Ep 26: A lesson in authenticity with Lorna Luxe

0:11Have you ever wondered how to turn a powerful personal brand into a lasting legacy? Well, today we're joined by the incredible Lorna Lux, who shares how. From her early days as a flight attendant to becoming one of the most influential voices in fashion and beauty, her journey is one of resilience, reinvention and creativity. So let's find out why she's a lady who launched. I always like to start these interviews now with Rose. That's a new discovery. um but going all the way back finding about you who you were before we knew you yeah so tell us a little bit about your upbringing and how those early years looked to you okay well I want to start by saying that I feel like I always talk about being quite humble beginnings when I grew up and every time I talk about it my mum gets the ump and says why are you making us sound like we had nothing because we did we were all right yeah but I think like my earliest kind of memory is my dad leaving so when I was about four I remember my dad and my mom kind of he came to the driveway and I was crying chasing after him oh and he kind of left us and my mom was like I can't afford this house anymore we lived in a very cute little semi-detached in sale in Manchester and so we had to move in initially with my nana and granddad into the council house that she'd grown up in and it was a bit of a come down for me even at four I understood that I'd moved from you know kind of all right place to somewhere that wasn't quite so nice and you probably were reading the room around you so not maybe just the home but like the whole kind of separation and oh massively like PT I get PTSD from it now I've got a massive issue around rejection for example really I feel like all my relationships I like to keep a little bit of a guard up and I I think it all stems from that kind of daddy issues.

2:01Yeah, probably. I've got a few of those too. Yeah. Gosh, let's not get on the wine too much. We'll be really going to town on that. But around you, was there anybody that you kind of looked to? Was that your mum? Was that your grandparents? In that kind of like entrepreneurial way? No, not really. My mum was very ambitious. She was working full time, but because my nana and grandad would look after me, she went to uni and she got educated so that was quite I suppose in a way that was quite good to see yeah to get out of it but she didn't do that to get out of where we were she just did that to better the life we had right but I always knew that as soon as I could go to uni as soon as I could do those things that I was getting out I wasn't ever going to come back to Manchester wow so I always looked at my child as like I can't wait to leave home can't wait to I picked the furthest uni away from home but and why do you think because you the situation that happened and what why do you think you were desperate to be somewhere so different I think because everything around me was so people didn't leave the town didn't leave the village and there was no there was no excitement okay but I feel like I was very impressionable so like like I'm showing my age now but I was like 14 15 when like Sex and the City came out and there were shows like queer as folk where you were seeing these people that were just living these quite exciting lives and I wanted a bit of that yeah and I was determined that I wouldn't get that whilst I was living at home with my Nana and Grandad you almost didn't want that normality yeah I almost craved being a bit different to everyone else right which is exactly what I do now you know I kind of I don't have a normal job but you know there's lots of influencers right there's loads of us now now and we'll get on to that there wasn't when you were you know at the start of of your career so you you picked a uni that was far away from home where was it went to Newcastle okay Newcastle and Newcastle I loved it did you absolutely loved it didn't really go for the degree just went for the the piss up and the fun literally loved it true to form um so and what were you studying I did initially I went to do music and then I changed to music and English okay and I did all right with that my mum was an English teacher eventually right so I kind of had that background but piano as soon because I was a pianist so I loved piano that was my escapism growing up but as soon as you've got to do it where you've got to rely on like being questioned on it and make it it's important that you've got to get your tests right I just switched off and I hated it almost like you like the creativity of it but not the pressure yeah yeah I didn't enjoy it at all so actually I haven't really played the piano since uni wow which is really So if you had a piano in front of you, is it like riding a bike or no?

4:49Yeah, I feel like I could bang out Elton John Benny in the jet. So I know the chord structure. Right. And I could probably do some Chopin because I used to play a lot of Chopin. But I don't think I'd be a great pianist now. Whereas I was really good. That's so interesting. But the kind of like the structure and the studying put you off. Yeah, I hated it. I didn't like it. I remember my lecturer telling me that my hands were too small. that I was never going to be a classical pianist. And I was like, hang on, I'm only in, like, first year. That is setting me up to be fair. I'm still going to grow, thank you very much.

5:21But it was like, I think for me, being told I can't do something either makes me go, right, I want to do, I'm going to do it better. Yes. Or I just go, oh, I'm not bothering them. Okay. And that's, like, my mentality. But that's probably because the passion isn't there. Yeah, maybe. I feel like if you've got passion behind you, I can tell that you would really, that would take over. I'm determined. So what happens? So you are at uni, you do okay. You then find yourself as cabin crew. So I had to go home. I remember mum saying, you can't stay in Newcastle. I'm not going to pay for you to live in Newcastle.

5:57Right. You haven't got a job. I did work at Curry's, but that was only two days a week. And I only worked at Curry's because I liked all the boys. Because it was quite a masculine environment. So I was like, I quite like this, they're flirty. But I just remember crying, going past the Angel of the North. And it was like, you know, the Lighthouse family was playing. Lost in space or whatever. And I just got that memory of feeling like, oh my God, my life's over now. Because I've had so much fun and now I've got to go back to Manchester. Was it almost like a little bubble for you? Oh, yeah. It was just, I loved it.

6:29And then I saw an ad in the back of Cosmo. Right. And my flatmate at the time when I was in Newcastle was like, you need to kind of get a grip now and like get a proper job. Stop going for stuff like this. And I was like, do you know what? I'm going to apply. So I applied for that. And then my mum paid for me to fly down to Gatwick to do the interview because I was pretty skint. I didn't have any money. Yeah. And it was like X factor. So through the day, they would split the groups into two. And one group got sent home and one group stayed. And the group would get smaller and smaller and smaller.

7:01So it started at like 40 people in the morning. And then there was three of us at the end. And I just remember ringing my mum after that interview and going, I've nailed that. I've got that. really and then I did I got the job and what what do you think you loved about it like when you went for that interview did you instantly think I want that I want this now so I didn't even care about the job I didn't really know what the job was because I hadn't really flown much as a kid and I had no idea really that it was customer service focused right and I didn't really have any other than curries I didn't really have much customer service training but what I realized that day was that I was like this is my way out I can I can go around the world now and I can be whoever I want to be and you can kind of like write your own ticket yeah and there was girls in the interview that had obviously applied multiple times and hadn't got through there was one girl who'd been going for the interviews for six years oh my gosh she was really like obsessed to be a virgin girl and I just thought it was virgin that you were having a group for and I just thought you know what this is a pretty cool job and if I get it I've got to take it yes so yeah I got it so and And then went to, you then start.

8:10And one of my good friends growing up was Cabin Crew 4 Virgin. Okay. I wonder if we know, I might know her. Jess McGinley. I do know the name. Do you? Yeah. Yeah. I bet you do. I'll show you a picture after. Yeah. But I just remember her saying things to us like, girls, anyone fancy a LA with me on Friday? And I'd be like, what? Like, that's a thing? Like, she just seemed to have the best fun. Like her, she's still there. She's still there, like on and off now. And I just remember being almost at the time so envious because it seemed like she just lived this life. She would fly to LA, for example, have like a few days or a couple of days in the sun and doing loads of fun things and then fly back home.

8:57And it just honestly, it looked like the dream. And I think it was the dream for me because when I was so young, like 21 22 you know you want to go out with you with the girls and get drunk and this was a way to do it and get paid for it yes so in that sense it really was the dream i think my downfall was that because it was all long haul you're always down route so there's an element of loneliness because you're not going to get on with every crew you fly with yeah yeah it's not all it's not like doing it with your girlfriend yeah and there were some crews that were like yeah i'm not gonna they're called delsy diners like they'd pack sandwiches in their bags and they didn't want to spend any money down route because the suitcases are by delsy so you'd call them a delsy diner and you'd be like oh there's loads of delsy diners on this crew like i'm not gonna see anyone when i get there right okay and that's like it's nice to be in la but when you're on your own when you're on your own it's a bit lonely yes so i kind of struggled with that a little bit um and i think as well because of the night flights i was boozing a lot so i put on a bit of weight and i kind of was quite conscious of my weight so I was always trying to like under eat or like you know I had definitely eating disorders throughout my flying career right it was very disordered like a fractured lifestyle okay what like in its sort of entirety yeah it's just a bit you know I'm sure not everyone had that experience but for me I was living in Brighton you know I was out when I was at home I was out when I was down route so I wasn't really a I was a grown-up but it was not a real life for me almost another bubble yeah it really was a bubble and so how long so that was you were 21 joined at 21 and I did 10 years wow so I think uh I think I left when I was about 30 31 just a long time and what was the decision to leave I kind of got pushed if you if you like okay because what happened for me was that my eating my disordered eating had got so bad that was really underweight and I kind of spoke to my manager my line manager I was like I'm not really feeling that great i need therapy and all this jazz and they kind of grounded me they were like you can't fly you're not well and i was really underweight so then um i was like i can't do that you know and it's like going back to my childhood going from the council house going to the council house it was like i can't go from being in the air to being on the ground what that that felt like a sort of another downgrade to you yeah and i was like i can't do that and i remember john saying what you need to do is get well and like you probably just need to leave so I left wow I left my job which actually was like leaving my identity because like who am I now I'm not an I'm not Lorna the Virgin Girl I've got no job I'm 31 and that becomes a big you know we say this a lot that like you're whether that's founding a business or working for a big company however that looks your job does become a real identity my god it was everything to me and also I live in Brighton like I'm surrounded by loads of other people from Virgin like that's embarrassing what they're going to ask me what I'm doing now and I had nothing to say because I had no job John was kind of John had been married a couple of times before so he was you know he wasn't wealthy so what so in this point where do you in this timeline where have you met your husband met John like maybe three years before right okay and I think my and my eating disorder got really bad after I got married that's so interesting because I think that control thing of like getting married I thought everything's going to be on key door now i'm on the home straight because a lot of people lose on that what they call it the wedding diet don't they whether that's intentional or not a lot of people drop yeah pre-wedding but also when you're planning something as big as a wedding there is quite a lot the control freak can really take over suppose if you've not got that to be in control of yeah if it's a control thing with correct me if i'm wrong with eating disorders a lot of the time is having that thing that you can control, right?

12:45It was all about control. So maybe it passed over to that. And I think it was so much about control. I'll be honest, I didn't plan any of our wedding. So John did everything, even down to the bouquet. Really? The only thing I was involved with was buying the dress. Wow. And me and him went and picked it together. But I do think that, I did think, once I've married John, everything's going to click into place, and it just didn't. It was like everything was the same. I think you'd almost put it's so common to do that isn't it you've sort of put I suppose a bit of a mark in the sand to say by this point yeah it's going to unfold and it's going to be what I'm thinking it's going to be in my mind and then when you get there well you hear it about people when they like decide to sell their company or they go and they ring the bell and they're like on this day I'm gonna feel elated and I'm gonna feel epic and everything I've ever dreamed of and actually it happens and you're like oh I felt I didn't feel sad I just gradually got less and less confident less interested when I was doing trips on Virgin flights I wouldn't ever go down route I would literally get to my room and I was exercising and I just got fixated on the wrong things I really got into a bit of a spiral and it was good that I left Virgin because it gave me the kick up the arse to do what do you want to do Yeah.

14:03And I, you know, I had the luxury of the fact that John could afford for us, for me to not work. But we were getting skin, certain skins about the month because he was having to pay all the bills. And so at that point he was like, you've got to get a job. You've got nothing to talk about. And when I met you, you had loads of things to talk about. And go back to when you met. When you met, is it right you met on a flight? I didn't meet him on a flight, but his mate was crew. Right. And so then when I was, I'd done a trip with his mate. And then when I saw his mate out in Brighton, he was with John.

14:32so it was nice because it was like it's quite a nice way to meet someone I think. And it's quite familiar. Yeah and it's safe. Yes, yes. Because otherwise he's a lot older than me and I would have been like who's this creepy old guy like tracking me up but because I had that like you know connection. Almost like that voucher. He was vouching for him. And his mate Steve was like clearly really wanted us to be like set up and he was going to me like you know he's got a bit of money John like you know I'm going to get in there. And as if I was like some money grabbing you know what I mean. But it was just that was great like I you know I definitely don't regret meeting John that was probably the best bit.

15:02Of course. But I really think looking back, I wish I could have done that better. Wish I could have not screwed up so mightily. Yeah, but you say that, but you kind of need those moments in life sometimes. As much as at the time it feels like, why is this happening? Why, you know, it's not a nice place to be. You're looking back with hindsight, which is always a wonderful thing, isn't it? But that will have moulded who you are now and you'll approach it differently now because of that time. Yeah, I think that it made me nicer being poorly. Because I think when you've been that low, you can kind of see other people's weaknesses a bit easier.

15:44Because once you've had that, it sounds a bit deep, doesn't it? But when you've been through trauma, you recognise it in other people. Yes. And it maybe made me... I'm a bit more personable. Yeah, and I think I was a bit hard and a bit kind of like flashy in my 20s. In my 30s, I was a bit softer and a bit more, okay. like read the room let's just see how you take people see how you find people and there's a lot more than surface level yeah I think you do realize that when you sort of enter your 30s too like it's you know geez I was in a girl band for my 20s and everything was showy and it was very surface level and then actually like god real life stuff happens yeah it does and I think it it takes time and growth and maturity sometimes to see that massively for me anyway definitely so So John then encourages you to leave.

16:31You're not sure what you're going to do. How do you then? I mean, it's so interesting because now being an influencer is quite an obvious choice. Like I hear like my younger cousins talk or and they're like, I'm going to be an influencer when I'm older. And it's now something which is so brilliant because it's opened kind of a land of opportunity for so many other people that might be creative or might, you know, however that looks, but didn't kind of have their place to fit. But at the time, Instagram and social media, it was just something we were starting to use and learn about. I don't think anybody actually knew there was kind of a career or a job role.

17:12I knew it was going to be a job straight away. Did you? Yeah. So tell us, so how do you then, how do you go from leaving jobs to having an account that was working for you? Well, I did get a job in the end. Right. I went to Rocket St. George. I had an interview with them. to do like, I can't remember what the job was now, it was like PR or something, something I was completely not qualified for. And I drove to their like warehouse in Ditchlin, which is in like Sussex. And I was like, this doesn't look like the website. Because I thought that, you know, they're like boozy, sexy website would be the same as, and obviously it was just a real working business.

17:46This is great for me, good experience. Smoke and mirrors. Yeah, it really was smoke and mirrors. And they were like, we like you. We were like, you clearly can't do the job that you've applied for. but we've got someone off in the holiday summer holidays do you want the job and I was like yeah go on then I've got nothing else to do and I used to drive an hour there in our home right and um it was just a brilliant year for me because well I used to watch Jane take photos make these you know the corner of a kind of warehouse into this magical place selling product so that I would go home and do that in my house and that's how Instagram started for me wow they've got instagram i could do a little instagram so i had my own like little it wasn't interiors but you know taking arty shots of the dog yes yes putting my dog in a louvitan never full and taking a photo of his head because there was i had nothing else to do like i didn't really have a social life because i didn't eat i was still struggling with my food right um and they were quite like maternal and they're both mums so i really think they looked after me as well which was good so you then start like you say this is more of a kind of hobby than it is big time hobby yeah but through that I started to connect with other people because I wasn't I was sat at home every night I would reply to all my messages all my comments and I started to build a bit of a a crew of friends some of whom I'm still mates with now love that and this was back in the day where there was a lot of like Instagram clubs which sounds a bit sounds a bit I don't know naff now but there was one called we love to brunch and it was three girls who'd got together they loved like aesthetics and they loved coffee and so they organized these like weekend meetups oh that's so nice so it was like a hashtag and we'd all go to like a specific coffee shop where we'd all take pictures of our coffee and we'd all natter and meet each other you're so right there was such a wave of like a coffee on a table in a shop being like the aesthetic and then it changed to like an avo on toast.

19:43Yeah. Like, you know, there was a thing to know, like, oh, she's a girly. Yeah. She had a cute coffee and a notepad. It was. It was like almost, I was pretending to be somebody that I didn't even eat. And I was taking photos of avocado on toast. I didn't drink coffee, but I was taking pictures of coffee. But that wasn't what was good for me. It was good to get out of the house to meet people from different walks of life. Yeah. That had totally different things going on that didn't know anything about me. Yes. That would just accept me for who I was, what I was about at that time. See, it goes back to what you were saying before.

20:12You could reinvent yourself when you become a cabin crew and write your own ticket. Yeah. There's a theme here. There's a massive theme. And I loved it. And actually, a lot of the people that I met through We Love to Brunch, some of whom have got millions of Instagram followers now. They're, like, massively successful. But we've all stayed mates. That's so nice. And we have nothing in common. Like, there's one guy who now photographs cars and he travels all around the world doing that. But, you know, I remember walking through, like, the heath with him, you know, taking photos of trees. so it's like you have those real it was poignant that period because it really did that's when I grew as well right because I really understood the power of community yeah that it wasn't just about taking good photos that would only get you so far you had to actually have a network you're right and I think it's I think only now in 2025 are brands yeah influencers people really understanding what community means and how that looks so what What sort of period of time are we talking here?

21:07Like in terms of years? Yeah, I mean, we're talking probably, let's say I kicked off Instagram 2013, 14. Right. I would say that 14 to 16, where there was no commerciality. Yeah. I wasn't working with any brands whatsoever. But what I was doing was building my own brand. And that landed Lorna Lux. Lux, by the way, was my number plate. And Lorna was gone. And I was like, what can I be? And the girls in the office at Rocket St. George were like, well, just do Lux because we all call you Luxie. because of your plate. I love it. So that's where that came from. So I, when I first started, I mean, I've followed you for very long.

21:44I would actually like to get my Instagram up. So, you know, it says how many, since you've followed this person since 20, whatever. When I first followed you, what I really remember is that I didn't see your face. Yeah. And I remember thinking, there's this girl that I follow. And I remember you, I remember you had these pair of jeans once. And I was like desperate for these pair of jeans. and like you had like a pair of Louboutins with them. And I remember that the angles would all be from sort of like above and you were just a great tan. Yeah, always had a tan. These are things that I really remember.

22:13But I didn't know who you were. Now I feel like following you now as a new follower, instantly you know who you are because you talk every day. But there was a period of time where we didn't really see you as much. In terms of like the feed, it was more like aesthetic, arty pics of your outfit and stuff. It was like a trend, I suppose. I definitely think there was an element of protecting myself that if I was too vulnerable, people wouldn't want it. Really? So I feel like that hidden topic. But also for me, the chest fees really took off around 2017, 18. And that was a business decision. Because the best way to sell clothes is for the person looking at it to imagine that it's them.

22:54And so removing my head removed that personality. Yes. And really focused on the outfit. And that really did well for me. I remember like the Times wrote an article about it, about the chest fee. And they like quote something. So what do you call it again? A chest fee? Yeah. Because it was like a selfie, but it was my chest. It literally became like a hashtag. I've never heard that before. I know. Chest fee? Yeah. Wow. I just thought that was like your thing. It was just, I mean, I think I was the first person. There was me. There was a girl in Australia. As soon as she clocked, I was doing it as well.

23:25She blocked me. Oh my gosh. I actually ended up on a press trip with her about two years ago. That was funny. Stop. stop but there was maybe what happened to women supporting i know yeah i think she having met her now i kind of i think you know there was other things going on okay she seemed a bit vulnerable okay but i just remember there was maybe two or three people but remember two years later there was two or three million people doing that so it was just about getting a trend and jumping on it oh and you like for me that's like yeah like you coined that that's that's yours you kind of have to do that with it with all social media like my big thing I always say this all the time is if you can't be different be better and if you can't be better be different correct so for me I was always being uh you know better in my head I thought I was always doing better trying to be better but as soon as something got too big I needed to pivot and pivoting is really like the Madonna you know reinventing herself it's really key to reinvent yourself yes to keep it moving when did so you start all of this and this is I suppose you're getting that organic growth right it's happening you've got as you said you've got the community behind you when do brands really start to engage with you when do you feel that Instagram really moved there it was late for me um I think had about half a million followers before I really started to get paid for anything right and I didn't realize you could get paid that's by the way that's a lot of followers to yeah it was for it to be at that point yeah I didn't have management I remember I got my manager around half a million wow and she was like looking at studying what I'd been doing so far and was like yeah you've had a few bits of paid jobs but we need a bit more consistency what do you want to do she was like what do you actually want to do let's reverse engineer it and I was like well I want my own business and she was like well you've got your own business and I was like all right well I'd quite like my own brand yeah she was like but you are your own brand and it was kind of like oh yeah oh yeah I can do I can work with this and that was kind of like a light bulb moment for me because I thought actually rather than trying to aspire to be someone else maybe i should just knuckle down and focus on who i am and let's work backwards from there and let's work yeah work it from there so what was do you remember that first brand that first job there were two that are significant for me the one was um it was a bikini a bikini brand triangle oh yeah and they used to send everyone a free a free bikini and obviously i followed a lot of like micro influencers were all growing together and I was the only one that hadn't been sent a bikini.

25:53Oh, okay. So that was like, that became a thing. And I was like, everyone's flat laying their bikinis and I thought, I'd want. That was off of me bikini. And then eventually they slid into my DM. So I was like, that was a success moment for me. And I think the second one was that I got given a, I got paid 300 quid to wear a snowy jacket and I had a snowy trip coming up. Okay. And I had to give it back afterwards. And it was like a, I don't know what the brand was. I can't tell you. Almost like a loan. Yeah, it was like a loan, like a quilted jacket and I was buzzing. But I'd been paid 300 quid to post on Instagram.

26:27But I do think at this point, now everybody, you know, that is a strategy for people. Create an Instagram, try and get a crew behind you and get paid work from doing what you love. But back then, the concept of being paid to throw something on, something that you would want to buy yourself anyway. That kind of is other. I remember when the first thing happened for me, I was like, what? I would have bought that. Someone's going to offer me money to put it up. At the time, it was a really strange concept to get your head around. And it wasn't my world, remember, so I didn't understand about PR and marketing.

27:04So I couldn't understand how do they benefit from this. I didn't know my own value because you couldn't see the back end back then. There was no stats, was there? Not like there is now. Yeah, you're so right. And also, you know, now you're where you are. Obviously, your contracts would include knowing what targets you're going to hit and when you hit them, where there's a lot of kind of trickery that brands could do with keeping that from you. Yeah, it's selling all right. But actually, you've completely sold them out or whatever it is. I want to talk about. Because this kind of snowballed. Right.

27:40So we have these moments, you have these brand trips that then you get invited on. I suppose you can really see that, okay, this is, I'm getting asked to the event. I'm getting sent the triangle bikini. I'm doing, you know, it kind of snowballs from there on. I want to talk to you about your influence affecting other people's business and the people calling the Lorna Lux effect. Because I've always known that when I've worked with brands, you know, even when like I do edits myself, you'll always be on the list of like, we'd love to get Lorna Lux in it. Or I know how much you are like a hot ticket to brands.

28:18We had gorgeous Amy Smale on the podcast who we all love. And she told us, you posting her blazer genuinely changed the trajectory of her brand at such an early stage. Having that kind of, that power and this wasn't something that was conscious for you like how how does that make you feel because the way that she's and I know you're friends now which is so lovely but the way that she speaks about you is so complimentary and she's really honest about it which I also think is nice because she's meeting you in the same place where she's like you've absolutely changed this how does that make you feel I feel as though it wasn't it was a joint effort really because she created a great blazer if the product was crap it wouldn't have done so well I just have been a great blazer that nobody yeah this is true knew about at that point because you hadn't put it on their radar yeah and I to be honest I struggle with that of like being like oh yeah no I'm just great aren't I because it doesn't make sense to me because my success is based on my community right so I've built a community of people that have all got the same taste so me sharing that product that blazer which is a great blazer was right up my community's alley it was our taste at that time yes so she fulfilled the need that we had as a group and that's why it was it did well because we all looked at it looked at and went you know we'll have a bit of that yes and we all bought the blazer but I have you know there'll be as many people have I've maybe done that for I'm sure there's many that I haven't and so I always have to balance it like don't believe your own hype is what I'm saying yeah and of course like you say there are some things and we I suppose everybody will have that that you're following really engaged with and then some maybe not so much maybe that isn't for your community yeah I'm only as good as like my last set of stories put it that way yes and some things pop off and you're like flipping it didn't expect that if we'd have known that we'd have done that ages ago and like crazy stuff like you know I've talked about my hair a lot like you know I've got alopecia and it's embarrassing for me but I do as much as I can for it and I got us a discount code for the hairbrush that I use which is you know a really good hairbrush but I thought there'll be three or four people might buy this hairbrush that has got the same problem as me yeah but the swipe ups were crazy and I was like there was just thousands and thousand swipe balls I was like flipping out like people this is my people and that's why it's done well because it's the community I've built exactly that and and the way that they engage with you is genuine yeah and I and you can really see and I've said this to you before when your stories I sit there and sometimes I'm like in the morning I see you doing your makeup or telling us what you're using and I'm in yeah good I'm like I'm I don't know what it is but I'm buying it she said it's good do you know what though I was saying this I shouldn't really admit this but it's true i was saying that um there's a theory that you know on ads in like itv and whatnot if they want to sell something they use northerners and when i was at virgin they always recruited people with um you know accents yeah geordie scousers and people buy from people that they trust and they generally trust people with a bit of an accent i couldn't agree more there's that warmth and there's that like sort of that real friendly yeah i'm obsessed with northerners to the point where I've trusted northerners that I shouldn't have done before.

31:40Same. Because they just, they feel so wrong. I will always trust a northerner. I don't know what it is, but if I, especially like, you know, on like the betting ads, they're always northerners. I've not noticed this, but now you've said it, I'm going to notice it. And I feel as though sometimes, and I'm admitting this now, but sometimes if I'm talking about something, I'm like, I really want this to do well. I really believe in this product, but I've got to give it some welly. I'll go more northern. And John will be like, you sound really, have you been on the phone to your mum? You sound dead northern.

32:08And I'm like, oh, yeah, maybe. And I think it's because deep down... Do you want a brew? Yeah, do you want a brew? Subconsciously, I know that the more northern I am, the more real I am, the more relatable, the more back of my roots. There's something that feels more authentic, and I know exactly what you mean, and I'm not sure why, but somebody with a kind of West London accent couldn't sell me a product in the same way. I feel... If they were talking about the product to me, and it's really interesting, but it's true. You've got to ditch, like, your phone voice. like to get that that telephone voice on social as well a lot of people do chatty stories right and if someone's putting the phone voice on i'm bouncing i can't listen to that yeah i need people that are going to talk to me like they're my mate and like we're in the same room together yeah how do you because you then have obviously there's this success and i know that you've done ranges and edits with big brands the success that you have then i suppose without knowing at the time and without knowing it will go there like you say just sharing a blazer or you know doing something for the love of it or really enjoying that product or that brand how do you then sort of bring that influence sort of take that influence because you know you have it and enter that world of entrepreneurship there how do you say okay this here what I'm doing for these brands even just as a gesture yeah how do i take that for myself how do i build my own business around this because i know what i'm doing now and i know what i love and like you say you speak to your manager and you want your own business you want your own brand how how because when you do it for everyone else and it's such a success it must be so nerve-wracking yeah trying to sort of meet that same mark for yourself i mean the good news about doing it for yourself is no one really knows behind the scenes if it was good or not so at least I can pretend um but I do think that yeah that leverage of working with other brands is key for me right you'll see quite often that even when I'm doing you know product launches on my own if it's a new part of the business I'll probably do it with an established brand right to kind of test the market and not put so much weight on myself financially because it's a risk so let's so let's let's talk about you launched la space in 2023 massive risk that was but it's always a risk right when you and i say this a lot when i was at my previous management company they wanted me to do a baby brand with a big brand and have like a rochelle baby edit because the risk then isn't on me but i was really passionate about no no this is my own thing i know what this is and yes there's risk but i want this to be my baby be I really do and I was really passionate about that but of course if you lean on somebody else's back end and their expertise and them knowing what sells and what they you know there's a lot more reward yep at the front anyway and way less risk how how did you because I'm always so fascinated about how the idea come about and what your first steps were at that point because knowing that it was going to be like you say financially this is your baby how did what were those first steps you took to sort of get this off the ground I thought my first step really was just talking about it talking about it to anyone that would listen right to try and gauge what other people would think I should do okay what would you do and actually when we developed the brand I didn't have a product in mind I knew I was going to do clothes because I'd always sold clothes I had an in the style collection for like six years yeah so I had a customer ripe and ready I knew what sizes they wore i knew what they were willing to spend and how involved could you be i mean in the style as much as you wanted to be okay and that was a real luxury for me but i always held my own team so i had my own designer my own garment set my own fit model right we were a bit of a squad okay so every collection i was creating was you know i was whatsapping my designer at like midnight you know ideas right so even though that was not yours as it were it felt like it felt like it was So you kind of had that background experience.

36:17It felt like my baby. And I loved that. I loved that. That was such a privilege to do that. Yeah. And that's why I kind of thought I can do this on my own. But what I didn't have any clue about was branding, how I position myself, where I would sit in the market, how people would perceive me. Also, there was that kind of the fast fashion thing. Oh, you know, you've done fast fashion now, so you can't really level up to premium. So I knew I needed that period of, I almost needed to step away from making the collections for them and have a bit of a breather. right which is what i did so i took like 18 months to actually work on it and i i said to john like you know can we afford to do this and he was like well you can only afford to do what you can afford to lose so we kind of like nice pulled a bit of money in the pot and he was like well that's your money go on you know good luck with that good luck yeah so you almost had to sort of it's so important if you're doing this together though as like yourself and john to have that support because there can be so many different obstacles that get in the way first of all and you might think you're in for a certain amount of money it's like I say it's like renovating a house you're like okay this is how much they've said it's going to cost but that's not it it's always going to go a little bit over there'll be a problem somewhere and that's when it can be quite scary and like when we talk about this risk that you wouldn't have had yeah in the style you would instantly at LA space i mean i took i made so many poor decisions developing la space like like what all financial poor decisions because i didn't under i didn't understand that not everything would fly right that some products just don't hit and you know i think amy spoke about it and she's really wise and i should listen to her at the time because she always talks about the power of pre-order and about allowing the customer to decide what's going to fly and since then we've done that we've some pre-order things and they've flown so great it's such a good you know in that clothing space which i'm not i do edit so i don't design like i've got an edit with next and i piece their bits that you know that already exist we don't design anything but that pre-order strategy for brands like odd muse and yourself that it's such a brilliant tool isn't it and it's key really to stay in a float because if you're not that you know if you're not solvent you're not got sitting on loads of cash and here is sitting on loads of cash it doesn't matter how much you earn you're always spending you know the top end you know you just go on better holidays and you buy better cars I'm always going to be skin that's my personality type yeah so I felt like I I struggled to understand that and John's a finance guy he was you know worked at HSBC for 30 years that's his comfort zone but it's not mine and I really there was a real tug and pull and we locked horns a lot in that first year right because I was like I want to do this and he's like but why would you do that because you just don't even know it's going to do and when he was right that would really you know piss me off because i'd be like oh yes i really had to learn it was like being back at school and knowing what you can realistically play with because you sound a little bit more like me where you're like no i've got a feeling about this one and you can't always go on the feeling because of course there's cash flow and everything else in between but sometimes you have that real sort of gut instinct that something's really going to take off And some things did, but some things really flopped.

39:32What was the piece for you that kind of, that really skyrocketed? The first big one for us was an anorak that we did. Okay. Which was kind of practical because it was like great for dog walking. I think we initially shot it in Switzerland in the snow. And it was like a windbreaker. And I thought we're going to set, we booked 300. And then I think when it launched, I was in Venice actually with John. I was sat drinking wine at the Gritty Palace. and we hit we started the launch and then about a minute later my one of the girls in my team messaged me went it's sold out it's gone and I was like what I thought we had 300 have you not put them all into stock she was like no 300 have gone and we made this executive decision over a bottle of wine to do a pre-order and I did a very like slurred story about you can pre-order the anorax like I'll never forget it and then over the course that next day I think we took like 100 grand's worth of sales on the anorak alone and i was like flipping out this is pretty tasty i could get used to this and the rest of the collection just kind of you know slowly shifted it took months but that was great for me because that meant i could pay my bills i could actually pay like my staff and my rent and you know all the all the costs everything so john was like okay i see where you're going with this now i get it before that he never really understood what the value was yes but it's that's because you're bringing two different worlds together someone that's super creative and kind of wants to take risks wants to be reactive to a degree yeah someone that's kind of from that finance background he's very risk averse anyway being an influencer there's not many overheads like you could literally do it all from your house i could literally post from bed and it cost me my central eating and my sandwich at lunchtime and so he's gone from understanding that i could make quite a considerable amount of money just sat doing my stories to hang on you've got to like pay models and shoots and website and seo like you know it's expensive right yes of course you're right that's the thing about being an influencer you know it's great it's no it's it's brilliant like you say there's no overheads and it actually changes the whole kind of structure yeah of the business when you're going into product doesn't it yeah because you're like what we've got to do we've got a different beast how much is a fit model like you know got like i just want to try the clothes someone to try the clothes on when we're doing the fits and it's like 800 quid what's she doing and it's like all these things would just throw me but they're so important so important how what does a day-to-day what does your role look like day-to-day now the business I wouldn't say that I'm a manager as such I don't manage day-to-day what's going on in the office I definitely lead the decisions in terms of how we market ourselves what we're designing me and my designer lorian we're still whatsapping at midnight and i took i actually took lorian from my in the style days wow so she was like my first hire um so she understands my handwriting she knows what i like she studied she even like studies what i'm wearing and says like you've changed your style slightly so i think we need to change direction wow so that's been good for me but day-to-day because i've not just got la space now i've got other little businesses going along as you do my day-to-days are very random well let's well let's talk about it because you're earlier this year come ghost by lady a which so how explain to me this setup and how this works because i mean i'm sat here really enjoying it but yeah how does how does that work i mean this came about from a very drunken night out where i expressed to my business partner charlie that i wanted my own rosé and if you look back my instagram he went all the way down there's 4 000 photos every now and then there's a little cheeky flat layer two glasses of rose it's changed from the coffee yeah it went straight into rose and i think that is a you know it's i am a rose drinker it's a very fundamental part of my lifestyle i need a glass of wine at the end of the day i love that i love the honesty i knew that i wanted to do something with a wine brand whispering angel had never never even like you know never looked in my direction so like okay they're on lock i think they're lvmh now anyway right so i was like maybe I need to partner with a rose brand because I still need an expert to know what they're doing what should we do kind of thing and then through Charlie he made me the introduction with Ben and Elle who own Lady A and they kind of loved the idea I think the cautious element for them was well hang on how can we we've got a great rose that we already do like what are you going to bring to the table yeah and so we decided to create an organic version of Lady A and a bit more kind of a premium one that would maybe you'd only have the one bottle because it's a bit a bit more of an investment bottle right okay got you um and maybe a bit older market as well like you know i mean lady a is so popular now it's the soho house rose literally i was gonna say you see it everywhere but i imagine a lot of the marketing they've done and they've got that gen z audience like the gen z person is buying that yes so i was like well let's tackle my who's me who's what am i drinking i'm 42 nearly 43 i want something that's a bit grown up you know i don't mind spending a electric here and so that's kind of where that came from and we spent quite a lot of time in Provence we went to Chateau Lacoste which is where the grapes are from and great by the way if you get ever get the chance to go to Chateau Lacoste because it's a massive like haven for this is my husband's dream oh it was just so much do you know I can't even like underplay it like it was proper fun we got so drunk we've had so many drunk nights out in Aix I think you pronounce it all in the name of research and all in the name of research and then I just remember tasting this rose over the first time and we had many iterations of this wine and I just remember sipping it and being like we've got it this is the one and so that's been yeah I was like this is a no-brainer so it's a kind of a joint venture really you know in terms of financially yeah so we both committed equally but it's done really well we started I mean our pre-order sales were pretty incredible really and I was like okay I want something else because it's a different thing again you're like You're testing yourself on what your audience are going to connect with.

45:27You know, you know you're going to sell an Anorak. You know you're going to sell a good blazer. You know how that looks for you. But going into... I had no idea. Rosé, alcohol. I thought we'd sell like a couple of bottles. I was really nervous because I really didn't... Also, no one had tasted it. And what did that first pre-order look like? The first pre-order we did, we probably... I think we took like 10 ,000 quid in the first 10 minutes. What? And that was without people tasting it. gosh so that was a bit like charlie and i looked at each other like yeah okay that's pure trust it's trust it's people knowing that you know i like rose that i like the taste of it i shared a video of john's first reaction because i wanted to get john's first reaction on the road because john's like a bit of a legend he's got good taste buds like he dresses well he eats well you know everything he's got good taste he's got good art so i was like i want you on camera just tasting it for the first time and i think that really resonated people like well if john likes it then he must be all right it must be good nothing to do with you babe just it really is he is like he i've always said this before but like it is the john show i'm just like the understudy because you're the supporting actress i really am the support um so it's not stopping there for you because you've got la space we've got ghost of lady a and next month yeah i want to hear all about this because this to me is the most it's a bit random no it's not it's the most obvious thing for you i think about you every morning that sounded really weird when i think about watching you every morning sounds weirder um doing your routine yeah skincare is a big part of that all of that like all that self-care yeah which i'm quite into so what we've decided to do is when we bought the ghost house i also people hated the ghost house not everyone's cup of tea it's brutalist it's not what you'd expect in the Cotswolds it's gorgeous I mean I've seen it no no it's beautiful it's a work of art and that for me I was like do you know what what I liked about buying that house was that it really cut the wheat from the chaff in terms of there was people that really liked it they were like I get this I get what you're about I get your taste and I actually formed new communities from it and also we should say if anyone's listening and don't know what we're referring to ghost house is your home yeah it is yeah and it is like something out of like architecture architectural digest yeah it's like different it's so cool it's a work of art yeah it's a it's a great house and i'm so lucky to have it but that has been the kind of cornerstone of the brand any brand that i've built so la space the you know the aesthetic for la space quite minimalist yeah and so when we bought the house it's concrete right so it's got it's not got a concrete smell but it's not got a homely smell because there's no carpets so we knew we needed to fragrance it but also it's a massive gaffe so it's like you can't just put a light candle and it's not going to fill the room you need loads of candles and so we employed azzy glasser who is a perfumer to profile the house and create as a scent for the house oh my god this is the coolest thing ever so this is where it all began and she created a fragrance for us called number 98 which we then called ghost number 98 and it was called 98 because it had 98 ingredients in it and she came and stayed with us the weekend she brought a dog she's a brilliant woman she creates fragrances for actors to get into character so like jude lord john loads people like johnny depp loads people so she's got a good eye for personality and fragrance right and she kind of spent time with john spent time with me and i remember we were sat we've got a cinema room and we were sat in the cinema room at like two in the morning she was like i've got it i've got i know what the fragrance is going to be there's a darkness here but there's also a lot of light and um you know there's a vulnerability to you but there's also this you know quite sternness about you and she created a fragrance that suits me and john and our home that's so clever i'll be honest it was just personal to us and i had no intentions of commercializing this fragrance it was just going to be our thing you know it's something to tell people and it might show off to the neighbors yeah i mean i'm impressed i mean this is great yeah but then the more that people would come around they'd be like oh i want i get me i'll have one of them candles get me one and so we were like we need to put this into production and we need to sell it so we i think our first order was 5 000 units which is quite a lot definitely yeah for someone that's never really sold a candle yeah i'm not joe malone do you know what i mean and i was like how's this gonna play out but it just did really really well selfridges wanted it so they're now stocking out gosh and so that fragrance is going to be a kind of a story of its own now and we've decided to create a brand which I'm calling 98 based on the ingredients our first product is going to be a hair mask because I love a hair mask that's my jam and hair masks often are scented and I was like well I want one that smells like my house because it smells great yeah so it's just this got you know it's got these green notes but it's got like if you know the fragrance I'm sure people will be listening that will know it go and have a sniff in selfridges but it's a great fragrance then it lends itself to so much so much hand cream I want to do so many things I want to do but I knew I had to start with hair masking because that's actually a product that I use every day well like you say I do when I think of you I think that kind of self-care that skincare that hair care yeah and it's always at that premium level like I feel like I'll invest in something with your approval and I'm like I sound like I'm just sat home like lady muck every day doing like my masks and stuff but I actually don't we're just talking about the three businesses that you're dealing with I don't have much time on my hands so for example because I've I've got a type of alopecia which is like hair thinning so over the time over years my hair will thin and thin so I have to do everything I can to keep the hair I've got strong so I do a structuring mask I do a hydrating mask I've got about four masks on the go at any one time so when I found um the business partners that I've done this with because again I've not just done it blind I've partnered with people that know what they're doing I was like can we not just make all this all these masks we're not just doing one and then I only have to do one and they were like well yeah we can see so the formulations began this has been about a year or so in the making but we've come up with a mass that kind of does a lot of things in one go we're kind of cannibalizing ourselves in a way because most brands want to make coin right you're so right they want to get all the different benefits to have that one-stop shop when it comes to masking you don't yeah i don't complicate it and i'm not i don't need to make a fast but i've got a day job as an influencer that does me very well so it was never for me about oh i've got to make loads of money with this i just thought i'm going to make it if it doesn't sell that's fine because I'll have a limited you know lifetime supply for my hair but I really am quite passionate about it and I don't know if it might lead to another completely different kind of business it's so exciting it is really exciting and how do you in terms of the business how is this one now structured because you've got different propositions is John in this with you John's in everything with me because he's like my Mr.

52:25Finance love it but yeah we have got a new like limited company and new you know shareholders and whatnot everything is quite separate splitting the risk because one of my big fears has always been you know my biggest money-making moment at the minute is still being a day-to-day influencer yeah because there's no overheads but what if one of my other businesses collapses is it going to be to the detriment of my you know it's going to suck all the cash out of my day job so from anyone listening that runs their own business will know that getting doing that right is really important absolutely that and I'm still kind of learning I think it does take time doesn't it the structure everything particularly if and I'm with you where I have lots of different things you almost kind of want this you know a few of the same key people over everything but actually make sure everything's got its own team because you don't want to kind of stretch everybody too much and yourself yeah they don't know what they're doing that well hang on what we're doing now like when I told my team that we were launching in 98, they were like, oh, hang on, is that going to have different packaging?

53:22I was like, yeah, it's a different business. It's a completely different brand. And they were like, all right, and you've got to like... Yeah, exactly. But then they're still involved with the fulfillment. And like, I love my fulfillment center. So I was like, I really want to work with them. All my teams in Manchester, because that was the first thing I knew I was going to do everything up north. I was like, if I ever get the chance to own my own business, I'm going to try and recruit. I might not live there. Might not live there. But I'm going to put my baby there. But I tell you what, the drive into, Manchester from where I live compared to London it's so much nicer oh of course and all those lovely service stations with the McDonald's I want I want to talk to you before we go into the rocket round I want to talk to you about balancing life when you when a big part of your life is being so open with your community and your following because obviously being an influencer yes of course it's we're getting all of our recommendations from you but we also know you and your life and I wonder from the outside how is that when something quite tragic happens in life so obviously you've shared openly that John's not been very well yeah is is that quite a hard thing that actually sharing everything when it isn't all roses and sort of keeping authentically you because it's a big thing in your life.

54:51Sometimes I wake up and I'm like, oh no, I can't be arsed today. Yeah. This is like heavy, especially when John's feeling very unwell. The minute he's doing chemotherapy weekly, so he feels crap. And we spoke about it before we started filming. You know, last week my mum was like, he's slurring his words. You know, you're always worrying. Of course. So I'm always on edge. But then to have a sort of, you know, telling your family stuff and even saying to your friends, God, actually, I've not really spoke to you this week. Because we all have it. I've not spoke to you this week because this has been going on.

55:22And there might be that one friend that you tell everything to, but everyone else is kind of like, I just need to get on with this this week and get through this. How does it, when times aren't so good, having people that you also share everything to, does that feel like, is there a time that it feels like a job? No, I think some people would say that I've maybe shared too much and now you can't really take it back, right? I've opened the jar and now I can't really stuff it all back in. Right. From my perspective, anything that I put out online, I've probably already told the four or five key people in my life.

55:58But beyond that, where I've come a cropper in the last year, I'll be really honest, is that, say, for example, I've got lots of family that I don't see that often, but I see them on Facebook. Yeah. And they haven't been told things that have happened until they've seen it on an Instagram post. and they've become offended by that. Because like, why are you sharing John's gossip to everyone in Sundry? Oh gosh. But you've not told us. But actually my close-knit circle is close. Like you keep your circle tight, right? So it's like, as long as they know, I couldn't give a toss whoever else knows. Oh, and that is so hard.

56:30Like in situations like this when you can't... Yeah, it's hard. And also it looks like I'm telling people John's business and he hasn't had an SA in it. Like everything we put out, we write together. I'm like, he wrote that caption. what you're talking about so it is difficult I mean I'm not saying I've fallen out of my family because I really haven't but they're the only people that have expressed a kind of dissatisfaction in the last year about how I do my business okay they're the only ones that have not really understood it right but I would say my my true most of my friends are in the industry as well I haven't got friends from school anymore I've got Facebook friends but they're not my mates and also there's something to be said about like you say those close people knowing but then saying it and then not having to keep saying it and keep talking you know reliving it every time once it's there it's there yeah and i mean it's you know it is what it is like it's not great for john at the minute so any updates i can give it makes sense to do it on on a main platform where i can just get it out and when you're ready yeah i'm always ready i'm an overshare massive overshare i'd share more than i probably put out but do you think that's almost a coping mechanism i think so a little bit and that I really believe that the more vulnerable you are the more powerful you are because people don't expect it it's quite it's quite can be quite disarming I find yes yeah I know what you mean and I think sometimes I connect with people when they show me a vulnerability straight away it's like all right I'm gonna get on with you because you're not you know you're not making out you're just you're not you're keeping it real yeah so I need that in a way and I think sometimes I'm being vulnerable to get it back that's so interesting and especially online and I do reply I still reply to my dms if I've not replied to you multiple times you've probably pissed me off you know when people say no she doesn't reply no it's just you it's just you but I do reply to all my messages so I kind of know what what's going on yeah and then on a business level all of my business decisions come from my community so if I'm chatting to them you know even going through alopecia that's what's now born you know the hair mask was born that you know I wouldn't have made a penny if I hadn't had a failure or a flaw you're so right And I think you've almost, yes, you've got a community and you've got, like you say, like friends that you've like genuine friends that you've made online.

58:45But you've also been blessed with bloody good old focus group to help you make these best decisions. And not tell me. Yeah. I've got some that are WhatsApp me, voice note me. Babes, I've just been having thinking about what you're doing with LA Space and I think you need to do that. And if it's a good idea, I take it to the team and we bloody do it. Love it. Because it usually is a good idea. Yeah. And I can't always see the wood for the trees. And it's so, I mean, whoever has that luxury to talk to customers at that level. Yeah. That doesn't. And so honest. Exactly that. And they will, if I'm honest with them, they'll be honest with me.

59:15And it's not all, you know, I don't want people to BS people. I want people to tell me when it's a bit crap. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. If I've done a dress that's rubbish. Work on something. Right. Exactly. That's when you can correct those mistakes or kind of look at things a little bit differently. But I want to do the rocket round now. Nervous. Don't be nervous. It's quick fire, which I say, I actually feel like I say this to every guest. it's quite hard when you're like a natter. First one, what do you think are the non-negotiables for launching a business? Get your finances in order. Be available for it.

59:47You're the cheapest asset in some ways for working, right? Yeah. So be available to actually do the work. Yes. Do you know what? That is such a good point. I think that's overlooked. Massively. Yeah. I think so many people are just ideas people, right? You've actually got to put some welly into it. Yes. At the start, there's no team. It's just you. No, it's just you. when did you first realize that you truly launched? What was that moment that you thought, okay? I mean, with you, there's so many different ways that you've launched, whether that's being an influencer, whether that's LA space, however that looks.

1:00:19Probably my Lorna looks moment, like my Instagram moment and having a new identity after being crew. And what was it? Was there a day that you were like, wow, this is connected? Yeah, when I kind of, I saw that people listened to what I had to say and gave me a response to it. when people listen to you it makes you feel really powerful yes so many people get ignored right day to day you're so right just want attention I think that's where so many you know trolls and whatnot that's where they're born because they're not listened to they just want attention from someone yeah and that's when I really understood the power the Instagram power and that community I love that what's the first thing you do when you wake up and the last thing you do before you go to bed first thing i do when i wake up is have a wee and then check my phone okay uh last thing i do before i go to bed is read my kindle yeah i have a wee and then read my kindle what are you reading at the minute i read like erotic thrillers oh so i'm reading a book by tl swan it's quite dirty okay it's like porn i call it literature but you know it gets your juices is flowing that's amazing you've thrown me now what's one piece of advice that you wish you hadn't listened to sorry i'm still on clinch a job i know i hadn't listened to yes uh oh god um i wish i hadn't listened to all the people when i first started my instagram saying that i was being a narcissist what because i think at the beginning when people didn't understand social they thought me taking photos of myself all the time was a bit kind of self-indulgent yeah you're so right it's probably like now it's so normal but at the time it's probably seen as very vain like what is she doing why is she sat on the steps taking photos of herself and it kind of slowed me down a bit at the beginning that's interesting what a fear of embarrassment yeah like oh I better not post that because in case now I just post everything that's it girl that is it um what's one skill that you'd love to learn I would love to learn the power of manifest not manifesting of of being able to just be present and sit with thoughts I'm too chaotic right and I kind of want to be more how's the word I don't know what the word is but present yeah and almost just sit on my own ideas and ruminate with them rather than be like right let's do this let's do that I have an idea I want to make it happen right I'm not very good at just being calm but is that the entrepreneur in you I don't know but as I'm getting older I can see it's quite valuable to be calm and I need to slow down a bit okay I like that what's one thing that you wish someone had told you before starting your business you probably can't afford to do it but do it anyway okay and what do you think you would have gained from that just knowing that it's all right yeah and not being so fearful yeah la space hasn't made a profit we've never made a penny and i think two three years down the line to know to be sat here you could see that as a failure right but it's not it's just the start of a very new story to tell exactly that and and knowing that yeah it's okay to not be last time i saw you i was sat next to the guy that founded adenola yeah and he was like i've been doing this 10 years he was like only really took off five years ago just to kind of sit on an idea and let it it's almost like you want someone to manage your expectations massively manage it not be that we think overnight success but it really doesn't exist yeah well they say an overnight success takes 10 years okay so that's good that is that is apparently that's factual that's good to know but obviously a lot of people then learn about it overnight yeah i've been doing this i've been doing this thing um what i love this one what for you would be the dream collab for your brand the dream collab would be to fragrance a car wow because i love cars yes i spend a lot of time in I always do.

1:04:31I always see that you love cars. And I love fragrance. And I always think when I get in my car, you know, when I get my car valeted. Yeah. The guy that does mine, he always puts that little. Tree. And I always think, yeah. I love the tree. But I always think, I wish I had like a little perfume diffuser or something that was, you know, just pumping it out. Out of the. And it was my fragrance. Oh, yeah. So, yeah, that'd be a dream partner. I'd have to do it with a car brand, obviously, a sexy one. Oh, yeah. If anyone can, you can. That is, that would be, that's perfect for you, isn't it? Perfect.

1:04:59What would be your, what's your dream car brand? I mean, I drive a 911. I do like my car. But I actually live in Gaden, which is where the Aston Martin factory is. Right. So maybe Aston, because it's British. Love that. You're so impressive with cars. I know nothing about cars. All I care about is like, what the seats look like. Yeah, I think the seats and the wheels, like they've got to have nice alloys. I can see that you're really into this. Like my alloys are really nice. When I'm walking up to my car, I'm like, yeah, that's fit. Do you know what's sad? I wouldn't know the difference between a nice and a nasty alloy.

1:05:32I wouldn't. It's a car to me. It's a car. If you could choose one female figure as a mentor, past or present, who would it be? Probably someone that's seen a lot. So like the Queen or someone. Oh, yes. Because she's got stories to tell. And she's always remained quite... She's passed now, but she was always so stoic. And I'm quite a royalist. I don't think people know that about me. Are you? But I'm quite into the royals. I like having a royal family. Do you? yeah I think it kind of divides I think as like I wonder if my kids would be as passionate about they would that's what I wonder is it our era because I grew up and our parents that that was like and like Princess Diana and I remember when Princess Diana died I remember where I was oh I do I could like literally I can remember the conversation I was having where I was sat I remember my mum was like hysterically crying yeah it was like emotional yeah so yeah I'm I do I like and I like history so I like going to all the like stately homes and stuff yeah okay very aspirational the queen there you go each episode I get our guests to leave a tip okay almost like a really tangible piece of advice that you think a listener could take from you and I suppose someone at the start of their career looking to maybe emulate what you've achieved in terms of influencing you know the businesses if you could leave a tip that would kind of like embody what you wish you would have known what would that be probably that and this goes back to being online would I say it to someone's face if I wouldn't then don't put it online don't put it in writing like would it be authentically you like would I actually say that to my next door neighbor in a conversation then I can and I think that's with business would you know we get great ideas I get lots of brand deals come through would i actually buy that like really would i be into that yeah why would i would i make a product that i wouldn't really buy myself so everything kind of has to center around what would i do in real life if all this other noise was out of the way yes because it is noisy and it's such a like simple idea but it's so true like in terms of like online and the way people talk like it's so interesting how brave that kind of screen and that keyboard makes people i do it myself i'm like i would never say that that to them in real life yeah so i feel like i edit myself a bit more now but it's important in business to kind of have it's almost like taking a breather isn't it yeah which i struggle with as we've talked about so it's like that is i see the value of it because i know i struggle with it i have to really be self-aware yes and not be so quick to nominate yeah stuff for the sake of it yeah i get that that's that's it's really good advice because i think it is just taking a beat and we can all do it yeah we can it's actually really easy it's actually really easy to do yes take a shot that's my advice and then lastly i ask everybody this because i absolutely love to know we talk about being ladies who launch i know that you're a good lady who lunches too i am i know you are um so when it comes to like a typical lunch hour okay if you're with your team and you're working is there a go-to order is where are you how does it look so very rarely am i with the girls in the office right but let's say i am because i'm going to be there tomorrow we'll get a starbucks right for lunch for lunch okay it's the only time i'll have coffee is with them really yeah that's like my thing my love language with them is drinking coffee i love Because I'm a Diet Coke girl through and through.

1:09:11But I like to look grown up in the office. I'll get a hot drink. And I'll have definitely some kind of like goat's cheese and sweet chilli thing. I like lots of different varieties of flavours. So I'll have that on a sandwich. But I don't like pebble dash bread. And Starbucks insist on using this really healthy bread. You know, with all the nuts and the seeds. Oh, okay. Okay, got you. So I'm not into that. I like white bread. I mean, I'm like a Warburton's Toasty Loaf girl. Nice. But yeah, it's hard to get that from the shops. Okay, so we're going some sort of cheesy... Cheesy with a bit of chilli, maybe a bit of rocket.

1:09:46Oh, nice. Like quite chic. All the flavours. All the flavours. I love that. I feel like we have covered off so much in this, from goat cheese to... And wine. Difficult times to wine. We've had it all. Thank you so much. I've loved it. Thank you for coming here. And thanks for bringing us the rosé. We've still got some left. I'm ready. I'm dry now I'm dry thank you so much thank you love it

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1:10:37VAT CANAL