“I’ve Always Wanted Something Of My Own” - Frankie Bridge On Her Community Powered Fashion Brand

0:00I think just the thought of having something of my own was exciting, but also terrifying because now I have to make the decisions. Whereas before, if a single didn't do well or if something didn't do great or a TV show didn't rate that well, whatever, kind of wasn't down to me necessarily. So you could kind of go, oh, well, that didn't work and move on. Whereas now it's like, OK, I made that decision and that flopped.

0:26Fabio Sementilli. Big heart, big voice, big laugh. A rock star hairstylist who drove a Porsche. He was like a wizard behind the chair. The killers came for Fabio in his own backyard. You can't rationalize it. You can't figure it out. There was rampant speculation about everything. But every wild theory was wrong. Because the truth was even more unbelievable. What? Is anyone hearing what I'm hearing? And even more heartbreaking. The uncertainty of not knowing is a form of agony. From Sony Music Entertainment and Novel, this is Cut, Color, Kill. I'm Jonathan Hirsch. Cut, Color, Kill is available now on The Binge.

1:11Search for it wherever you get your podcasts to start listening today. Subscribers to The Binge can listen to all episodes, all at once, ad-free.

1:24Right then, yes, hello, I'm Simon Mayo. And right then, hello, yes, I'm Mark Kermit. And on this week's edition of The Take We have the new movie The Fall of Sir Douglas Weatherford with Peter Mullen We have the old movie Boogie Nights back in cinemas in a 4K restoration And we have Steven Spielberg's Disclosure Day with our very special guests Stars of the film Emily Blunt and Coleman Domingo It's a very interesting conversation, don't miss anything, it's all in The Take Hello and welcome back to The Businessmen I'm Ben Shepard and if you didn't already know Joel Domit and I are starting a skincare brand called Foreskin by Joel and Ben.

2:01Joel is currently with his newborn son, Dutch, so I'm still riding solo, but missing him enormously. However, I always feel like his foreskin is not far away. You can catch up on the full episodes on YouTube as ever. Head over there and subscribe to follow what has been an extraordinary journey so far. So today we have the lovely Frankie Bridge on the show. before we get into our conversation with her all about the business that she is a founder of, I wanted to update you on where we are with our Foreskin samples that we have received. We've actually got bona fide product. We ran a competition with loads of people getting involved because you were very keen to try Foreskin.

2:41We sent samples out to 10 of you. Thank you for your reviews. It was very exciting waiting to hear what you thought. This is what you had to say about the very first foreskin to touch your face. I'm a farmer and I don't do skincare products, but my wife entered a competition on TikTok from foreskin by Joel and Ben, and they've sent some samples which I've been forced against my wheel to use for a couple of days. I normally use a five-in-one shower gel, wash and go and get out. I ain't got a time for a lot of messing about. So you've got this skin cleanser to use. So wet your face. You making me do it?

3:23Yeah. Put your head over the sink. That's it. And how does that feel? It feels like a soap, doesn't it? The cleanser did smell a little bit like lemon. Which confused me a little bit. It wasn't too bad though. And to be fair, after a couple of days, I'm normally all dry and crispy. But my face does feel really soft. but don't tell her I told you that. Feels smooth and gets absorbed quickly. My face feels moisturised. It's not too oily and it's not too glossy. Perfect. Thanks Ben and Joel. Faces are glowing, faces are clean, faces are nice and smooth and clean. We've rubbed the four skin into our cheeks.

4:06And round our mouth. Round our mouth. Now we've got all the juices ready. We've got all the juices of the four skin and the ruffles. We washed them up because it's always important when you use a cleanser or something like that. Put it on your face. Clean it off. And congratulations, David Wheatley. And a special thank you to David's wife for all the encouragement and guidance. We absolutely loved your reviews so much that we're going to be giving you tickets to our comedy and cream night that Joel and I are putting on. Yep, you heard me right. It is an evening of comedy and face cream. Joel's going to be doing the comedy and I'm going to be putting the cream all over your faces.

4:46Apparently, Joel is going to get me on stage as well. But what we want from that evening is even more feedback from our community. You've been so amazing so far, every step of the way. The fact that we're going to be doing a comedy night in Kennington. If you can get there, we'd love you to come along. And the fact that some of you are going to get your hands on our products is so exciting. So stay tuned to find out how we get on and how much you will love for skin. So let's get to today's show. we have a guest who is someone who's built a career that goes far beyond the spotlight. Frankie Bridge, first found fame at the age of just 12 years old when she became part of the teen pop group S Club Juniors.

5:24In fact, she wasn't even a teen, she was only 12. Then of course, she went on to be one fifth of the chart-topping group The Saturdays. Since then, Frankie has built a multifaceted career across TV, publishing and fashion, most recently launching Faves, which is a community-powered fashion discovery platform which celebrates inclusivity, affordability and strives to help audiences find their fashion inspiration. It's a really impressive journey. I've known Frankie for years but to see her thriving and exploring this part of her life is really exciting so I've got lots I want to chat to her about.

5:57Let's get into it. Frankie, it's great to have you here. Thank you. I don't know how many years I've known you and interviewed you and we've chatted at various different things. I don't think we ever talk business, Frankie. No, we haven't ever. This is very, very exciting. Obviously, you've built your career across music, TV, publishing, fashion lines, collaborations. That's for a while now. It's interesting because you're a lot younger than me, of course. But at what point did you decide that you wanted your own business? You wanted to build something, a venture of your own? I think I guess I've always wanted something of my own in the way that before I was in pop groups, I was always I'd like to be a solo artist.

6:39So I guess I'd always had this feeling of wanting to be able to achieve something on my own. But that kind of wanting to be a solo artist quickly disappeared. After being in two pop groups, I was like, no, I feel like I've done this now. And I think you realise you don't have much autonomy over yourself within those situations. so I think it it I'd guess like Faves is only my business has only been going for like two years and I would say it's probably only within that time just before that where I thought oh actually I'd quite like to do something myself that's because you transitioned really nicely from the music into telly and that felt like a quite seamless transition yeah I feel like I guess that's more of an obvious transition um I guess I didn't really know what I wanted to do I feel like when you come out of these situations of being in pop groups and things like that you kind of get lost in it you don't have time to have hobbies or think about what else you might like to do obviously I was never naive to the fact that I would have to do something afterwards but it's really hard when you've done the thing that you always wanted to do already by the age of like I don't know like 20 I guess that's a really interesting perspective isn't it if you always had the ambition to be a pop star to be a professional singer and then you've done it at a very young age yeah what do you do once maybe it's time to do something new yeah I think that's exactly what it was I was kind of like what next and I've I've done lots of different things and actually I really enjoyed that I had the opportunity to try lots of different things say yes and no whereas before it was kind of just you know you were told what you do every day and it's yes yes yes and I think just the thought of having something of my own was exciting but also terrifying because now I have to make the decisions whereas before if a single didn't do well or if something didn't do great or a TV show didn't rate that well, whatever, kind of wasn't down to me necessarily.

8:28So you could kind of go, oh, well, that didn't work and move on. Whereas now it's like, okay, I made that decision and that flopped. Yeah, you're carrying the can. Yeah. So let's talk about faves then. Tell me all about it. Why faves? Why is it called faves? So it's a community first driven platform. So we're mainly on Instagram. And we have 30 ,000 people that have subscribed to our mailer so you get a mailer every week and basically we're taking the hard work out of shopping but also we always say it's more than just the clothes like we have community events we put on fashion shows and it's our way of making women feel comfortable in that fashion space because I think we're quite often in the fashion world made to not feel like we should be a part of it and like there's a certain hierarchy within that and I think as women we change so much throughout our lives that we can get quite lost with our style and our confidence and even with friendships and things like that um uh so it's called faves because it was originally Frankie's faves so originally after I'd had my two kids I wasn't in a pop group anymore I kind of lost my way with what I felt comfortable in and what I was wearing and I was just kind of sharing that online and people enjoyed it and then it just naturally evolved into faves and because I now have a team I felt like having Frankie's faves wasn't quite fair because it's more than just me okay okay yeah yeah so having launched it as Frankie's faves there's a whole group of people that are part of that journey as well it's interesting isn't it because that that sort of that identity post really high profile dream career very early suddenly becoming a mum and then suddenly the boys are older and older and need you less and less that's a that's a really sort of um it's really sort of important time in in in your life and and I can I can totally understand why a lot of I'd imagine women online as well and I'm surely some men as well would have really identified with what you were saying about sort of trying to find your route trying to find your path what's next yeah I think you I always say like you know we all have to pivot throughout life especially these days you know no one generally has the same career for their whole life or lots of people have lots of little jobs on the side and things like that and it seems to be more and more common but I do think women pivot more throughout their lives you know whether they have kids or not hormone changes things like that and I think it can be really you can really lose yourself within that and I think to be able to have a space where you can come and feel accepted and meet like-minded people is really important like we have women who come to our events on their own and they leave with friends um like one of the ogs of like our subscribers she works shifts so actually she never has time to see her friends because they're all working in the day she works nights and she doesn't feel inspired by them but when she comes to our event she meets new people they're free the same time as her and she's inspired to do new things and she's just started a new business online and that's kind of I didn't know that that's what it was going to become but that's what it has a fantastic side effect yeah yeah yeah but it's really infectious what you're what you've created um was there a moment when you were talking about where you were in life and maybe what you were missing or what you were trying to find that you thought do you know what we need we need faves we need a community that is all about women feeling comfortable in the clothes choices they make or the fashion that they want to wear or the the experiences they want to visit yeah I think it naturally evolved into that so my business partner Leah said to me you could make a business out of this and I was like no like you know that's not really what I do and you know and I also find it really difficult to talk about my own things I think because I've spent so much of my life kind of talking about other things for other people and so I was a bit like oh I don't know about that but it it has yeah it kind of was a natural progression and I was like you know what I would love to have that space for people because I haven't felt like I had that throughout my life and even in my career like people were always surprised that I wasn't nest those doors weren't really open for me in the fashion world even though now music and fashion is so combined there was like a snobbery towards it and you have to kind of be in certain circles to be accepted into that world, which only makes me want to work harder for it.

12:58And that doesn't make me go, oh no, I can't be a part of that. But so it's nice to open those doors for other people. And one of the things that you've done brilliantly with Faves is create this community of like-minded individuals that all want to hear what it is that you're talking about and share ideas and the fashion that you're talking about. It's exactly the premise for me and Joel with Foreskin and the business community of advocates that we want to get involved on this journey, that they're following us as we stumble and trip our way through creating a business, but also to understand what it is that we're trying to do to create the skincare brand.

13:33How have you found building that community? And what do you think are the great levers that manage to attract people to what it is that you're talking about? I think it's kind of community has become one of those buzzwords that some brands use and they don't have a community. I think they see followers or people who shop their brand, they assume they're a community. And actually, it's something really different. It's people that show up for things like events and engage with everything. And I think we've managed that because probably like you guys, we've put a lot of ourselves into it. And I think people feel like they can talk to us.

14:10I guess I had a small community from over the years. but I was really aware that that doesn't actually always compute to people buying being a part of being a community like people assume that you instantly get that but actually it's just not true um I think because we've been honest about our journey we are honest about the things that we need and we listen to them so a lot of what we do is like you know if we do a takeover and and that's where we pick um five outfits from the high street that week it will be they've all asked us oh travel outfits I don't know what to wear or when we do our community events we're all there we talk to them all you know it's not just this thing where we're like oh we've got a community and we don't know any of them yeah their input's fundamental to the journey yeah which is sort of the decisions that we made which is why we're called foreskin uh because the decision was made by the community it was your fault it wasn't I was actually thinking about that earlier and I was like it really just changes just different ways that you say it really makes it mean many different things yeah you can lean on the words yeah I noticed you made took it chose to put a gap in between and I was like yeah and then it's completely different yeah it is it is I was at a party this weekend with my mother-in-law and my mum and there's this brilliant moment where my mum turned to me and she said oh how's your foreskin and then my mother-in-law at the time I said oh yes I've been hearing all about it you're like everybody just so everybody's here I was thinking of people going into store and I was like, I wonder if people will say, have you got foreskin?

15:39Or do you sell foreskin? Or, you know, there's just so many ways. It is. It's the gift that just keeps giving. It really is. And I wouldn't expect anything less from you in job. Absolutely. Thank you. I feel like it's very representative of our puerile sense of humour. A hundred percent. But that trust is a really important thing. And it's something that you can appreciate. Because as you're saying, just because you've got people that might be following in line doesn't mean they're going to engage with what it is you're talking about. particularly if you're interested in them buying things, committing to things, subscribing to things.

16:08How do you protect that trust, Frankie? I think you have to be consistent. That's what we try and do. Our mailer goes out every week. People that are our subscribers, they get all information before anyone else. So if you follow us, the subscribers get our mailer takeover on a Sunday morning. If you just follow us on Instagram, you don't get it until the evening. they'll always get be the first to get tickets to all of our shows and our runway shows um they actually sit at the front and press sit behind them or any influencers or any celebrities so they're kind of always put first and i think it's a mixture of that yeah that and consistency and we'll only ever tell them about things that we genuinely believe in

16:58Right then, yes, hello, I'm Simon Mayo. And right then, hello, yes, I'm Mark Kermit. And on this week's edition of The Take... We have the new movie The Fall of Sir Douglas Weatherford with Peter Mullen. We have the old movie Boogie Nights back in cinemas in a 4K restoration. And we have Steven Spielberg's Disclosure Day with our very special guests. Stars of the film Emily Blunt and Coleman Domingo. It's a very interesting conversation. Don't miss anything. It's all in the take.

17:29Just explain a little bit then. So you create edits of clothes from the high street, from fashion labels? Yeah, from any high street brands or up and coming brands is something I'm really passionate about. I really love trying to find new brands and that's something we're spending more time in doing now. But it's basically the noise is so loud online. You know, everyone's trying to sell something or everyone's posting about fashion, beauty, whatever. And it can be hard. It can be overwhelming. But it is the way that we consume now, you know. And I guess it's a bit like for us, we're kind of like the girl group chat, you know, like with me and my girls.

18:04We'll send each other things. Oh, everyone's wearing this. I found this for this price. And that's kind of what Faves is. So if you're a part of our mailer, you get that in your inbox. It's five curated outfits. um normally with a theme like I say like airport outfits holiday or recently we just did um summer events for under 100 pounds and that comes out to you you can shop all the links and then at the bottom we'll also have like accessories beauty or if there's any deals in any restaurants or whatever or listen to this podcast you know you'll get all of that on the mailer and then online you get beauty tips wellness um i've had someone who's given financial advice and things like that so it's kind of your go-to place for any information that you need um so two years since it's been going talk me through sort of a day in the life or a week in the life of faves how does it how does your how's your time look now um you know it's weird every day looks different um obviously because i still do loose women and i still do things like this and all different so my day is never the same we've literally just got our first office amazing congratulations so that's going to make everything look slightly different how many views there now um so everyone is self-employed yeah um i looked into employment and it's terrifying we're not quite there yet um so there's about there's seven of us at the moment and um all female and i love it because also we We are startups, so everyone wears many hats.

19:36We all do lots of different jobs and we haven't had any investment or anything like that. So we are a really tight bunch that do a bit of everything. So for us, every day is different, you know. We're just starting planning for our next live event, so we'll work on that next week. What does the live event look like? So it's kind of changed. The first one we ever did was kind of like us talking through our five looks that we would have put out in the mailer. I would wear them. Our stylist would talk through it while we've done it. We do a Q &A. And then we had Izzy, who's our wellness girl, talking about confidence and how dressing for certain different things can help you mentally and things like that.

20:20And then in February, we did a runway show because we were like, you know, the average person doesn't ever get to be involved in London Fashion Week, including lots of girls that we know that work for brands that do a lot of hard work but would never, ever be invited to a show. So we did our first one in February during London Fashion Week and we had influencers who have been our takeover girls because we like to include all different body shapes, sizes, ethnicities. I can only do so much. And they all walked in our show and for them, I didn't realise how emotional that was going to be for them.

20:59Still for two weeks afterwards on the group chat, they were crying because like it made them feel so confident and so seen. There were girls that said they never felt represented on runways before and never thought they'd be confident enough to do it. But we encouraged them to do it. And, you know, we're all just like this big group, like cheering each other on. And then obviously then all our community came. They sat in the front row. and then they get the chance to shop afterwards what they've seen on the runway and we have a shopping zone we have someone doing color analysis and things like that and I have to say that that is the first time ever in my 24 years of everything that I've done that I've ever genuinely be fully proud of something that I did it was mad I bet it's incredible just pinch yourself you've helped create this from a simple chat that you put online suddenly you have all these people here and you're empowering women and young girls to sort of feel seen and all that that's an amazing thing to achieve yeah and as I said it wasn't something that I was expecting from it um we did when we did our first live before it wasn't a runway everyone was really emotional after that and I was kind of like oh god maybe I'm a bit broken because I didn't have much of an emotional response to it because I was like that was really good what are our learnings what are we going to do different next time when's the next one going to be you know that kind of thing yeah yeah and obviously I still have that but I was able to sit back and be like oh my god we did that we pulled that off you know without anyone else um doing it for us I go to things events now and I think for certain brands and stuff and I think god you've got so much money you've got so many people that can do this for you and ours is better yeah but that's the interesting thing isn't it sort of where does the tension between what is commercial and what feels authentic sit and that's that that's that's the sort of a hard position to be in because at the minute your community is fundamental to this but as it grows and grows and grows yeah that becomes more and more taught that tension is going to become more and more important because you've got to create a set amount of revenue to keep the lights on yeah I do always think about that and we actually weirdly had a conversation about that this morning um you know the girls from the community know that we have brands that pay for takeovers and might pay to have an outfit on the runway and whatever but we do say no to people and we're choosy with who we ask for and obviously everyone knows that brands and businesses don't have a lot of money at the moment so it's harder and harder to get people to part with their money also when you've got a new concept it takes a lot of explanation they might have to see it first and I've never been a part of those conversations until now and it's hard work it's a lot of back and forth but we were talking about investment this morning yeah where are you with all and we just see a lot of brands that get investment and then we feel they change and they lose what it was about originally so I guess it depends what you want out of it and where you get to if you're happy to get the investment possibly lose a part of that and you accept that and then you move on to something else you know everyone's got to make money and business is business I do understand that but at the minute we don't really want to be in that position I think you have to be we'd have to be further along so that we're fully cemented into what we are um but also it's hard because you always get to these points where you do need to you know like we've just got an office that's a big expense like that's a big expense now we've got to make enough money to cover the office as well as everyone's wages and then it's like okay then there'll be another step of where we maybe need to hire someone else to be able to get to the next step so everything is constantly the benchmark is always moving is that some of the biggest learnings you've learned you've had so far do you think it's just navigating those those moments where you feel like faves is suddenly stepping up another level yeah definitely like even from our first live events to now like they're just getting bigger and bigger and then it's like you want like our first one was 150 people the last one was 300 you want more people but then that's more people to give drinks to, food to, goodie bags, you know, bums on seats, like then everything gets bigger and the price goes up.

25:13So it is a constant learning. And I think, I guess, where I've always had agents and things, I didn't realise how hard it was to talk to brands and to people, you know, you sit down, you take people out for breakfast, and they seem very interested, and you have this great time. And then they go, Oh, we haven't got the budget, actually, so we can't do it. And then you're like, you know, why didn't you just say that? or, you know, this back and forth of explaining it and then they're, no, sorry. And it's, yeah, that's really hard. Whereas I wasn't always aware of those. Yeah, okay. So you've got more respect for your agent finally.

25:45I have, yeah, yeah. Yeah, I'm like, oh God, everyone's really annoying. I didn't realise. And also I'm really impatient. So if I've got an idea, like I want it to happen like now and there's just so many avenues and so many things and I find that really hard. What do you think are some of the biggest mistakes you've made, Frankie? um I kind of messed up in the beginning I it's so ridiculous I didn't really like with shares and things like that when I first originally started I kind of was quite blasé about that okay and didn't really protect myself properly and that's cost me a lot of money a lot of time a lot of stress and um I think on a personal level and on a business level that was quite a hard learning for me um because I kind of was like I'm busy you can sort this out you do that yeah I'll sign that uh because I just trust people and I think then you realize that actually you can't do that even if you know like my business partner now we're like best friends but we're very up front with each other there's nothing you know everything's signed everything's done and we both know where we stand and um that's just the best way to be and it can feel like just because you're mates you don't need to do that but actually it's just better for everyone involved but also when it's first starting the idea of having shareholders agreements and the idea of all of that just seems like hold on we're just mates sitting in a room yeah do we really need to put that down into the paper and make it legal i think that's how i i was kind of because i didn't really everyone always takes mickey out of me they're like it's a thing because when we first started fave so first year i was like yeah but it's not really a thing it's not a thing and then a year in i was like oh my god it's a thing like it's an actual thing when When did it become a thing?

27:28Yeah, when did it become a thing? And I think, yeah, that's exactly what I was like. I was like, oh, we're going to give this thing a go. Who knows what's going to happen? And then like further down the line, we'll figure it out, see who's been doing what and where everyone lies. And you realise then when something does become a thing, that's when it becomes more difficult because people get greedy. Yeah, and if you set it all up up front before it's a thing, even though that seems surreal and ridiculous, actually, when it is a thing, you've done the hard work. That's interesting. I think that's, yeah, that's been the biggest thing for me.

28:00So where you are now, if you wake up in the middle of the night, what is it about faves that's keeping you awake that will make you suddenly think, oh, I've got to write this down or how am I going to deal with that problem? I have, one thing is I have lots of ideas and obviously there's only so much time and so much money. So there's that. So like I said, I'm impatient. So I'll be like, yeah, but we need to start talking about it now. And also everyone does actually do everything quite last minute, which I've never realised and I find that really difficult. And obviously just paying everyone's wages, just like what's coming in and what's going out because I've only ever had to think of that for myself up until now.

28:40Even though everyone's self-employed, I love everyone I work with. Yeah, and you take responsibility for looking after them, right? Yeah.

28:55what does success look like for you then Frankie I guess that's something I've always wondered having done all the job that I've done for years you know when do you kind of go oh I've made it or I've nailed it and I don't I don't think I'm someone that will ever fully feel like that I saw a brilliant quote from Jimmy Carr which was something along the lines of young people need to think about what their measure of success is because if they're only measuring it by somebody else's idea of success they will never truly understand what success can be to them and that could be financial success it could be employing people it could be emotional it could be you know whatever it is fulfilling a dream I do think that's I do think that's hard I think I've sat down you know like I have a life coach and things like that and I've sat down and been like okay what is it that I really want to do?

29:38Because, you know, I have got kids and I have done lots of things, but there's still so much more. And I think a part of that was to feel that what I was doing wasn't vacuous and it meant something to someone. So I think that's something that would feel like success to me, which is probably why our event felt like a success. And I felt proud of it because it's the first time I've truly felt that. And I've always wanted to be financially independent. That's something for me. But I think just to be able to get up and be truly passionate about what I'm doing, that's that success, you know? Yeah, for sure.

30:09It's really interesting that you think about it in those terms, because I think it's very easy to, you know, when you've been in the world of pop music, you've been in the world of media to kind of not attribute any true value to what you're doing until you meet people who tell you how much they have loved the music that the bands created and how much support and help it gave them or the programs that you've been on. because we just rock up and do a job that we absolutely love. You kind of think, what am I achieving? But, you know, you only have to meet... I've met some really lovely people that have talked to me about the importance of all the shows, but particularly Tipping Point and how much that's meant to them as a family because they've been able to share it with somebody who perhaps wasn't particularly well or someone who's nonverbal and they love the show because of the repetition of the counter.

31:01Someone posted something yesterday and he came in and his son was fast asleep he just loves tipping point and he posted a video of look this he's falling asleep watching tipping point and but that's just a great quiz show that we're lucky enough to make but we suddenly realized that it's seeped into the everyday life of people that it's really important to some people yeah then hopefully i think i've learned to understand actually there is huge value there that we should be really proud of and you as well and i'd like to think because you're still very young yeah you will get there with the stuff that you've done before Faves.

31:30Yeah. Because unquestionably what you've been able to create, you and the girls in the groups, both groups, and then on telly as well, is something that is quite hard to measure personally. Yeah. But it's only when you get the feedback from people that you really understand actually where that resonated. Yeah. I have had that a lot over the years. You know, I, even within the gay community, you know, I've got a lot of gay friends and Mighty Hoopla just happened. And apparently like the Saturdays is one of the most to ask for bands to perform every year or you know I meet people that have become friends because they were fans or a certain song meant something to them or whatever and I do even have the same with Luce you know like you go on TV I don't know if you feel the same and I just always in my head no one watches no one watches you know and sometimes you'll say something and someone in the school playground I think oh no like you do see it yeah and when you know everything was changing at ITV a lot of women came up to me and said oh god I hope they never get used to loose because uh rid of loose because that's you know the thing that I sat and watched when I was breastfeeding my baby or when I was on maternity leave or when I'm sat at home with my mum or you know it's stuff like that and I always just think oh I'm just sat there talking a load of rubbish and actually things you say do resonate um so I do it's I don't think my career has been vacuous I think maybe for me on on a personal level there were parts of it that I was really passionate about and then parts when I weren't um and then afterwards I was just lost I didn't know what I was going to do next so yeah it's nice to have that feeling back the good thing is you can guarantee that no matter how much rubbish you talk it won't be as much as Colleen don't sure it's calls me a bitch anyway she'll get me back don't worry about that um so look I love what you're saying.

33:18It's a really interesting thing for me to hear you talk about actually what you are creating, this venture that you are creating that didn't start as a thing but has now become a thing actually is something that's giving you purpose and real pride and you can see a future for it as well. I think there's an element in our world and more so with you when you're in the music world that we work when the phone rings. and what you're doing now is you're taking control and you are making that work happen which is incredibly empowering isn't it and not least for you but for the other seven girls in faves at the minute and then long term what that looks like and the community that you've you've managed to bring together 100 it's so weird you said that because I I say that all the time like it is quite difficult I you often feel like your career is in the hands of other people because you're waiting for them to call you or people to call them.

34:14And I have more recently got to the point where I'm like, oh, I can't live like, I don't want to live like that anymore. I still have that part. And it's lovely. Yeah, it's great. And I don't have to have all those conversations, you know, someone else does that. But even that, I am, now that I am a little bit more in control of things, I am finding that harder. You know, like I had a different agent. I've got one at the minute. I'm looking at getting another one. And they might be a slightly bigger agency. and that feels really unnerving to me now whereas it's all I've known really since a young age but I think for that reason I'm a bit like I even said to them like you know I'm not going to come with you if you're just going to sit and wait for the phone to call I want people that are coming up with ideas thinking outside of the box because that's just not how the industry works anymore you have to go out and put yourself in different places and make small things into big things and you just have to be more creative but it's stressful but also I'm like how exciting we get to be more creative and we all I remember someone saying to me like stay in your lane and I was like no like no one stays in their lane anymore I think that's such rubbish advice like back in the day yes but now there's so many lanes go off and try them all and I think despite the what you've achieved and where you've been with your profile I think there's a lot of takeaway for I'm sure a lot of your community can watch what you've done and that empowers them to think well this small thing that I've got on the side could be a thing yeah 100 % I hope so and I think that's I do think more and more people are thinking like that now I think that's why like with my boys with school and stuff I just look at them I think god when they're 16 and you're like okay choose your is it GCSEs at 16 or A levels well A levels are 16 A levels or like GCSEs A levels think about what you want to be doing is GCSE choices soon I guess well this is what I mean I'm like how does he know like and I remember at the time I mean I was in S-Cub Juniors so it was all a bit of a mess but I remember at the time thinking god how is it felt like that was gonna choose the rest of my life and that was what I was gonna have to be and you know I've met friends that have like learned to be a lawyer and then they've done it all and then they're like oh actually I hate this and they're doing something else and I think it's so exciting that we are people more people are in that position to be able to give more things a go and yeah it's more democratic now isn't it if you have the confidence to go out and do it start small and see what you can achieve yeah if you would go back then and do start faves again is there anything you do differently I would prefer if I was more confident about talking about it right from the start because I think I was always a little bit embarrassed and apologetic about it even though I was really passionate about it um and I wish I'd had that from the start because I knew what I wanted to say but I was too scared and and if you're not going to be able to sell it to people then no one's going to buy it so I think because I've always had a bit of a thing that it's not a it's not a product I've got I've got this thing in my head it's not a product it's a service and for some reason that's not as tangible so it makes me more nervous and actually people consume products and whatever but the way the world is going people do want they need services they need that touch point they need a community so actually it's more important than ever so but it sounds very much like to me that that confidence is growing in you daily and weekly because you're having to deal with all of those conversations and all those decisions yeah I think so definitely like I still I mean we haven't had to but I said to my business partner I was like um the first time that we ever make a million pounds after tax I will sack someone if they need sacking I was like until then you're doing all the horrible bits like I just can't do any of that like you know I find it really hard to tell someone that actually I don't really like that thing that you've done and really yeah struggling with that yeah so that's something I really have to work on um I'm getting there uh but because apparently people are quite scared of me which I didn't realize is that right yeah because if you're explaining something to me I'm very quiet because I'm listening to what you're saying and my brain's going okay what am I going to do with that considering it yeah yeah so someone's presenting something to me I think I've got resting bitch face so I think it's quite scary but genuinely I'm just listening what do the men in your life say about the resting bitch face is that is that an advice that's come from somebody else I don't think they really care about my resting bitch face they just ignore it I wear no like I do not wear the trousers in my house I'm completely outnumbered so that's hilarious yeah so but so interestingly you feel but that doesn't strike me as your style though Frankie it's so interesting No.

38:48Because look, we've never had a conversation about business, but I can see that now. I mean, you look the part, you sound really authoritative, you sound really passionate. I can see why anybody pitching something to you would be intimidated because look what you've created. Yeah, I guess so. I think I forget about my past as well. And I think, you know, people see you differently, don't they, when they've seen you on TV or some of the people I work with have grown up with me being there or whatever. So I guess that's intimidating, but I think I've never felt that. You know, even after the Saturdays, we'd meet people and they'd be like, oh, God, yeah, I was always really scared when you guys came in.

39:21And I was like, really? Because we were always really friendly. And I'm like, oh, yeah, we were five women walking into a room who know each other, live together, you know. It was a lot. Yeah, it's a lot. It was a lot of hairspray. Yes, Ben. And that was just yours. But it was lovely as well, though. I mean, it was an amazingly exciting time. Yes. So I do understand it. But I think because I always think I'm quite open and quite friendly. but actually if I'm nude to someone I am quite like I'll just take you in and figure everything out do you think that's do you think that's an experience of being in a pop group for a number of years and being one of five yeah with the girls and then seven with S Club Juniors was it seven was it was eight of us yeah there were so many of you it's hard to keep count yeah I know S Club Juniors and then they had seven yeah they were seven yeah um and you so so you're sort of a a small part of a bigger thing yeah I always laugh and I'm like I've kind of recreated a girl band basically and now like I've given myself because I hate being on my own I've now got like you know another group of girls um something that I'm learning is I'm not very good at rewarding people for doing their job right okay because yes we got the reward of people cheering and whatever but it's kind of like if you're being asked to do something and that's your job and you're getting paid for it I'll tell you if you've done well or whatever but I wouldn't naturally be like oh great I'll be polite or whatever but I'm not going to go over and above because you've done what you were asked to do does that make sense because no one's ever done that for me yeah so I think that's a real learning curve for me is like people need more of that more reassurance more encouragement which sounds really horrible and sounds really obvious but I've worked from such a young age and I'm just like well I've just done what I did no I don't come off and someone's like oh that was really you know like you don't come off and someone's not like telling you how great it was every time yeah um so I think yeah that's something that I'm learning even my business partner if I send her a message and I'm like that was great she's screenshotted them she's got a folder with the screenshotted messages where I've said these things and I'm like she's quite hard as nails I'm like really she's like yeah because I know when you say it you really mean it well then it comes with resonance as well that's so there's an important side of that but you're the mum are two boys yeah i mean boys boys need endless encouragement you don't get anything back from them no they're so mean my son i picked him up yesterday from school and i've just been i've just got back from stag and um and i picked him up from school i was like oh he's gonna be excited to see me and he got in the car as a joke he went to me everyone hates you and then just picked up his drink and i was like oh and he was like i'm only joking everyone loved you and i was just like that's literally the first thing you said to me i was like oh my god you know so yeah everyone's mean to me maybe that maybe that's manifesting at work isn't it yeah yeah taking on that energy so look it's been a lovely conversation frankie i'm really excited to see what happens with faves um it sounds like it seems like there's so much energy and passion about it and that community is growing what would you want anybody listening to our conversation to take away from what you've achieved what we've discussed what you've been through and where you want to get to I think I I've spoken about it a lot but I think that there's no shame in pivoting in life in in any part it doesn't have to just be a work and be in your personal life or whatever and I think it's exciting to change it's exciting to mix it up and I think being in an uncomfortable position only brings good like I do my best work when I'm uncomfortable um and I think think bigger.

42:54I think we're always really, we're so British, we're so conservative. Just allow yourself to think big. Love it. Thank you, Frankie, for coming on the podcast. It's been lovely to chat and have you on The Businessmen. We're going to be hearing more from Frankie over on Patreon, of course, which is totally free to join. Just head to patreon.co.uk forward slash The Businessmen. Thank you for listening. Remember to subscribe so you don't miss any of the episodes and we'll be back next week. Goodbye. Goodbye.

43:24Right then, yes, hello, I'm Simon Mayo. And right then, hello, yes, I'm Mark Kermit. And on this week's edition of The Take... We have the new movie The Fall of Sir Douglas Weatherford with Peter Mullen. We have the old movie Boogie Nights back in cinemas in a 4K restoration. And we have Steven Spielberg's Disclosure Day with our very special guests. Stars of the film Emily Blunt and Coleman Domingo. It's a very interesting conversation. Don't miss anything. It's all in The Take.