thing, part one, and part two, then Estee Lauder and big companies.

16:02How did that happen? This is a journey, right? It's a complete journey as life is, which is really exciting and I literally have never had a plan. I went to New York. Evidently. For somebody who's not got a plan, that's worked out pretty well. I know. But I went to New York because my boyfriend at the time was a, well, is, a record producer and songwriter and, you know, I was starry-eyed and I gave up my big job. I was a director at Lin's at age 26 and went to New York without a plan, which was a bit stupid. But I was, I decided I wanted to try and write for some British publications from New York, change track.

16:49So I got a bit of a deal with Daily Mail and Elle magazine and some other things. And I went to interview a founder of a hair salon in New York called Bumble and Bumble, Michael Gordon. And weirdly, the next day he called me and said, I've got a really good feeling about you. Would you come and talk to me about working for you? And by this time, I'm absolutely broke because, of course, writing bits and pieces for British magazine, it's not going to pay. So anyway, I went to see him and he said, look, look, I've just got, we have had nobody doing marketing or PR and I, you know, I've just got really good feeling about you.

17:32And would you, would you come? And so I went and bought a typewriter. I can't type by the way. And I did a proposal and he said, okay. And then I went and he listened to me and I said, we've got to create some products. We had created the products. I then produced a hair show in the limelight and the owner of the limelight Peter Gation who is an empresario of the night said I want you to come and work for me and I want you to I'm launching a new club which is Club USA and I want you to do everything and I said no I said I've I've never ever done night life I'm not qualified anyway he kept asking me and kept asking me and he put me in a room and I I said, a ridiculous amount of money that I wanted as a fee.

18:25And he went, okay. And then I'm like, F, I've actually got to do this now. But that opened up this whole world of creativity, New York, celebrity, underground poetry, fashion, lots of money. It was just the most... It was life-changing. It was life-changing. It sounded like you had to be dragged through that door. The confidence wasn't there at that age. No, it wasn't. Interesting. I mean, maybe you backed yourself, but you weren't saying, look at me, I'm going to set up this business. You had two people basically saying to you, we want to hire you. Yeah. And that spiraled and I built this company, Michel Feeney PR.

19:09Can I just say, were you the, not the unwilling entrepreneur, but were you the, well, if you really think I should be entrepreneur? Probably. Probably. I think, I don't kind of think like that. I think maybe I'm just entrepreneurial by nature, and that's why Lourdes headhunted me in. You know, they were private companies still then. And I got a call one day and said, would you come and talk to us? You know, we know you've got your own company, but we've heard you're the best, and will you come and talk to us? And it turns out, of course, they were about to acquire a whole bunch of things, entrepreneurs, and they needed someone like you.

19:45We're going to hold it there for a moment because it's time for some more music. This is Michelle Feeney here in the hot seat for this last In the Jazz Shapers series, founder and CEO of Floral Street. When I research these programs, I hear, you know, you hear all the different stories. There seems to be a number of pivotal moments for you. And it feels like every day if I work with you, I'd have a pivotal moment and a learning experience, Michelle. But the birth of your first child, and I was listening to you recount the story of the hospital where he was born and how tough that was. and how Michelle at that point said, right, I need to get serious about my life.

20:17I need to be able to provide for my family because it was not a nice hospital. Just tell me how that moment has informed other things in your life as you look back now. Well, having my son Harry completely changed my life. I was 30. I was in a foreign country. I had my own company. I went back after one week to work. because who was going to pay the bills, you know? And who looked after Harry? Oh, no, I had a nanny, and then she'd bring him in for breastfeeding. I left him on his own, and he was just fine earlier. He was just fine. I mean, he's absolutely fine. No, but it's America, you know, you're on your own.

20:56Of course, that's what you do. And people don't realise here how good they've got it, even if they have to wait a few hours, you know? Yeah, there's a safety net here. Yeah, there is. But it changed my life. It made me take myself seriously. my mom and dad said why don't you come home because also a little bit after that I split from his father and became a single mom and I'm like no you know I've built this so far in the last couple of years to get here and I love it here and I'm not gonna just give in so I think it was where I just thought there's no excuses you have to take yourself seriously with whatever comes you can overcome that and you can step forward and you're on your own i mean you're always on your own i think and that's quite hard i think we cling on to that we're not alone but we are alone but you're you're happily married oh and are you on your i mean you know your husband may say but we're together i mean in that sense and i know i know what i mean is it's really interesting there is a dichotomy here i know exactly what you mean you're always on your own because at the end of the day you look to Michelle to make sure that what you're doing is going to work I get that but you've also I imagine got to be vulnerable enough to let go and let people support you you'd have to ask other people that okay so that's a really interesting point so I think there's for me it looks like you are that there's a protection there still you eat it for this point in your life you're like there's a level of trust where you trust yourself 1000 % and even the people you love the most maybe you don't trust them quite the same way I don't mean that rudely is that fair and it's part of the entrepreneurial thing isn't it i just think i realize that life can change in a heartbeat and you as a mom particularly you have to be prepared you know you'll know from your culture you know life can change in a heartbeat and you know it made me grow up and and take things seriously but you know my husband and i have an amazing relationship and we're brilliant partners and we have a lovely life but I'm he knows that I'd be okay on my own you know because that's who I am and I I trust but totally sometimes too much really I think in other ways but I think as humans you are you know you come in alone and you're out alone right so as Buddhists say but um but you know I think that's been a driving factor in me being successful as well not to let myself down i think i heard you describe um we'll be hearing from marvin gay and donald bird in a moment but i i think i heard you describe the estee lauder company and being part of it as being like an olympic athlete and actually coming into running your own business not everyone necessarily wants to be the olympic athlete and you find that hard which i do want to talk about as we go into our final chat um and how we square that circle around performance because it seems to be a bit of a buzzword at the moment in the context of all sorts of other cultural things happening.

24:00Anyway, stay with me for that. It's Michelle Feeney. She's my business shaper. She'll be back. And as I promise, we've also got some Marvin Gaye and Donald Byrd for you too. See you in a minute. This is Jazz Shapers with Elliot Moss in partnership with Mishkondorea. It's business, but it's personal. Michelle Feeney is my business shaper and remiss of me not to double down on this thing called Floral Street. But of course, we've we've talked around who michelle is floral street you set up um you called it the upstart you we i've talked about performance that business was set up for for lots of personal reasons by the looks of it also obviously also the market opportunity you're now how many years and are we like nine eight nine years yeah where are you in that journey and how do you ensure that the people in it our Olympic athletes are prepared to make sacrifices well it's been one of the hardest things if not the hardest professional thing I've ever done being on my own starting from absolute scratch because I'm known for taking things and amplifying them and globalizing them we've lived through lockdown you know it's so many things and now with what's going on in the world it's made it relatively challenging at every step.

25:18I've had to pivot like mad. And I've had to learn to inspire, I think, and I've got to that good point. I've made a lot of, you know, errors with hires and people and me trying to make people perform like I do at the level I do. And instead of doing that, my mantra now is how can I make the people that work with me the best they can be at what they're good at and not expecting them to be good at everything. Is that the evolution you've taken as a leader? Yes, it is actually. Is that the biggest thing? It's the biggest thing, I think, in a modern era with modern people. And I realized when you work for somebody like Estee Lauder and you're on a billion dollar brand is what we got it to you cannot fail you cannot fail you there is no failure allowed none and I realized I'd kept that momentum in everything I did since I moved back to this to the UK which is a very different society with different approach you know I I I sort of started saying I wish people would put as much energy into their job as they do booking their holidays, you know, and making sure they've got enough days.

26:35But you can't fight that. So I have to find a way through that. And also as a startup, you know, there's some failures in there. And I have had to allow myself to kind of slightly fail. I was going to say, because a lot of entrepreneurs say failure is a big part of it. For you, you've done corporate world, you've done this. It sounds like you're less comfortable with the notion of failure, even the little ones that build and become something brilliant. Is that, you don't like it? I'm extremely hard on myself. You know, I'm the hardest taskmaster on myself. Why are you so hard on yourself, Michelle?

27:11You've got nothing to prove. All the things you've done. Anyone took one slice of what you've achieved and they would say, thank you very much. But I don't hear that, you see. So I'm like, okay, when you work in, you know, again, high level in America, you're only as good as today. Of course. And I think I've still got that in me. But if you were managing you, what would you be saying to Michelle? Enjoy the journey a bit more, maybe. Step back a bit. Literally smell the roses, as I was at the weekend in my garden. But I don't know if you can really change your DNA. I don't know. You can work around it.

27:54And again, we're going to run out of time, unfortunately. your happy place because I can see you push yourself and I can see there isn't Michelle managing Michelle saying well done Michelle you've had a great career that isn't happening where are you happiest Michelle at what moment and what space do you really kind of relax okay relaxing I'm not so sure but I I don't know what I love I love I do yoga every day and I I love that but where I'm absolutely happiest is when I've cooked an incredible meal and I'm sitting with my family and we're just being and discussing and I'm listening to my daughter my son my husband my mom my brother and we're all together and that that brings me ultimate happiness and you can do that if you haven't got much or you have got a lot and I think that for me those Those are the important things for me.

28:52Things that don't cost. Things that don't cost. And weirdly, kind of to end where we started, a sense of belonging. Brilliant to talk to you. Amazing. Thank you so much. What an amazing life you've led. And have fun. Keep going. I'm sure you will. I still want to. Continue. Continue to. But it says this isn't a tribute to Michelle Finley. This is more like, I know there's more to come. But also be nice to yourself. We don't know each other. I can say that. Be kind to yourself. Just before I let you go, what's your song choice and why have you chosen it? It Don't Mean a Thing If It Ain't Got That Swing.

29:25And this was recorded, this album, that it's taken from when I was born. And my dad was a big jazz lover. And this track for me was one that I play in New York. And it was the spirit for me of America and New York. And I just love the musicianship in it. It Don't Mean a Thing If It Ain't Got That Swing. the song choice of my business shaper today, Michelle Feeney. And of course, that was Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington. She talks about the importance of being Irish. And why was that important? It's about being open. Nobody's better. Be good to everybody. Have faith. I loved all those things about her background as an Irish person in the Irish community.

30:06How am I going to relate a big theme for her in terms of her work, in terms of her personal life, in terms of the brands that she has created, indeed the Floral Street brand that she is creating now? think about how that relating is going to actually happen. Building cult brands, the Tommy Hilfiger story and the Tommy Hilfiger effect, that is what relating is all about. She talks about not letting myself down and I think that really captures why Michelle Feeney is Michelle Feeney and how she's now translating that as a leader slightly different. She's finding what people are really good at and helping them be the best that they can be.

30:41Really great stuff. That's it from me and Jess Shapers. have a happy and wonderful summer see you the other side jazz shapers on jazz fm in partnership with mishkondorea it's business but it's personal we hope you enjoy that edition of jazz shapers you'll find hundreds more guests available for you to listen to in our archive to find out more just search jazz shapers in itunes or your favorite podcast platform or head over to mishkon.com forward slash jazz shapers chicago talks a lot hold on let me step over here people People are talking too much. We debate about food, deep dish, tavern style, who's got the best beef.

31:20We yell across rooms, across blocks, across generations. Yes, nice earrings, Grammy. And now we're doing it on our phones, too. Video calls from the L train, group chats that never shut up. Neighbors texting you the score before your TV catches up. Come on! Get a load of this guy. Ketchup. On a dog. Yeah, we've got thoughts. Too loud? In Chicago, you're gonna hear it. Because nothing here gets built without conversation. Nothing moves without connection. So if you think you know AT &T, it might be time to rethink that. Because their network has improved, like, a lot. So Chicago can keep speaking its mind with AT &T Wireless and AT &T Fiber.

31:59Chicago won't stop talking. Our improved network backs it up. AT &T. Connecting changes everything. AT &T Fiber. Limited availability in select areas.