Ep. 74 Why We Can’t Always Have It All And What To Do About It With Laura Jackson

0:00Because I just really didn't recognise myself and I cried every day. She was so open in this episode about the struggles she's faced being a founder and being a mother and also her really tough experiences during pregnancy. You pitching seven days after birth. I can't even imagine. I worked all day, all night. We've got like an investor call. Oh, how old is he? He's a week old now. They're like, oh, that's cute. OK, so let's get into it. It's a myth that you can have it all. I just don't think you can have it all all of the time. You don't always do the school run, but then you feel guilty that you're not doing the school run and they finish school in the middle of the day.

0:34We expect women to be at home as if they don't have a job and expect people to be at their job as if they don't have children. My learnings are that I couldn't really get the help in the time that I needed it. It was really hard. It was really hard. Do you mind talking about what made it so tough?

1:01What is up and welcome to this episode of Working Hard Hardly Working. Today I am so excited to be talking to Laura Jackson. Laura's professional biography is honestly one of the most extensive I have ever read. She is a prime example of how to ace a non-linear career path by saying yes to opportunities that feel right. From hosting Take Me Out the Gossip to writing cookbooks and now founding Glasset, which is kind of known as the net-a-porter for homeware, which had a Christmas pop-up in Selfridges. Laura is the ultimate plate juggler and that's without adding her three kids and a recent funding round into the equation.

1:37I'm such a fan of the business she's built at Glasset and she was so open in this episode about the struggles she's faced along the way, not just with the realities of being a founder but also with being a founder and being a mother and also her really tough experiences during pregnancy and I felt like that was just such an incredibly honest and open conversation and you could tell how from the heart it was and I feel like these conversations are so important to have so that it's clear how many people go through this and how much everything you see online is really kind of I mean we all talk about it being highlight reel it's such a cliche but it really really is especially when it comes to looking at people who are definitely kind of by definition doing it all I just thought it was a really important conversation to have and I cannot thank Laura enough for being so open about it if you did like this episode please make sure to like and subscribe it hugely helps the podcast please make sure to let us know which types of guests you like what you want to hear more of what you want to hear less of but only if you're nice and polite and as always we would absolutely love to hear from you um it helps us to make the podcast better and better and just have conversations that you want they're here.

2:51Thank you so much for joining me. Thank you for having me. I'm very excited to have you here. We've already had a little bit of a teaser of a conversation. I just want to get straight into right at the beginning, your early life, your childhood. What were you like as a child? Oh gosh, probably very cheeky, I think. Yeah. I can't really, I feel like when anyone ever asked this I can't ever really remember because it was just really chaotic I was one of five in a split family and there was always lots going on my mum was brilliant in terms of like always having an activity for us to do so yeah it was a busy start the market's uncertain revenues tied and hiring on hold that's why results driven companies are using Upwork to keep work moving go to Upwork.com today and start hiring proven freelance talent fast.

3:42No bulky overhead. No rigid long-term contracts. Just the right expert right when you need them. Work smarter and faster with Upwork. Go to Upwork.com now and find your freelance expert. That's U-P-W-O-R-K.com. Post a job for free and get started today. At Capella University, learning online doesn't mean learning alone. you'll get support from people who care about your success like your enrollment specialist who gets to know you and the goals you'd like to achieve you'll also get a designated academic coach who's with you throughout your entire program plus career coaches are available to help you navigate your professional goals a different future is closer than you think with Capella University.

4:27Learn more at capella.edu. Hi friends, Grace from the Working Hard podcast here. When you're stretching every dollar, Alilla goes a long way and Walmart Business is here to help. They make it easy to order what you need from tech and cleaning supplies to everyday essentials, all at low prices and with helpful tools like spend tracking and tax exempt purchasing for eligible organizations. Because when your operations are smooth, your impact can be bigger. Visit business.warmart.com to get started. And yeah, in Huddersfield and constantly busy, loved being busy, as in like finding things to do. So like crafting or drawing or running around or, you know, it's like pre-phone life.

5:02It was brilliant. It was just, we lived next door to a field in Huddersfield and by this little stream and we just used to mess around in the stream and it's great. I know, isn't it so wild actually, just like a small tangent. I heard a quote the other day of someone just saying like, as children we used to have so much time to be bored, like literally just to like be bored and sit there. like I literally remember sitting on the stairs at home being like cool like when it was like a school holiday or something like you'd literally just be sitting there like so what next like and then you just go out and like play picking some grass out the floor yeah I mean even as adults we're constantly entertained now like we're on our phones and everything yeah but none of us including children have any time to be bored yeah I feel like that must affect us so much yeah yeah I mean the screen chat's interesting isn't it with the kids but yeah I try and create opportunities is to not do things but it's more of a thought process to get there rather than a oh it's everyday boredom yeah I'll just go find some flowers and make a perfume for six hours and try and sell to people for 50p.

6:07We would literally like look at the CD rack and be like it's going in alphabetical order like that's what's being done right now. Did you always have big dreams like did you always think I want to be on TV what were your aspirations? I loved telly as a kid like I love telly I love telly now I love how it makes me feel I love the escapism I'm dyslexic so reading was never something that I enjoyed because I found it quite difficult right um I loved imagining things when I did read books but I got so much out of telly but I didn't really understand that there were jobs in telly if that makes sense like I knew there was actors and I knew that there was presenters but I didn't really understand the mechanics of you know like there's people working in on like the production and the logistics and I didn't really know about that um because I couldn't see it I didn't really know anyone that did that so I always knew that I'd love telly and when I spoke to people from school they were like you always wanted to do big things you always want to go somewhere and do something and so I guess I did but I don't think I knew it or I knew how to articulate it until I've had children of my own and I look back at that time but I like Dreaming Big.

7:16It's a good place for me. And how did that original Dreaming Big end up with you like getting your first jobs on TV? Like talk to me about the beginning of your career and how it even took off. Well I've always had a job right because I'm one of five so my mum always said if I'm giving you a fiver I've lost 25 quid I've got to give everyone a fiver. So I've always had a job whether it was delivering leaflets babysitting washing up in a pub like I've always worked right I've had this hard work instilled in me from a very young age even make your bed to tidy your room my mom's like I'm not making five beds you can always make your own beds which is I was like that's really harsh but now I'm like absolutely oh my god there is no way that will not be my like that is gonna be the full ethos my mom's always done things in a she's an outsourcer like we all had it was all delegated from like day one including her ones so rather than like I'm gonna make five beds it was okay we're here if you want to watch tv and like want to have dinner you've got to get all of the beds like all of the rooms ready for bed including things like unfolding her like we had a turndown service like we would literally like go upstairs and like turn on the she had this little electric blanket delegated from day one it's very good tactic yeah I like it 101 about running a team she was like I have given birth to a team of people yeah yeah you've got to look at it that way I mean she did I say to my daughter now teamwork is and she goes dream work and I'm like what is wrong with me but um it's true it's like it's yeah it's a it's a good lesson to instill early on for sure got what the question was no that's fine so have I oh talking about the how you originally like first got into oh tv oh yes I've always had a job My circumstances changed and we moved from Huddersfield to Leeds.

9:07My mum ended up getting sick and I studied. Instead of moving away to go to university, I decided to study events management at Leeds Polytechnic. I just didn't really know what I wanted to do. So spending four years studying parties seemed like a great idea. Then I moved to London out of my home with my mum and moved to London on my own. So then I kind of, I'd always worked, but I had to really survive then. My parents have been like lovely and support me, but you know, I needed to get a job. So when I moved to London, I transferred my course for university. Then I kind of started like working, working, right?

9:43And I'd do anything for money in terms of I wasn't fussy about the job. I had a job as a cleaner. I was like desperate for money. So I flied around all the houses near where I lived and just said, I'll do anything like maintenance, cleaning. And I cleaned a lady's house. did like PR jobs where like dressed up as a gin bottle handing out leaflets at the train station you know all of the things yeah very early on I knew I never wanted to have a nine-to-five the thought of a desk with a picture of my family on for me never felt like it was my thing so I liked the kind of the randomness of all of these jobs together and I think actually that's kind of informed how I've gone on as a person like at the heart of it the foundation is like community and making people feel good but there's lots of different like avenues and paths that come with that so then I got a job working at shortage house it just opened and I was like this is great I can work for 5 p.m until it closed at like 3 a.m I wasn't spending money and I was saving money I really wanted to go to South America and I met somebody there and I was like I really want to work in telly and they were like why and I was like because I love telly and um really bad because TV.

10:51Because I watched telly obviously. Not very good at acting. I kind of wanted to, yeah I wanted to be a host and that's kind of how it started. I got introduced to an agent and they sent me for an audition. I got the audition and then they managed that job for me and it kind of just went from there. But very very slowly I think it's been brick by brick. For me it's always been about kind of learning. And what is life as a TV presenter like? For everyone who sees like the glamorous outside can you give us a little bit of an insight into what it's like especially at the beginning in terms of like the how regular the jobs are like what you're actually spending the majority of your time doing all of these different things it's really tough it's really tough because I suppose it's a job where you're really putting your personality out there and that's like that is authentically you I think from like the inception of me kind of going into that broadcast world I always wanted to do other things around it and I think that for me I always like things that make me a more well-rounded person and try and challenge myself so as I was doing broadcast and I was thinking about ideas and having meetings and it felt very much that my future was potentially in the hands of other people because I was asking them for a job and I've always done that from a very young age that's all I've ever known right so having a situation where I was meeting people and asking them for a job or like am I good enough it didn't feel very me so I'm like right what can I do that kind of takes control and creates an opportunity for myself yes I can write pitch decks yes I can pitch ideas yes I can think about all of that kind of broadcast work but what can I do that's ownable that's mine so me and a friend started a supper club and this was over 10 years ago I can't remember um but um we didn't invent the supper club but We were very early adapters in a movement that was inviting strangers around for dinner and creating an experience.

12:42I love experiences. I love making people feel a certain way, which is why I love telly. Making people feel a certain way, whether it's broadcast or food, is really important to me. We started the supper club and then that kind of took off. We got a cookbook. We designed two ranges of a habitat. And then this whole lifestyle, food, entertaining thing came out of me. but it was always in me because I was always the waitress at home when I was having you know helping my mum like if friends were coming over for dinner or whatever so being one thing 15 years ago was all people wanted right they just they wanted to put you in a box and they wanted you to be a tv presenter or a businesswoman or whatever it was and I never felt like that I never felt like I was one thing and I think that it's now really except as you know right you know you do multiple things and it's very accepted now but I felt like when I started people were like oh sorry what do you do you're a broadcaster but you do a supper club oh that's yeah it was very much it's like the gig economy has like gone from being that there was an unglamorousness to it in the way that like the assumption was that you couldn't make money from just one thing yeah therefore you and you weren't good enough at it and therefore you had to like plug it with all of these other things around versus like the desirability of now of like a multi-hyphenate career of like oh I'm this and this and this and it's a really interesting shift yeah like I think about a lot how that's changed so quickly I think because it used to be desirable or as a sign of like the way society was seen in terms of work it used to be seen as desirable to have one thing and be able to maintain that one thing for like 30 40 years in terms of like a career and that switch now in terms of like you have more freedom if you're able to decide what that looks like is a really interesting change well I think it was always acceptable for men to do multiple things but for women it wasn't and I think I was met with questions I would say in terms of what do you do and what do you want to do but for me it always felt comfortable to do multiple things because I felt like they were complementary to each other you know meeting people at a supper club and introducing people and creating a network and a community actually was empowering and important for my broadcast work so it all kind of works together I think and how did you find energy outside of like trying to make it in the tv industry to also be trying these other things like supper clubs I think it's so interesting because I think that like now we have so much pressure to like monetize every hobby because they're like it's been democratized in like you can't monetize everything like literally everything everything is content and everything is monetizable so there's this like why would you do a supper club if it wasn't like it has to be something then that makes money and I think that's really interesting in our like shift in perception of like how we spend our time I don't think like that though.

15:49But I agree that's the right way to think as in I agree that we shouldn't all think like that but I do think there's been like a societal shift in moving from that way to another. Was it just like are you one of those types of people that has like boundless energy in terms of like you spend a day doing an audition and like trying to get something and then you gain more energy by doing something like a supper club? Is that kind of what you're like? I've got so much energy and I'm a very creative person and as I say like I'm opportunistic right so if I go on holiday and I eat an amazing taco I'm like oh my god I want to invite all my friends over and make these tacos for them right and yeah everything has become quite transactional which is quite sad but actually that's what you decide to do with that right because I know for me it's important that yes if I'm doing something for a job for a brand it's very much about making sure they get the content and they get exactly what they need right it's a job but it's about how you're making people feel and that's not transactional I go to events where it's so noticeable that there's a great group of people who are really present who want to talk to you who want to engage who want to build relationships who are in that moment yes we take a picture but it's actually like what you get from that is so much more than making it transactional and monetizing because that's you as a person and that's really like Instagram could be gone tomorrow TikTok shop could be gone tomorrow like what's left if that all goes you want to make sure that you've got relationships and I don't know that you're happy with yourself and you're you're you're a good person not because it's you've been paid to be right yeah of course and I do think that there's like an element of it that like demonizes the individual for like making decisions to monetize more yeah whereas like we have been presented like almost a society now where if you're not taking those opportunities then you're leaving money on the table and therefore whatever situation you're in it could be better and therefore it is only your fault if you're not like that's kind of what the economy now says based on the fact that like if you could do you see what I mean in the way of like there's a kind of ethos that like if you could be making something out of this and you're not then you're leaving that on the table I don't think that's too for everybody though as in like I don't know I don't know maybe we differ opinions on this I think I it's it's a shame isn't it I totally agree in like it's the world now where I it's like watch masterclass why don't you want to be a billionaire why don't you want more for yourself but sometimes money isn't more no but that's exactly what I'm saying yeah what I'm saying is that because we're presented with a society that's almost like made up in that way it gives us the impression that we're leaving money on the table if we're not taking every single opportunity to like make more of it and monetize something yeah yeah it's such a tricky world to navigate that is for sure yeah um but I think just always being authentic and true to yourself and doing the things that for me I'm like can I go to bed at night knowing that I've made the right decision for me and my family is you know I say I'm sure you're the same saying no to opportunities where you don't think that if somebody offered you a lot of money to do something that you didn't believe in you wouldn't do it because you don't believe in it and I think that it is just so tricky now it's so tricky that's exactly what I mean like I mean that it's very it feels hard to navigate like it feels like you're always making the wrong decision whether it's the wrong decision for like an opportunity or whether it's the wrong decision for like your livelihood like whatever Either way, it feels like there's a risk of not saying like yes to something or another.

19:29At that stage in your career, when you were obviously starting out and kind of trying a lot of different things and going for a lot of different jobs, what was the wildest TV jobs that you've had? I did a really lovely show called World's Most Talented, where I traveled around the world for UK TV doing this talent show. That was amazing. Amazing. I met the most interesting people who invited me into their homes and cooked me dinner and looked after me. We went to this Romanian family's house and we'd met their daughter who was a gymnast and she was a contortionist and she could basically fold herself up into the size of a crisp packet.

20:04They were so kind. They invited us to their house. We had dinner. They gave us this homemade vodka. They had like these beautiful lace tablecloths and walls just kind of full of family pictures and heirlooms. And I was like this. I'm so lucky. this is so culturally enriching and they didn't have a lot but they gave us everything and it was just such a it was such a lovely warm experience and we didn't capture that we've gone to kind of school to see her gymnastics um but just that side of it was was just amazing that connection that we had with them it was really great I really loved that yeah and did you like having these incredible experiences and like being able to experience so many different things through one job I think is like unbelievable yeah did you think that you wanted to be in TV forever like when did you start making the decision to you know concentrate on things like design and and founding a company and kind of making that move well I I started my subaclub not really long after I'd been in broadcast so I think from very early on I wasn't like this is the one thing that I want to do right it was kind of always a collection of things because I like to be inspired and I like to inspire and I really like to be creative so all kind of fed into each other I think when I I think having children um and maybe that kind of having more ownership over my career then perhaps presented more kind of like the segments of my career as it were but it's all they've always kind of they've always kind of been the same thing I think I've just like kind of defined what they are as I've grown older and wiser hopefully and I've still got I'm still so young I've still got so much to learn but I think I'm just learning more about myself right and my niche and what I want to do and I think that kind of lifestyle living my kind of philosophy is a life well lived I like to think do things beautifully and I like to do things well um I don't like to do something with 10 % I want to choose the projects that I want to spend my time and I can be present with people and give 100 % to and making sure they look lovely and they're there to last rather than maybe when I first started I was like splattergun like I'll just do everything and see what sticks I'm very I very I know exactly what I want to do now and where did the original idea for glassette come from well a couple of things one was that I love homeware I love looking at things and I love having this emotional connection to a mug a glass I collect things sorry we didn't give you a nice one no it's nice no emotional connection but I've always collected things from wherever I've gone and I love them being like a talking point like oh I've got it there and I bought it from this lady and she made it all these things so I kind of wanted to create that feeling but online there wasn't a marketplace doing homeware in the way that we were doing it we wanted to be the first place that thought about content and community as well as product so that was one reason another reason was I was buying lots of home when I felt it was really fragmented and I had like 10 tabs going like oh what's that what's that oh would they look nice together so I kind of wanted to create one place for it all and another reason was that I had my son and at the time I was doing supper clubs um under um hosts and I got a legal letter from somebody telling me that they wanted me to take down my Instagram and to stop doing my supper clubs um and I was really upset because I I was like I've built this out of community I've built this because I love people and I love bringing people together I'm a really good connector anyone will say if you ever want to meet someone or get connected or knows like ask laura she'll couldn't get you she'll send you the email for the table that you want to get booked or whatever like i just love people it's really important to me and i was so like wow why would someone do this why wouldn't someone try and get my telephone number and call me and was it like a like a trademark type violation thing or like yeah kind of kind of a you're stepping on my toes sort of thing and i was like oh i really don't understand that I don't understand that we can all have supper no no but it was I was doing food so right but also yeah like there's so much space there's so much space and for me I'm like make friends let's do things together right but I was really I was really really upset I just had a baby and I was like but all I want to do is for people to be friends and to create community and someone's trying to like take me down basically also I'm like what do I do with a legal letter I'm quite sure like logistically where do we go from here yeah I'm like Google I've just had this letter and I don't there's no way in that space I don't even understand so and I was really like oh okay well what and now and then it kind of flipped in a way and I was like well what can I do to empower as many people as possible what can I create where I feel like I can make people never feel like this I want to create a big community right let's start in the UK but let's build it out as a big community where people feel welcome where people feel accepted where people can share ideas and opinions and that was another reason why I wanted to build Glossette so they were like the three key three very good reasons yeah three pillars and did it start as a kind of side hustle type thing did you think it was going to become a kind of full-blown business as it is I wanted it to be a big business from right from the very beginning I know that it will be and um I'm so passionate about it um for me success comes from passion success is so subjective it means different things to different people but for me it was about creating a community where I could help them with a life well lived that's like my saying for everything life well lived and so I wanted to create a life well lived for lots of different people and for two customers right the brands and the people that were buying from us so yeah I I want it to be a really big business I'm like I I just must have been a crazy person because I worked all day all night like I was getting up at like 4 30 a.m and working until the baby I was like just worked and worked and worked I had a really good network of people because um I was writing for Elle Decoration and I love interiors and I love chatting to people so I just got loads of brands and said this is what I want to do I've not got a deck yet but I promise it's going to be great and they were like well we know whatever you will do you'll do it with love and passion and care and honesty and I was like okay this is great and that kind of gave me a bit of a like oh yeah okay so we're really doing this right yeah um and I went to my brother-in-law who um worked with John and Christian at end and he was a buyer um he was a buyer there and he really understands product and I said I've got this idea that it's kind of like a not on the high street meets a cherish meets a kind of um food 52 it's empowered by community and content and product and he was I would love to do this with you so um we did that together and we just yeah I honestly don't know we just worked and grafted and I don't know a single thing about business I studied events management university I basically just I look for the light and I work hard and just keep on pushing keep going keep going I think that's so valuable because I also think that it's like it's so intimidating and it's so easy to think like there's so many steps to get there and it's like yeah there are so many steps to get there but there's one right in front of you and then there's one tomorrow and then there's one the day after and you can maybe make two one day if you like really push and it is just like I've had so many people on this podcast who've literally said like I walked down the street and I went into a shop and I asked them this and like that's how I got my answer and that's how I found this person and it really is it's just about movement like it's just about like pushing and trying the next thing throwing a few things at the wall yeah a few of them don't stick but one of them does yeah and like that kind of perseverance not needing to know it all I feel like there's so much it's so easy to get terrified by the fact that there are all of these steps and the fact that you don't know everything yeah totally and it's really important not to know everything or not to think that you know everything because you you don't like it's it's so important to be open and vulnerable to learn like curiosity is so important and um we can't all like we can't always um we don't always have as much time as we would like but kind of try and using our time as effectively as possible um which I'm sure that you agree it's like so hard to balance everything but um yeah I think having integrity and just hard work it is hard work and I you know this kind of like whole like live work balance juggle thing it's I really like I'm trying to figure that out in my head at the moment because I really like working it's not it's not it's not horrendous as in I really enjoy the work that I do and I feel so lucky that I do some days are much harder than others but um I think having having like having that passion is important no absolutely and I think it's you know in a world where we do have to work like pretty much all of us have to work yeah creating something that whether it's the job itself or whether it's the people you work with or whether it's the type of work you do like physically problem solving or whatever it might be I do think there's a lot to be said for in the world where we all have to work for the ability to create something about what you're doing that you enjoy whether that is like the overall job itself or whether it's like it doesn't need to be that you feel like there's a for a lot of people it will be that there's like a greater purpose and that is a huge privilege and that is you know a great place to be but also even just like the people you work with or the way you work or the problem solving you're doing or like the ability to go there every day and come home and like be paid for having to interact for having interacted with like interesting people i think it's such a i mean there's so much to be said for it and it's such a privilege to be able to do that massively the market's uncertain revenues tied and hiring on hold that's why results driven companies are using upwork to keep work moving go to upwork.com today and start hiring proven freelance talent fast no bulky overhead no rigid long-term contracts.

30:46Just the right expert, right when you need them. Work smarter and faster with Upwork. Go to Upwork.com now and find your freelance expert. That's U-P-W-O-R-K.com. Post a job for free and get started today. You're invited to spend an evening on Fremont Avenue. For generations, this house has been home to soulful music, good food, and cutthroat card games, saints and sinners, unexpected laughs and unspoken truths, good times, hard times, and of course, family, always family. So pull up a chair and join us at Fremont Avenue, a world premiere play only at Arena Stage. Performances start October 8th.

31:26Tickets at arenastage.org. At Capella University, learning online doesn't mean learning alone. You'll get support from people who care about your success, like your enrollment specialist who gets to know you and the goals you'd like to achieve. You'll also get a designated academic coach who's with you throughout your entire program. Plus, career coaches are available to help you navigate your professional goals. A different future is closer than you think with Capella University. Learn more at capella.edu. you.

32:02Obviously, homeware retail is famously quite saturated. Like there are lots of brands that have been and gone. There are lots of brands in the space. There's lots of noise in the space. Why do you feel like Glasset struck a chord and was able to kind of cut through that noise? well i mean we are we're a tech business we are a platform we sell product but we don't own anything so it's very it's quite different in the way that it's set up but what we do is we curate so our usp is curation and the brands that we have on and the meaning behind those brands and how we can communicate those brands with our customers and i think it's contextualizing everything and giving giving product meaning it's it's not about just sell sell sell sell sell it's about why do we we don't need more things but it's about creating this life well lived it's about the emotional connections to things right it's it's about making people feel good it's about adding joy to people's lives I get joy from glassware and curtains and wallpaper and turns out lots of other people do too yeah so I think that that's why we've struck a chord and we're accessible and we have a great tone of voice and we really love our customers um we are still kind of you know early stages we've just had our second birthday just and we're still very much learning i mean we have got such big exciting ideas and i'm sure like tali you know lots of people come to you with lots of ideas and collaborations and partnerships so it's just figuring out it's consumerism but I want it to be thoughtful that's really important so it is brick by brick it's step by step, it's building a business that's going to last and every decision is really important every decision is really thought about and maybe people, that resonates with people maybe people can, I don't know there's like an undertone that people get from the way that we talk about things we talk about product, the way that we do our editorial, the way that we talk to our customers it kind of it's important right it's you're building a brand as you know you're not just selling products I think that that's the difference yeah no absolutely and that brand is what means that someone you know they might have bought one product for you from you and like it but actually that's the thing that's going to get them coming back again and again and season after season when they're thinking oh do you know where I found something really great last time it is like there is so much you know obviously social media is incredibly powerful but that curation thing that you were talking about in terms of like how someone is able to come to your site and not just it's not just shopping like it's not just about buying something acquiring a new piece of something it's about the like taste making process and the journey and like understanding like oh is it this one I want or this one I want and that kind of curated approach to homeware I do think like is so you know anyone can log on to a site that's made by one company and it's kind of you know that's what they're selling this season yeah but actually having that emotional connection that kind of decision making behind why that is part of your yeah or not inventory because you don't have inventory but like well it's about it's about discovery it's about inspiration it's about looking at things that make you feel good and you don't have to buy first time but you'll come back because you know that's a space that makes you feel good and that's really important to me again how does it make people feel so important and we've got such amazing ideas oh my god I just wish I could tell you like what we're doing next because it's just so great and I think I'm such an ideas person that I just yeah it's it's really exciting and I think that that kind of energy hopefully comes through with the business and through our kind of socials and our newsletters and our editorial so yeah I think um yeah I'm so excited about the business I mean it's a whole it's a whole thing having a business and being a founder but it's something that I really I really love it and how was you raised 1.2 million in funding yeah so we've raised we raised 1.2 first round and we've just we're just we're doing like a rolling close with this next round which has been really hard it's not the right landscape as in like in terms of like the funding landscape at the moment is crazy like it is the most insane I've heard every single founder talking about like how unbelievably tough it is at the moment what's the what's the aim with this next fundraise it is too well I can't totally tell you because it would be giving our kind of strategy away but it's to just supercharge the business to get more people knowing shopping yeah and let us talk about you've spoken openly before around you know being a mother and being a founder and kind of how obviously you founded Glacet after you know you kind of already had children but how have you found that journey I can imagine there were certain things that are more flexible because it's your business but also certain things that the business doesn't wait when it needs to you know have some issues yeah um how have you found that I find um juggling and balance um something that I'm trying to get to grips with I guess um I've my baby is eight nine months I should know um and having a business being a founder is tough and I but I I don't do it on my own and I think sometimes the misconception is when you see people's you know daily situations on Instagram you might think oh it's this or it's that but it's um yeah it's it it's it's chaotic but I really like I thrive in chaos but I can't do everything as as you as you know you can't do everything all of the time and I think it's a myth that you can have it all I just don't think you can have it all all of the time I feel like I'm going in a very roundabout way of saying that um I'm just figuring out I'm figuring it out right now and I'm very lucky that I have a co-founder who is in the business every single day I think about the business every minute of every day every second I have a notepad by my bed and I usually wake up in the night and write down notes or if I see something I've got you know files on my phone and on my computer for inspiration and whatever so it's always in my head but the other things that I do feed into the business so I have to make sure that I have time for everything I just have to be disciplined I think but yeah I'm figuring I'm trying to figure it out and what been your biggest learnings recently in terms of that kind of figuring it out like the best way to I mean I completely agree you can have it all but you can't have it all at once like you've got to it's going to be give and take yeah I think I think my learnings coming into a new year are that I want to be more thoughtful about the decisions that I make and I don't have to do everything all of the time usually I'll write like a 12 month plan but actually this year my plan is 18 to 24 months my plan is to take to be slower about things it's not about um shouting the loudest it's not about um like launching in 10 brands a day right people I want to be more thoughtful I want to be slower I want to build brick by brick so I've got something that lasts in every sphere of my life and that kind of hopefully will free more time so when I do do the school run and which I don't by the way I have help with the children right because uh can't do everything all of the time and they finish school in the middle of the day I know what is that about because actually that's one of the things that has been is the biggest shock coming into adulthood you remember that children finish school at three yeah 3 30 3 30 yeah what is that about nine to how does anyone deal with that i know it's really hard and and people it's really it's it's it's perhaps tricky because we don't as women always want to be like oh we don't want to talk about these things but then we don't we're like why aren't we talking about these things right again it's trying to figure out the balance and kind of taking down the mask of the well you do have someone that helps you with child care you have to or you don't always do the school run but then you feel guilty that you're not doing the school run or you're on the school run sending a quick email or you know the school run is after you need to be on the way to work and finishing school is before you need to be coming home from work like I truly don't know how anyone does it and I like I one of my like most formative experiences was the fact that like I've always had a mom who like works very very hard has always been very like career driven and I remember I used to be so jealous of all of the people who like saw their parents in the evenings and I first of all I think it was the best thing that it taught me so much so like anytime I'm speaking to people who I remember I had someone on the podcast who's a female founder and she was like are you like are they gonna hate me forever and I was like it's the best thing that like ever happened to me yeah and I just but I do think that like how on earth else would it work like it's so I don't know we We have such poor provisions for women in work.

41:48And then we have such high expectations and we expect women to be at home as if they don't have a job and expect people to be at their job as if they don't have children. And we ask women in interviews whether they have children or whether they're thinking about having children exactly because we don't think we have enough things in place to make them still be able to do their job properly. And it's like that's so loaded and tough. and like when you think about it we really only are like 70 years into it being acceptable for any woman to have jobs anyway my worst thing is when people say busy mom I've really really really really um I we're not allowed to say hey in that in that house I always say to my daughter don't say hey just say you don't like something but I really don't like that phrase but I really would like to use the h word I really would like to use the h word but in case she's listening she's not she's four um yeah her downloading her podcast for the day yeah um but yeah you're like literally nail on the head yeah what have you found the toughest thing about being a founder and a mom um I think it's just I I think I struggle I'm a people pleaser to my detriment and I think that I just always want to do the best for everybody I want to pick up my daughter from school and be really present but then I also really want to be in that meeting and learn about what's going on and you know but you just can't be in all of the places all of the time so I think just I don't know I don't know if you ever don't feel guilty I'm not sure um or I don't know if you just make peace with the fact that you feel guilty and that's just how you feel um so probably that and have you felt that more as you've had more children or the other way around well I don't No, because I just fired them all out.

43:33Sure. So, I mean, I've got... Very productive. Very productive. Three, I have three under four. So I just, well, four and under. So I just, I just, yeah, I knew I wanted three children. And I used to be a nanny for my friend's twin. And she had three girls. And I just, oh, I just loved them so much. So from then I was like, right, I'd like to have three. And I think I thought maybe it's just easier to get it all out of the way. um because I don't enjoy being pregnant at all um so I'm kind of in a way I feel like I'm taking everything that I've learned and everything that I've created so far and now I'm kind of going into this year knowing that um I'm not it sounds awful I'm not but like it's such a privilege to be pregnant like I find talking about this really difficult because I'm very torn because it's a miracle it is a miracle and it was also not everybody's choice not everybody wants to have children so I feel very very I'm grateful and I'm lucky but I feel like maybe now I have a bit more headspace going into this year thinking right like I don't have to worry about sneezing and weeing all the time but actually that's all I do but going into kind of nice to see a horizon while that might not be the case do my pelvic floors now but going into it thinking more kind of work rather than working it around being pregnant and but also just because it's a privilege to have been pregnant and to have children it doesn't negate your experience and it doesn't like you and I know you've spoke openly about this before and you know how challenging your third pregnancy was yeah and that will have been so valuable to so many people to hear and like there is we talk about mum guilt you've talked about mum guilt at work there's mum guilt around pregnancy there's like you're carrying so much and so much expectation to also love it and be excited at every time and to feel grateful and like you can be inherently grateful and hold gratitude and still have had a really fucking tough pregnancy yeah yeah yeah absolutely I think um yeah I really it was not it was not a fun time for sure and what do you mind talking about what made it so tough?

45:52Well I don't I can't really pinpoint it's not like a I think I think you can pinpoint one thing I think it's just you don't do anything your body's doing it and you can you imagine how hard your body is working without you doing anything and you don't really understand what's going on because sometimes you can have a good pregnancy sometimes you can have a bad pregnancy and I think I had a good one an okay one and then a really bad one and every day was just a struggle every day I feel I can't talk about it it's really hard it's really hard but I think I'm so I think I'm somewhat of a like it's fine but I think it was just it was a real struggle because I just really didn't recognize myself and I cried every day and I'm I'm quite an optimist yeah to feel to feel like reduced to not really understanding why I felt a certain way was quite difficult and it's really hard on the NHS because there's so there's so many people that need help so when they do refer you because they're like well um because postnatal depression is spoken about so often but antenatal depression isn't really spoken a lot and you can't um you've got a bit of time like you've got you're on the timeline right you've got the date when the baby's coming in and around um and yeah I just I couldn't really get I couldn't really get the help in the time that I needed it so I was like just trying to do things to I don't know I guess make myself feel better but then the baby came and it was so much I felt like a weight had lifted off me it's hard isn't it as I've never felt that low before so I kind of and it came out of nowhere really so I don't know just trying to manage it I guess yeah no but I can't even imagine like the because one of the things we obviously have to carry as women and we can say all of this with an underlying like it is a huge privilege to have children and to get pregnant and all of these things which is why I find it hard talking about of course but like at the same time your experience is so real and it's so important and there will be so many people who actually just as you've said like feeling confused and not knowing where it's come from and not knowing how to fix it like Like there will be so many people that feel that way.

48:07And we've, for so long, we've, first of all, we use gratitude as like a weapon with which to like kind of smack women back into place in terms of those things, even between us. Like there is this expectation that we should be carrying it so gratefully that actually, you know, why complain? But also it's not about complaining. It's about the fact that you had a really tough experience. and just because it was something to do with nature it doesn't mean that it's any less important than if you had a tough experience going through grief or going through like a really terrible time at work or just depression as a whole like all of that must have been so much for your body at the same time as you also don't know what's happening next and you're also carrying all of this expectation that you need to be as healthy as possible so that there's nothing wrong with your child as well like that is I can't even imagine how much that would have been to carry and to make it through each day whilst also still feeling happy and grateful and positive like positive about the future like yeah like where does it stop and then going having the baby and then going straight into a fundraise for seven months and being like oh okay hi I can't even imagine you know what's the worst thing is like oh we've got like an investicle and then and then they're like oh you had your baby I'm like yeah oh here's the baby oh how old is he I'm like oh I think he's um uh seven seven a week he's a week old now they're like oh that's cute okay so let's get into it and I'm like and I kind of it didn't feel as challenging as the pregnancy because the pregnancy was not enjoyable and I really felt a bit like I yeah as I as you just saw like it was just hard so going into that I was like oh well it doesn't feel as at least I feel like I've got bit of my brain back but that was I mean I mean that is a comedy sketch like that is literally like a skip but like you pitching seven days after it's like this like on my on my so then no one could see like anything from below my face I think yeah yeah I just like like again it's how do you talk about sometimes I'm like how do you talk about fundraising as well on on a platform or a podcast or your Instagram like really like the sometimes it's conversations that are kind of safe with your friends where you can just be like no I know because you've got an audience and you've got maybe the audience of the fund like the funds you've got like you know it's also a niche conversation and like all of these different things but again it's like your reality and it is like when you listen to that as a human and like what you went through and what you've been going through when you listen to that as a human take away any expectation of like oh but they should be grateful about this and you should be grateful that you have a business and you should go like all of these different things when you listen to that as a human it you like you see how tough that was you see how like what you had to go through and all of these things and so like there is a lot of validity to that as an like as an experience and something that is crazy like it is crazy that you were on funding calls seven days after like birth and that you felt like that was better as well but like that was easier than the previous seven days or like than seven days before that like you're incredible and to have done that and to I don't know I just can't even imagine like what that all would have been like and to to the outside as well I think it also goes to show like how much you know everyone looking at all of your beautiful things and all of like how incredible it all looks and stuff and you know you're doing such hard work every day I mean that in the least like I just heard myself say that sounds so patronizing but like in terms of you know I mean I just it must have been so tough yeah but I I do believe in kind of like in adversity you can thrive because again you find the opportunities and actually there's some kind of avenues that we could have gone down where we could have raised a considerable amount of money from a fund but actually the ideas that we've had now for the business would not be there so I think that I always look for the positive I always try and look for the light and I think that it's been I always like I keep saying this to people I'm like oh my god shut up but 2023 was like a year of growth and learning and I learned so much about myself I learned so much about the business so much about how to run a business and you know I get decision paralysis sometimes because so many people have an opinion on things and it's just taught me how to deal with that um and you know you're creative I'm we in terms of food at home right just to I'm really frugal like I open the fridge and there's like four things in there John's like oh my god there's nothing to eat and I'm like yes there is I'll make something he's like how have you made I mean it's not great but how have you made this out of like like like a really sad very sad carrot right and I feel like that about life I'm like well okay it's really hard and with the funding journey and we've we've we've spoken to this person that person we've emailed how many how many people who have not got back to us we've we've we've had so many no's so many doors slamming our face but then it's like you have to you look at the business differently right and you are so resilient you're so hard that you then think about creative ideas and and I think that's really important yeah and I do think it's true to say that like on that specific example with like funding there is a reason why so many of the businesses that are literally given like 100 million on an idea end up failing because they spend so badly and they did like pursue such like the ideas you know you don't need to be frugal like we are so productive with our spend now because our budgets are like everyone who joins the company is like oh my god and it's like yeah well our margins aren't wearing normal fashion businesses because we do x y and z yeah and like that's that's what's made us like be how we are and be like creative and like all of those different things if you were talking to the you at the beginning of 2023 oh my god this time last year not good what would you say to her oh gosh you'll get back in your jeans don't you worry don't throw them away but like more as in a like you'll get back in yourself I guess I like it yeah metaphorical and realistic I'm still not back in the genes but I feel back in the genes as in like I feel I definitely feel more myself and I keep at Christmas I was like I kept saying to Ron he's like this is my husband he's like stop going on about it but I was like remember this time last year and I was really sad and then we walked around I was just like crying all the time he's like yeah because it was really hard for me as well and you forget yeah it was really hard for everybody around me as well I was honestly probably a very difficult person to be around because I just didn't feel like myself so um but then when John says that to me I'm like well imagine how I felt in my body not knowing myself and then he's like how have you flipped this around I'm like I'm not sure but it's working right um so yeah I think um yeah this time last year was really um I felt I feel like a completely different person yeah god yeah well and that's on growth and that's on different seasons of life and learning and as you said like so much this year has been like you do get those learnings out of the tough times but also be nice not to have them so intensely I'm sure yeah what's the best piece of advice you've ever been given I honestly think that it's in a sentence that not everybody thinks and does the same as you and that's okay I'll go back to like learning this it's a lesson that I learn over and over again not that I don't learn the lesson but I think that I I kind of forget maybe um but just because at school you would invite somebody to your party doesn't mean that they're going to invite you to your party just just because you invite someone to your party doesn't mean they're going to invite you to their party that doesn't mean they think any less of you that doesn't mean they don't love you that doesn't mean that they aren't a great person it's that people are different and they see things differently and they do things differently but that doesn't that doesn't make them worse or or better I think it's just understanding that people are different I think that's really important like everyone has different ways of doing things and you know sometimes you get upset that a friend would do or say something well you wouldn't do that you wouldn't say that but that's okay just because you wouldn't or you don't or you couldn't doesn't make what they're doing less than or more than and I think that it's a lesson that I learn I keep learning and but I think it's a really important lesson to learn yeah no I completely agree in a world where we receive so many people's information in terms of what they do like how they live their life and all of these things being able to have that strength of self but also strength of understanding that that can work for them and that is more than fine yeah and it doesn't you know that doesn't necessarily mean that it is going to for you um or that you're living your life wrong because you're not living your life with their values like it can both be equally valid and what are you most looking forward to for this year?

57:40This sounds so cheesy, but everything. I like, I love life. I get so excited. I love meeting people. I love doing things like this. I love going on holidays and feeling inspired, seeing, I don't know, a piece of fabric that I'm like, oh my God, let's like, can I do a rug collaboration and do this? Yeah, I just, I'm really excited about everything, but I'm also excited about being more thoughtful and not thinking about things in the short term as in a 12 or two years, but thinking about things longer term than that and not in a materialistic way with tangible things, but how do I build a lasting business?

58:19How do I create friendships that are meaningful? How do I create meaningful relationships and not be just thinking about just the tomorrow, but thinking about, yeah, things with a bit more kind of legacy and substance to them. And I think that is... You're invited to spend an evening on Fremont Avenue. For generations, this house has been home to soulful music, good food, and cutthroat card games. Saints and sinners. Unexpected laughs and unspoken truths. Good times, hard times, and of course, family. Always family. So pull up a chair and join us at Fremont Avenue, a world premiere play only at Arena Stage.

59:05Performances start October 8th. Tickets at arenastage.org. At Capella University, learning online doesn't mean learning alone. You'll get support from people who care about your success, like your enrollment specialist who gets to know you and the goals you'd like to achieve. You'll also get a designated academic coach who's with you throughout your entire program. plus career coaches are available to help you navigate your professional goals a different future is closer than you think with capella university learn more at capella.edu this is a perfect place to end and we will all be going for a life well lived i feel like that's such a good saying and like motto to live by i feel like because it ties into so many different things as well like it's a different thing every day and sometimes it is about work and sometimes it's about life and family and like all of these different things um and thank you so much for coming on thanks for having me you've been great