Journal

This year in particular has been very challenging as I was on maternity leave from my role at Anya Hindmarch, running my new business and at home with Gus and Jerry during a global pandemic! I took the leap last month to leave my job and pursue gus + beau full time, a momentous occasion for me after working full time since I was 18...

I have a hurrah moment every time I see the magazine in a lovely shop or a reader posts a picture of it on social media, or someone writes me a lovely email to tell me how much they enjoy it. For me, it's those small moments that add up to making me feel hugely proud of what I've created.

I spent 10 years as a full time working mother in a series of roles that were at times very stressful. I would probably say they some of the most difficult times in my career was when I had to juggle babies and toddlers, sleep deprivation, and workplace stress all at the same time.

I’d definitely say working at Arcadia was the toughest year of my life. It was very bitchy and a negative atmosphere which I couldn’t thrive in. On my first day I was shown the toilet where I could go and cry... luckily I was only there for a year!

We are a curated showcase of beautiful children's books from around the world. We review and feature books, as well as shine the spotlight on illustrators and authors that we admire. Our goal is to give authors and illustrators a platform to showcase their books and illustrations and we aim to focus on books that make the world a better place.

For each bettercup sold we give one to a girl in need. My sister helped start, and now works at, a rural farm school in Zimbabwe and the idea came from wanting to provide the girls there with sustainable sanitary wear, enabling them to be in school and not worrying how they will get through their next period.

It gives me great pleasure to help women to make more money and feel more confident. I was recently able to donate £2000 to Refuge. This feels like a dream come true; I've wanted to support Refuge for as long as I can remember, and now all the profits from my Become Boss course go to them. It feels really good.

If you could choose any brand / publication / individual to style for, who would it be and why?

I'll take Beyonce's children please! Access to be as creative as I want and pick and choose from all the brands, with a client who would get it - I'm all over that.

Something I’m having to learn to master in the wondrous world of running my own business, is the unpredictability of the retail industry.

Sales can flourish and go Whoosh! Kaboom! on a Tuesday but on Wednesday you find yourself Googling if there’s been a national WIFI outage because that Shopify sales ping has been discouragingly silent all day.

The biggest HURRAH moment of all was probably when I surpassed the salary I had at my previous job. That’s when I really knew I could make this work...

I would love to put together limited editions of the Journals with illustrated inside covers and donate the proceeds to a charity close to my heart, Ronald McDonald House. We're collaborating with amazing independent brands this year to bring the 'RMHC Advent Calendar' to the Evelina branch - every day rooms in the house win gifts donated by small business owners. It's shaping up to be a lovely campaign which I'm really proud of.