1
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:04,980
Welcome to the Harnessing Happiness Podcast, upbeat vibes generated and transferred to you.
2
00:00:05,420 --> 00:00:12,160
Hello and welcome to another episode of Harnessing Happiness with myself, Sarah J Naylor.
3
00:00:13,000 --> 00:00:16,820
Today, I am delighted to be joined by the fabulous Carol.
4
00:00:17,560 --> 00:00:21,620
Now, let me give you a little bit of background about Carol to start with before we really dig in.
5
00:00:22,180 --> 00:00:40,260
Carol is the managing director of Grow Your Brands International Beauty Brand Consultancy and the beauty CEO Academy and also the author of Glow Up Create Your Own Beauty Brand, a children's book, children's come teenage book.
6
00:00:40,680 --> 00:00:49,780
And that's what I'm really excited about digging into, but we'll get to that shortly because I just want to give you a little bit more background because Carol comes with huge amounts of experience.
7
00:00:50,260 --> 00:01:03,099
She's an international beauty expert, entrepreneur, speaker and mentor with more than 30 years experience within the beauty industry, helping beauty and wellness brands grow.
8
00:01:03,800 --> 00:01:12,500
She's held senior leadership roles within global organizations, including Boops International Retail and The Body Shop.
9
00:01:13,160 --> 00:01:15,920
Let's put it this way, Carol knows her stuff.
10
00:01:16,040 --> 00:01:17,940
I was going to use another word there, but I won't.
11
00:01:18,180 --> 00:01:19,720
Carol knows her stuff.
12
00:01:20,060 --> 00:01:24,040
She's worked across the UK, Europe, North America and Asia.
13
00:01:25,260 --> 00:01:34,660
And today we really want to get into and talk about the inspiration and what made her actually want to write and create this book.
14
00:01:35,040 --> 00:01:43,860
So Carol, without further ado, let's get into it because I'm really excited because when you sent me a copy of the book to look through, I was inspired and opened my eyes up to stuff.
15
00:01:44,140 --> 00:01:51,980
So even though it's aimed at children and teenagers, I think there's a lot there for adults to learn, surely.
16
00:01:52,500 --> 00:01:53,400
Absolutely, Sarah.
17
00:01:53,980 --> 00:01:56,800
And well, first of all, thank you for having me on your amazing podcast.
18
00:01:57,640 --> 00:02:04,780
When I first started to show people the book, before it was launched, I showed it to a couple of the manufacturers I work with.
19
00:02:05,060 --> 00:02:14,880
So I work in a lot in the beauty industry and have a kind of a wide network of all those kind of industries behind the scenes that go into making a finished product.
20
00:02:15,600 --> 00:02:18,520
And a number of them said, actually, our customers need this.
21
00:02:18,860 --> 00:02:20,180
So I thought that gave me some hope.
22
00:02:20,760 --> 00:02:26,180
Yeah, so it's, and shall I tell you a little bit about where the inspiration came from?
23
00:02:26,280 --> 00:02:28,320
No, that's what I'm really fascinated about.
24
00:02:28,600 --> 00:02:30,320
What inspired you to write it?
25
00:02:30,800 --> 00:02:35,580
Because there's a parallel, I guess, to the book.
26
00:02:35,800 --> 00:02:41,680
I mean, I wrote my book and published it back in 2017, shining a light on you how to manifest your dream job.
27
00:02:42,500 --> 00:02:50,080
And it kind of hooks into the prelude to where I've been talking to sort of adults and looking at jobs and things like that.
28
00:02:50,160 --> 00:02:59,540
Because actually, what you're doing through the book is inspiring the next generation to think creatively, to think outside of the box, think about other stuff.
29
00:02:59,700 --> 00:03:05,480
I mean, before we jumped on, you quoted some stats from the government that were really interesting.
30
00:03:06,100 --> 00:03:07,540
I don't know if you want to share those with the audience.
31
00:03:07,780 --> 00:03:13,740
But yeah, it's just, I think it's great, because anything we can do to inspire the next generation is awesome.
32
00:03:14,100 --> 00:03:23,240
Yeah, so I worked with a lot of when I was working for Boots and the Body Shop, very, very big brands with lots of money and, you know, obviously, well known brands globally.
33
00:03:23,780 --> 00:03:30,360
But I also mentor a lot of new founder brands, people who are kind of new to the industry and don't know anything.
34
00:03:30,840 --> 00:03:35,300
And as part of that, I started to do some mentoring and supporting schools.
35
00:03:35,800 --> 00:03:40,300
And that's where the book came from, because I would either do interviewing or career talks.
36
00:03:41,460 --> 00:03:45,880
And where the book actually came from was one particular class in a primary school.
37
00:03:47,120 --> 00:03:52,800
And what I did, I was doing the talk about the whole start to finish about how you create a beauty brand.
38
00:03:52,840 --> 00:04:06,520
And because it was going to be mixed, you know, kids, male, you know, boys and girls, I did I decided three products, I said, we'll create a digital product, we'll create a personal care product, something that's in your bathroom, cabinet and a food product, maybe a cereal or something like that.
39
00:04:06,600 --> 00:04:08,060
So I took them through the whole process.
40
00:04:08,060 --> 00:04:14,420
And I had product samples and empty containers, you know, containers before they've been through the print process.
41
00:04:14,540 --> 00:04:20,459
And I made a little conveyor belt of everything that that they, you know, the whole process that they could see.
42
00:04:21,160 --> 00:04:24,940
And then we, you know, as part of that, I was asking for their ideas.
43
00:04:25,400 --> 00:04:31,720
And these young children came up with the most amazing ideas, and they were had questions about sustainability.
44
00:04:32,960 --> 00:04:38,100
They had different packaging ideas, things that we don't even think of.
45
00:04:38,600 --> 00:04:44,880
And then I noticed when I were doing similar talks to slightly older children, it became much more about the subjects.
46
00:04:45,700 --> 00:04:46,300
And they'd lost.
47
00:04:46,500 --> 00:04:50,120
So I do a very similar talk, maybe tweaked it a little bit more age appropriate.
48
00:04:51,360 --> 00:04:54,020
And they had, it was all about the subjects.
49
00:04:54,160 --> 00:05:03,520
And also, they were nervous about those subjects as in which subjects do I choose, but they'd lost that entrepreneurial spark and these these great ideas.
50
00:05:03,760 --> 00:05:10,180
So it was those early questions that I thought, you know, what I'm going to do is I'm going to, I'm going to put that into a book.
51
00:05:10,400 --> 00:05:18,800
Because one of the things I did at the end of the session is when we went around the class and said, Okay, which part of the all of the process would you like to do?
52
00:05:19,140 --> 00:05:23,560
And then one guy put his hand up and said to one child, I want to be a forklift truck driver.
53
00:05:23,720 --> 00:05:29,300
I said, Great, okay, so forklift truck driver, they're in the warehouse, you need to be able to read signs.
54
00:05:29,520 --> 00:05:31,800
So being able to understand reading is good.
55
00:05:32,020 --> 00:05:36,440
And maybe good coordination, because you're having like, you know, so maybe do some athletic things.
56
00:05:36,600 --> 00:05:42,300
So some of the things that I pulled out were not always academic, somebody else wanted to be the influencer.
57
00:05:42,440 --> 00:05:47,380
So of course, you know, what children are thinking about in school these days, the jobs are very different.
58
00:05:47,720 --> 00:05:51,060
And and probably by the time they leave school, the jobs will be very different again.
59
00:05:51,520 --> 00:06:02,920
Okay, you want to be an influencer, as soon as you're able to have a phone, or if you have a camera, learn how to take good photos, learn how to edit, learn how to be comfortable talking on camera, understand lighting.
60
00:06:03,380 --> 00:06:07,420
And so we went round one guy wanted who is a video game.
61
00:06:07,540 --> 00:06:12,360
In fact, his one of his family worked for one of the big gaming companies.
62
00:06:12,580 --> 00:06:14,140
So you could see where some of the inspiration.
63
00:06:15,220 --> 00:06:21,220
But he wanted to do graphic design on the cover of the video game box.
64
00:06:21,940 --> 00:06:27,400
So again, you know, so they're not always what we would think of, you know, the maths and English and the academic subjects.
65
00:06:28,020 --> 00:06:29,880
So you know, we talked about so maybe that's art.
66
00:06:30,220 --> 00:06:39,100
So and then depending on the age of this, of the child, we might talk about what they might study at GCSE, what they might study at university, if they go, if they go that far.
67
00:06:39,440 --> 00:06:40,780
So that's kind of where it came from.
68
00:06:40,900 --> 00:06:46,540
I had all the I had my kind of years of experience, but I had all of the what questions do people ask?
69
00:06:46,760 --> 00:06:47,880
And what do they want to know?
70
00:06:48,340 --> 00:06:53,400
And so the aim is to give them the whole process, but to make it fun.
71
00:06:54,020 --> 00:07:03,100
And to and then to learn about, you know, so they do they learn about cost of goods, you know, which actually is maths, you know, where you learn about the retail price, the cost.
72
00:07:04,100 --> 00:07:12,640
And, and you know, if I growing growing up knew that learning more about chemistry would enable me to be a cosmetic science, I might have paid a bit more attention in the chemistry car.
73
00:07:12,780 --> 00:07:14,040
Carol, absolutely.
74
00:07:14,360 --> 00:07:15,160
I mean, this is something,
75
00:07:15,240 --> 00:07:20,240
as I say, when I was doing my book, and as I say, but mine was focused further along,
76
00:07:20,580 --> 00:07:30,540
I did actually take some chapters out that I'd always planned, still 10 years on, they're still
77
00:07:30,540 --> 00:07:36,900
asking questions for the 11 to 16, 16 to 18, and then the undergraduate level,
78
00:07:37,300 --> 00:07:44,080
because what you're saying is, is that curiosity, which firstly, that is ironed out of kids,
79
00:07:44,220 --> 00:07:48,100
which is so sad, because they've got all these ideas, and people go, don't be silly, don't be,
80
00:07:48,200 --> 00:07:52,300
you know, you can't do this, you can't do that, because then they become dampened down,
81
00:07:52,320 --> 00:07:56,680
and they don't say things because they're fearful, and the fear builds up, and we need to
82
00:07:56,680 --> 00:08:04,760
encourage that exploratory mind, that curiosity, to find out what fires you up,
83
00:08:04,840 --> 00:08:09,280
what interests you, because that does then influence how you study in schools,
84
00:08:09,500 --> 00:08:14,960
and what subjects you pick, and that helps you then go along the line to the qualifications,
85
00:08:15,200 --> 00:08:16,180
the education that you might need.
86
00:08:16,640 --> 00:08:19,680
You might not end up going and taking that job that you
87
00:08:19,680 --> 00:08:25,000
thought you wanted to do at four years old, however, that inspiration will still be there,
88
00:08:25,000 --> 00:08:31,100
because you're creating something that will be anchored through that activity,
89
00:08:31,100 --> 00:08:34,840
that they will always remember, because obviously the subconscious will recall that,
90
00:08:34,980 --> 00:08:39,360
and that experience that they had, and that curiosity, and that support and encouragement
91
00:08:41,100 --> 00:08:42,960
goes miles and miles and miles and miles.
92
00:08:43,100 --> 00:08:45,700
It's just so impactful, isn't it?
93
00:08:45,800 --> 00:08:50,240
And when I read the book, I just thought, oh, this is brilliant, it's just great.
94
00:08:50,240 --> 00:08:52,120
Yeah, there's a couple of things.
95
00:08:52,240 --> 00:08:56,660
I've designed it as a workbook rather than a reading book, so just pull it up here.
96
00:08:57,460 --> 00:09:02,520
And also, I've designed it so that each two pages are a colour, and that's kind of a section.
97
00:09:04,080 --> 00:09:15,600
So for example, there's a section about designing branding and logo, and so whoever the parent, the teacher, whatever, might just want to pull out, let's just do about logos.
98
00:09:15,980 --> 00:09:18,220
You don't have to sit there and do start to finish.
99
00:09:18,540 --> 00:09:22,620
It's very much about how to work, but you learn about logos, you learn about branding.
100
00:09:23,380 --> 00:09:33,440
A part of what they may not do so much at school is about getting feedback, because when anybody's creating a brand, it's not just your idea, you learn feedback.
101
00:09:33,800 --> 00:09:36,600
So I've encouraged them to get feedback in there.
102
00:09:36,760 --> 00:09:48,900
So that's kind of a business skill that they're learning, and some of them are like, okay, people are giving me different ideas to mine, and you can build on that, although for some children, they might find it interesting that not everybody agrees with their idea.
103
00:09:49,100 --> 00:09:51,080
But it's the whole inspiration though, isn't it?
104
00:09:51,400 --> 00:10:11,780
And yes, you've written it in terms of, you know, with a beauty brand focus, but actually, that understanding, and this is where it sort of hit me as an adult, because like you said, you know, you will pick out, let's say, it is a beauty product off the shelf, but it could be any product, it could be a bag of nails, I don't know, it could be anything.
105
00:10:12,060 --> 00:10:22,980
We have this level of acceptance, we go into a supermarket, we go into a shop, we buy something, we have no real concept of what goes on behind all of that.
106
00:10:24,060 --> 00:10:36,780
And to enlighten the children and the parents that are working with the children with the book, to what actually goes on behind all of that, and where all these different avenues of career opportunities and jobs can be, is absolutely brilliant.
107
00:10:36,960 --> 00:10:42,660
But also, what I love, what you've done with the book as well, is you've brought in the environmental issues.
108
00:10:42,760 --> 00:11:00,060
I know when we had our pre-record chat, one of the things that stood out for me was obviously your passion as well about the environment, and how you enlightened me to the, for instance, the fragrance sector as well, that I was like, oh gosh, I'd not even thought about that.
109
00:11:00,140 --> 00:11:04,820
And it was something I shared with one of my clients yesterday, because you were talking to me about the Sandalwood.
110
00:11:05,500 --> 00:11:13,280
And we just, we spend so much time being conditioned to just accept stuff.
111
00:11:13,660 --> 00:11:19,040
But we've got to, you know, we've all got to be curious, we've all got to ask questions as to what's right and what's wrong.
112
00:11:19,320 --> 00:11:23,100
Yeah, so the young children are really interested in sustainability.
113
00:11:23,480 --> 00:11:27,120
And I think for many of us, people think about packaging.
114
00:11:27,280 --> 00:11:30,260
It's one of the things that our local councils encourage us to do, don't they?
115
00:11:30,360 --> 00:11:33,520
You know, we've just started recycling food in our area, and we've got a separate bin.
116
00:11:33,740 --> 00:11:37,740
But most people get into, okay, separating the waste and understanding that.
117
00:11:38,120 --> 00:11:43,900
And if you're creating a brand, then there's much more of a responsibility to think I'm creating something new.
118
00:11:44,180 --> 00:11:46,300
And so I'm automatically going to be creating waste.
119
00:11:46,760 --> 00:11:48,740
How can I do that in the most responsible way?
120
00:11:49,280 --> 00:11:51,780
But if, but there is waste in lots of ways.
121
00:11:52,120 --> 00:11:56,160
But there's also, you know, there's been this whole trend about natural ingredients.
122
00:11:57,600 --> 00:12:00,380
And but some of those natural ingredients are actually quite scarce.
123
00:12:00,540 --> 00:12:07,240
So I was talking about the Sandalwood tree, which I think takes 125 years to grow and be at the point where it can be harvested.
124
00:12:08,220 --> 00:12:12,460
And yet it's almost at extinction, because Sandalwood has been used so much.
125
00:12:12,620 --> 00:12:15,560
And yet people don't think about those natural resources.
126
00:12:16,360 --> 00:12:20,800
And also the water or the or what's, what's needed and the energy that's needed.
127
00:12:21,300 --> 00:12:38,320
Nearly every, you know, pretty much every ingredient, if it's what whatever it's going to be, although I'm talking beauty brands, it could be anything you use in your bathroom, no haircare, sun care, anything like that, you know, a safe way to be made into something.
128
00:12:38,860 --> 00:12:50,260
And all of that process usually takes water, energy, you know, so there's, there's that side of sustainability, there's the supply chain, you know, people get very confused about packaging and packaging, I think it's one of the most tricky things.
129
00:12:51,060 --> 00:13:04,660
Glass is really good in that it, it, you know, it doesn't react with most things, but then it's very heavy to transport, you know, you know, so and there's much more, there's other materials that are being used out there.
130
00:13:04,700 --> 00:13:10,860
Oh, actually, just while I'm on that, so one of the things the exercises in here is about a recycling symbol.
131
00:13:11,020 --> 00:13:21,800
So I encourage the people going through the book, the children to go and look at take some products in their house and look at the recycling symbols and what types and what they mean.
132
00:13:22,280 --> 00:13:27,040
And when they're thinking about their product, what type of recycling symbols would they like to have?
133
00:13:27,920 --> 00:13:32,820
And and then to start drawing those symbols, so they start to recognize those.
134
00:13:32,820 --> 00:13:34,520
But that will anchor it, won't it?
135
00:13:34,820 --> 00:13:43,320
Yeah, yeah, when you were talking about inspiring, though, one of the things and why I love working with schools is we're all inspired by the people we have around us.
136
00:13:43,760 --> 00:13:45,740
And obviously, social media is a big influence.
137
00:13:46,320 --> 00:13:51,900
But for many children, you know, and I work with inspiring the future, which is an amazing organization.
138
00:13:51,900 --> 00:14:00,080
And if anybody here is listening and wants to volunteer and do more with schools, inspiring the future.org is is an organization to tap into.
139
00:14:00,340 --> 00:14:04,540
You tell them what your expertise is and then they would, I'm sure, snap you up as a volunteer.
140
00:14:05,020 --> 00:14:07,880
They look where you live and then they match you with a school and an activity.
141
00:14:08,880 --> 00:14:15,380
But during Covid, many of those activities went online, you know, like they did for many things.
142
00:14:15,700 --> 00:14:19,160
And we have a special briefing for one school that was in inner city school.
143
00:14:19,580 --> 00:14:22,760
And they said these kids are third generation unemployed.
144
00:14:23,420 --> 00:14:23,960
So can you imagine?
145
00:14:24,220 --> 00:14:29,400
Oh, your parents, the parents hadn't worked, their grandparents hadn't worked, their great grandparents hadn't worked.
146
00:14:30,000 --> 00:14:38,020
So they had and the and the brief was we're going to keep these children out of, you know, out of gangs and show them other opportunities.
147
00:14:38,460 --> 00:14:46,520
So can you imagine that, you know, you haven't got no one in your immediate sphere that will that you can look to to say, I want to do that.
148
00:14:47,060 --> 00:15:05,960
And that's why I love about working with schools, because sometimes you go and then you see the typical, you know, the police, the fire, you know, the, you know, that there are no break from when I was at school for the local industries, which are great, you know, the local accountancy firm, all of those local industries go and support the school and is great.
149
00:15:06,560 --> 00:15:21,700
And there's a lot of creativity behind things like creating a brand that is often missed at these types of events, because you never know, I think it was Oprah that said you never truly know who you influence and who you impact, because you can have a conversation with someone.
150
00:15:22,380 --> 00:15:30,080
And then, you know, then then they can, they can, years later, think, gosh, I did this because of that person who mentioned something all that time ago.
151
00:15:30,440 --> 00:15:34,100
And there was one talk I did with it with a high school.
152
00:15:34,540 --> 00:15:42,500
And the way they did it, actually, it was, you had a stand, all the youngsters by class walked around, chatted to you.
153
00:15:42,600 --> 00:15:46,040
And if there's anything they were particularly interested in, they booked a slot and came back.
154
00:15:46,660 --> 00:15:53,340
And there was one, one person I remember, she came back and she wanted to create a lip gloss brand.
155
00:15:53,880 --> 00:15:55,560
And she knew exactly what she wanted.
156
00:15:56,240 --> 00:15:58,540
So I said, I told her exactly what she needed to do.
157
00:15:58,600 --> 00:16:03,460
I said, You can't you won't be able to do this on your own, because you're a rage, you're going to need an adult for some of these things.
158
00:16:03,840 --> 00:16:05,760
But I gave her some contacts to talk to.
159
00:16:05,960 --> 00:16:08,600
And I hope she's done it because she was so passionate.
160
00:16:08,740 --> 00:16:10,580
And you know, she was, I think 15.
161
00:16:11,100 --> 00:16:14,440
And just because, you know, the age shouldn't be a barrier.
162
00:16:14,760 --> 00:16:18,500
If somebody's got these entrepreneurial skills and ideas, as long as they've got the support.
163
00:16:19,100 --> 00:16:30,480
So that's what the book is about is to give people, they might want to create not create the whole thing, they might just want to do one aspect of it, you know, maybe they want to get into packaging, or maybe they want to get into the testing side of it.
164
00:16:30,600 --> 00:16:38,300
Or, you know, there's lots of different aspects, it supports it, the, the product and the beauty industry supports so many careers, it really does.
165
00:16:38,300 --> 00:16:41,820
But that's what I loved about it is the the inspiration that it delivers.
166
00:16:42,140 --> 00:16:51,100
And that's that impact that you have, like you've just said, and it's a ripple effect, but you cannot underestimate the power of inspiration and support.
167
00:16:51,660 --> 00:16:57,340
And obviously, this is why there's so many influencers out there, because they get on and they and then people listen to what they're saying.
168
00:16:57,460 --> 00:17:02,840
But we've got to always be mindful about what we are influencing and how we are impacting people.
169
00:17:02,840 --> 00:17:16,720
But when you can see that inspiration, and you know, I spent 36 years working in recruitment, and although I work with people at all different stages in their career, there's something really rather magical about helping somebody on that first step.
170
00:17:16,819 --> 00:17:18,420
Yes, on the career ladder.
171
00:17:18,839 --> 00:17:39,260
And there are people that I met years and years and years ago came into the office and you know, and I helped them go in, you know, that this one job move, and I was always very mindful of the role that I played within their lives, you know, and they've gone on to like HR director level roles and senior sort of accountancy and business finance and all sorts of roles and sales directors.
172
00:17:39,760 --> 00:17:45,280
And, and you know, you just know that you've played that part, you know, it's not that I'm taking any credit for it.
173
00:17:45,380 --> 00:17:56,400
But that's what I'm saying is about being mindful, but in the same way with your with your book and the talks and inspiring children because it, they they have got that open mindedness.
174
00:17:56,600 --> 00:18:02,900
But as I said before, too much is done to dampen them down, or you can't do this, you can't do everything is possible.
175
00:18:03,260 --> 00:18:15,760
If you've got the inspiration, and you've got the people supporting you, and that's why it's always mindful to be around people who are like minded, who will support you, but we can start supporting our children.
176
00:18:16,100 --> 00:18:20,840
And I would like to actually say thank you again for the support that you gave my son many, many years ago.
177
00:18:21,460 --> 00:18:24,500
Because obviously, we were talking and you said, well, let me have a chat with him.
178
00:18:24,600 --> 00:18:29,260
And you spent a good amount of time talking to him about what he was doing with his brand.
179
00:18:29,580 --> 00:18:32,420
And so I, I know that Carol walks her time.
180
00:18:34,260 --> 00:18:41,360
How did I'm actually curious, Carol, I mean, I know we've talked about the book and how you're inspiring, but how did how did you end up doing what you're doing?
181
00:18:41,540 --> 00:18:43,460
Because that always fascinates me.
182
00:18:43,500 --> 00:18:53,480
And I always love to know what, you know, people's route to their career has been because I mean, there must be something in there that's inspired you along the way to do what you're doing now.
183
00:18:53,940 --> 00:18:54,200
Yes, yes.
184
00:18:54,400 --> 00:18:57,380
So I worked, I spent most of my career in in Boots.
185
00:18:58,080 --> 00:19:03,140
And, you know, and I actually started off in stores and I had a really good first.
186
00:19:03,380 --> 00:19:04,820
So somebody spotted me.
187
00:19:05,640 --> 00:19:11,220
I knew when I had my interview, and he, that it was the manager, the store manager, he fast tracked my career.
188
00:19:11,560 --> 00:19:14,300
And I'm so grateful to I'm so grateful to him.
189
00:19:14,900 --> 00:19:15,920
And his name is Peter Roach.
190
00:19:16,580 --> 00:19:20,460
And he, yeah, he kind of put me on a development program.
191
00:19:20,460 --> 00:19:22,360
And I was promoted within three months.
192
00:19:22,360 --> 00:19:23,760
And I was looking after a department.
193
00:19:24,120 --> 00:19:25,240
So I got a lot.
194
00:19:25,520 --> 00:19:31,100
And I was my first department, actually, with the health care and the pharmacy area, and then beauty.
195
00:19:31,240 --> 00:19:48,700
So I looked after cosmetics, fragrance, you know, the electrical beauty, you know, all of their cosmetics, sun care, sunglasses, also photography and when photography was quite a big homebrew in those days, if you remember that period of time when that was sold in stores.
196
00:19:49,340 --> 00:19:57,700
But I started to work with, we had teams of beauty advisors, and from quite a young age, I had about 30 people working underneath me.
197
00:19:57,820 --> 00:19:59,420
So I learned a lot of good.
198
00:19:59,980 --> 00:20:02,540
That taught me a lot of leadership skills, boots were amazing.
199
00:20:03,880 --> 00:20:10,600
And I think if you can work with a big company early on in your career, the support and the development skills you get is unbelievable.
200
00:20:11,340 --> 00:20:14,300
And also with a big organization, you've got lots of career opportunities.
201
00:20:14,640 --> 00:20:20,300
So I ended up kind of going into the, into the beauty side of it.
202
00:20:20,480 --> 00:20:25,220
So initially, I was in the number 17, we look at became like an area manager for number seven.
203
00:20:25,640 --> 00:20:32,500
But what we were looking at was store space, bought store layout, merchandising, that took me into learning and development.
204
00:20:33,740 --> 00:20:38,920
And then years and years later, I was in management development.
205
00:20:39,920 --> 00:20:42,940
And I always wanted to work internationally.
206
00:20:43,840 --> 00:20:50,220
And so I joined the international retail team, which boots were setting up overseas around the world.
207
00:20:50,340 --> 00:20:52,120
My first country was Taiwan, was Taiwan.
208
00:20:52,940 --> 00:20:57,500
And that was setting up boots are all recruiting all the local teams training all the local teams.
209
00:20:58,000 --> 00:21:06,360
And then I started to see other product brands and other different, you know, how beauty and how products were valued differently in different parts of the world.
210
00:21:06,540 --> 00:21:09,720
So, you know, when I first went to Asia, they were talking about whitening products.
211
00:21:10,000 --> 00:21:11,020
And I was like, Oh, isn't that interesting?
212
00:21:11,300 --> 00:21:19,020
And I was remember out in the sun at the weekend and going into work on the Monday and the team were like, Oh, my goodness, what have you done to your skin, you disabled yourself.
213
00:21:19,020 --> 00:21:23,640
I was like, What's the beauty and how was perceived very, very differently.
214
00:21:23,840 --> 00:21:36,440
And when I worked in the L'Oreal group, that was something that they had this kind of perceptions of beauty around the world program that people went through to understand how its beauty varies culturally and what people understand.
215
00:21:37,880 --> 00:21:47,040
So working internationally in those various different, you know, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, Thailand, and the US and Canada with boots.
216
00:21:47,460 --> 00:21:55,520
And then just also as part of that, when we're training beauty advisors, recruiting, setting up in new markets, there was always a big product elements.
217
00:21:56,040 --> 00:22:06,580
And as part of that, when we were introducing, you know, it's just a the media and the PR teams, or even the brand teams and the big retailers, then we would bring over the UK scientists.
218
00:22:07,160 --> 00:22:14,440
And I just got to over there to explain, you know, so there was, you know, if there was a particular technologies around it.
219
00:22:14,820 --> 00:22:24,640
So I just then I met all the scientists, you know, as part of, I was usually, you know, developing the training as well for, you know, so I understood all what the ingredients did and how to sell the products.
220
00:22:24,640 --> 00:22:27,540
So, so we kind of evolved from that, really.
221
00:22:27,960 --> 00:22:33,280
And then I had a global job at the body shop as well, where I was responsible for learning and development.
222
00:22:33,760 --> 00:22:39,040
And if say a new product was being launched in say, three years time, we'd be working at the lab sample stage.
223
00:22:39,260 --> 00:22:43,780
And yet this product, when it launches, it's going to be doing this, these are claims we're going to start making.
224
00:22:44,480 --> 00:22:48,540
But the timeline in those days was very long, these days, the timelines are much shorter.
225
00:22:48,900 --> 00:22:59,020
So I just got more and more involved with working with the lab and seeing behind the scenes of what goes into it all the testing, you know, sometimes me why we'd be planning a launch of a product.
226
00:22:59,200 --> 00:23:03,380
And they said, actually, that product is not going to launch because of there's an issue.
227
00:23:03,740 --> 00:23:13,620
And now I understand, you know, you can plan something, but if it's failed a stability test or something, then the timeline might have to be put back because all the products have to pass all of their safety testing.
228
00:23:14,240 --> 00:23:16,280
So yeah, that's, that's how I got involved in it.
229
00:23:16,360 --> 00:23:23,260
And then when I decided to set up my own business, it was initially to help brands get into retail.
230
00:23:23,780 --> 00:23:28,940
But so many people started to say, if we sell this into a buyer, what would they, what would the buyer say?
231
00:23:29,660 --> 00:23:31,580
And then they said, and actually, can you help me create it?
232
00:23:31,720 --> 00:23:44,360
And the good thing about being part of the, you know, boots and L'Oreal, I've got all I've got a massive directory of all those people behind the scenes, which people see the product on the shelf, but there's so many careers and so many stages that involved.
233
00:23:45,240 --> 00:23:48,640
So that's, that's how I got into it.
234
00:23:48,820 --> 00:23:54,640
So if anybody's thinking of, you know, has some as an idea, then just message me and I'll give you a few pointers on where to start.
235
00:23:54,760 --> 00:24:05,960
Because I think that's the other thing about the children's book is that people, they might want to create something, but it's still quite, it's not that it's secretive, but it's not a public area of the industry.
236
00:24:06,260 --> 00:24:07,940
What people see is the finished product.
237
00:24:08,040 --> 00:24:13,160
They don't necessarily see the various stages behind the scenes and what goes into it.
238
00:24:14,020 --> 00:24:24,440
And once you like anything, once you know that when I created the book, once you know how to create a book, you know how to create a book, but that very first time, you need to tap into experts who've already been and done it.
239
00:24:24,480 --> 00:24:27,500
And it just makes it so much easier and simpler and takes the risk away.
240
00:24:27,760 --> 00:24:39,960
Having spent all that time in recruitment myself, you know, I've always been fascinated about people's careers and you know, the journey, but what I love about it is that it gave you such a wide breadth of knowledge and understanding about all the sectors.
241
00:24:39,960 --> 00:24:46,880
And that's, I have to say what I loved about recruitment, because I would talk to people, go out to businesses, I'd get around and be introduced to manufacturing companies.
242
00:24:47,040 --> 00:24:52,320
It could be lawyers, you name it, any business that I dealt with working on recruiting, commercial support.
243
00:24:52,560 --> 00:24:58,260
So you get to learn and you get to see, which is where then you can start to inspire as you have done.
244
00:24:58,720 --> 00:24:59,960
There are more opportunities.
245
00:25:00,240 --> 00:25:02,440
It's not just what you see in front of you.
246
00:25:02,560 --> 00:25:13,840
And also what I believe, truly believe is that if you've got an idea, stop looking for jobs that are out there, because actually you can create your own opportunity that doesn't need to have a job title.
247
00:25:13,960 --> 00:25:16,100
It's about what it is that you enjoy doing.
248
00:25:16,280 --> 00:25:18,860
It could be, as you say, it could be the creative side.
249
00:25:19,040 --> 00:25:20,000
It could be the influencing side.
250
00:25:20,140 --> 00:25:22,940
It might be that you like doing the driving and the truck driving and moving forward.
251
00:25:23,360 --> 00:25:31,100
It's about tapping into and having a feel and an essence of what it is that you're interested in, but being supported, that that can manifest.
252
00:25:31,260 --> 00:25:37,660
But once you recognise what it is that you are interested in, then you will start to become aware of those opportunities.
253
00:25:38,180 --> 00:25:43,740
And actually when you start to seed it in the children at the beginning, that there are lots of opportunities out there.
254
00:25:43,880 --> 00:25:52,980
It isn't just because you're just generally sort of influenced by maybe what your parents do, what your grandparents have done or what your friends' parents have done.
255
00:25:53,480 --> 00:26:04,560
And I've always said, just ask questions, find out what people do and just ask, always ask open questions because that way you learn, which is what the children do at a certain age.
256
00:26:04,680 --> 00:26:18,160
And then as we were saying right at the beginning of our conversation, that when they get to a little bit more teenage years, they become that little bit more reluctant because that enthusiasm, that sort of innocence has been smashed out.
257
00:26:18,780 --> 00:26:19,980
And we don't want that.
258
00:26:20,100 --> 00:26:22,380
We want people to be interested, don't we?
259
00:26:23,280 --> 00:26:29,680
So that's why I love what you've done and what you're creating and what you've created and what you go into schools to do, which is fantastic.
260
00:26:30,180 --> 00:26:36,740
And I would encourage if anybody does work with young people, go and have a look what's on your local industrial estate.
261
00:26:37,220 --> 00:26:51,380
They may not look the most sophisticated or modern buildings, but inside there's probably, so some warehouses like these days, there are so many, they're DTC, there's so many modern warehouses popping up on the side of motorway, junks and etc.
262
00:26:51,800 --> 00:26:54,240
But if you've got a local industrial estate, what's in there?
263
00:26:54,320 --> 00:27:01,720
You might find there's a packaging company or somebody that makes a manufacturing company or you know, who knows what's there and go and speak to them.
264
00:27:01,920 --> 00:27:07,460
And I bet they would love to host your school, a class and take them on a tour.
265
00:27:07,900 --> 00:27:11,240
And you just never know what that spark will will will produce.
266
00:27:12,360 --> 00:27:20,240
So yeah, because I think the practical side of it, not just sitting in a classroom, listening, going out and doing things.
267
00:27:20,860 --> 00:27:30,360
And so that's part of it, you know, is the next thing that I want to have like a next stage of some practical things, which at the moment, I'm calling it the beauty science lab.
268
00:27:30,600 --> 00:27:46,440
But because I know that it's and it might not end up being beauty, because I think I want to expand it a little bit to be more around products, but we may end up creating a beauty product as part of it is to have some activities that schools can do where they can make physically make something.
269
00:27:46,560 --> 00:27:51,100
So they could go through the book, they could do exercises, they could talk about learn about branding.
270
00:27:51,500 --> 00:27:56,000
But then there's something that the school can order that's a kit that they can actually make.
271
00:27:57,560 --> 00:28:03,160
And it's all that they can actually have something that with a label on that is a finished item.
272
00:28:03,720 --> 00:28:12,120
So that's what I'm working through next is to be able to have to have that a far cry from trying to melt your rule, your plastic ruler over the bent bumps and burner in science.
273
00:28:12,120 --> 00:28:15,020
Is that what you did, is it?
274
00:28:15,140 --> 00:28:18,020
But it is, I mean, kids are interested, aren't they?
275
00:28:18,140 --> 00:28:24,820
And I think that, you know, just, as you've said, going and seeing and doing because we all learn in different ways, we've all got different learning styles.
276
00:28:24,960 --> 00:28:27,780
I'm very much of an activist by learning style and we're very much a pragmatist.
277
00:28:27,900 --> 00:28:32,920
I need to do something for the anchor, then I can, you know, I can draw on that experience, that knowledge.
278
00:28:33,560 --> 00:28:35,520
Don't give me a book, but other people are much better.
279
00:28:35,720 --> 00:28:39,020
They'd much rather read a book and sort of get all the theory behind it.
280
00:28:40,300 --> 00:28:51,280
And then there's, you know, then you've got that time that there are the reflectors as well that may well come into that classroom, may well be quieter because they might be a bit more introverted, but they will be taking the information in and they'll go away and they'll reflect upon it.
281
00:28:51,380 --> 00:29:00,260
But it's all about the different learning styles, but having that experience, but appealing to different people, you know, some people will like the stats.
282
00:29:00,500 --> 00:29:15,300
Yes, so it was on the Google UK site, so it's saying 31% of young people aged 11 to 18 say they're interested in a career in creative industries, yet 49% of them, so almost half, just don't know what skills or qualifications they need to do that.
283
00:29:15,520 --> 00:29:21,980
And there's about 270,000 creative businesses in the UK, which is about 10% of all registered businesses.
284
00:29:21,980 --> 00:29:25,240
So it's not just all about maths and, you know, maths and English.
285
00:29:25,520 --> 00:29:30,920
And the beauty industry is worth around, well, it contributes about 30 billion to the UK economy.
286
00:29:30,920 --> 00:29:34,760
This is from the Times and supports more than 600,000 jobs.
287
00:29:35,500 --> 00:29:42,700
So, you know, when you look at a product and it could be, you know, a shampoo, a conditioner, a bath product, a sun cream product.
288
00:29:43,460 --> 00:29:53,680
It's all the scientists, the chemists, you know, the designers, the photographers, the website developers, you know, the logistics teams, the sustainability experts.
289
00:29:53,840 --> 00:29:56,660
I mean, there are so many jobs that go into that.
290
00:29:58,100 --> 00:30:00,540
You know, so there's just so many careers.
291
00:30:01,620 --> 00:30:06,920
Yeah, and it's changing all the time, you know, sort of AI, where is all that going for the young people?
292
00:30:07,800 --> 00:30:09,020
And what's that going to do?
293
00:30:09,140 --> 00:30:23,300
And my worry, I read something recently about work experience and how that might be impacted by AI, because many of the companies are using AI to do the junior jobs that typically an intern or someone having work experience might have got.
294
00:30:23,460 --> 00:30:31,400
And I hope that organisations still give young people the chance to try and be part of a business and just see what it's really like.
295
00:30:32,240 --> 00:30:48,000
And I also hope that they get given some little tasks to do as well, rather than being asked to just, you know, open the post and collect the, you know, make, load the photocopier, but do some, you know, see if they can find them a little project or something to do that gives them a real insight.
296
00:30:48,300 --> 00:30:52,500
Having spent like 36 years working in the recruitment sector up until 2023,
297
00:30:52,500 --> 00:30:59,880
when I came out of it, I've gone through sort of different periods of seeing how the
298
00:31:02,120 --> 00:31:07,360
working world has changed, you know, from sort of, here in the UK, I mean, we used obviously,
299
00:31:07,400 --> 00:31:10,960
there's a lot of mining, the mining went and that made a lot of redundancies, then we had
300
00:31:10,960 --> 00:31:16,760
the rise of the call centres, the call centres then were offshored and things keep changing.
301
00:31:16,940 --> 00:31:21,720
That is one thing in the world, everything keeps changing and yes, we've got AI and yes, it's impacting.
302
00:31:22,060 --> 00:31:30,260
But is it taking away the jobs that mean that we spend, because we do, so many of us spend far too much time in front of tech and what have you.
303
00:31:30,700 --> 00:31:48,040
But therefore, it is one thing that AI can't do is all the practical stuff, the hands-on stuff, you know, for instance, you know, like you were saying with the beauty products, use that as an example, it, you know, you have got to be able to try things, make things, AI can't just go out and do all of that.
304
00:31:48,220 --> 00:31:55,080
There's got to be the sort of AI can't smell it, you know, you might be chatting to chat GP to go, oh, yes, I do like that fragrance.
305
00:31:55,560 --> 00:31:58,040
I don't think you do because you have no idea.
306
00:31:59,160 --> 00:32:08,820
But you know, there's lots of, we've not talked about that, because there are testers aren't there, people that will work out what fragrances are right, and you know, you've got to know what the environment is.
307
00:32:09,160 --> 00:32:12,860
And it's the other other roles are what I'm saying will evolve.
308
00:32:13,120 --> 00:32:19,640
Yeah, as a result, because a vacuum doesn't exist, it has to be filled, and things will materialize.
309
00:32:19,640 --> 00:32:35,380
But we have got to take control of that and keep that creativity, keep that curiosity, keep that inspiration, keep that support and encouragement of everyone to do different things and think outside the box, think differently, move away from the narrative, let's see what happens and encouragement.
310
00:32:35,700 --> 00:32:35,820
But
311
00:32:35,820 --> 00:32:41,020
one of the things I wanted to ask you because of what you've just said in conjunction with what
312
00:32:41,020 --> 00:32:46,100
you've said previously, which was about how the big organizations are great to get into,
313
00:32:46,320 --> 00:32:51,420
but equally, we're looking at entrepreneurs, would you wherever possible recommend that
314
00:32:51,420 --> 00:32:57,640
anybody that's got ideas goes and works in a big organization, if they possibly can, or
315
00:32:58,420 --> 00:33:03,460
would it be better for them to just do their own thing without that influence
316
00:33:03,460 --> 00:33:04,840
because of the changes?
317
00:33:05,080 --> 00:33:05,720
What do you think?
318
00:33:06,020 --> 00:33:09,840
It's interesting, because I, you know, the route I came up was working for a big organization.
319
00:33:10,280 --> 00:33:18,800
And what that gives you is, you know, what good looks like, you also learn so much, because you work, I'm very lucky to have worked with some brilliant people.
320
00:33:19,460 --> 00:33:30,280
And you and most of the people I worked with were so talented and so amazing, that occasionally you come across something and you think, I'm not happy about that, you still learn maybe I wouldn't have handled it that way.
321
00:33:30,280 --> 00:33:31,740
So you learn a lot.
322
00:33:32,360 --> 00:33:34,640
And, you know, and you maybe get to have opportunities.
323
00:33:35,300 --> 00:33:43,160
But I met at a careers event I did not so long ago, a young, you know, and how old he was, maybe 15.
324
00:33:43,700 --> 00:33:49,820
And he was already buying and selling things online, and making a fair bit of money.
325
00:33:50,060 --> 00:33:52,920
And I think he's going to completely bypass everything.
326
00:33:53,340 --> 00:33:57,420
And he's on a fast track to being very, very successful entrepreneur.
327
00:33:58,100 --> 00:34:00,200
So I think there's some personality things in there.
328
00:34:00,360 --> 00:34:04,740
He was very clear on what he was, he's already starting and he wasn't seeing his age as a barrier.
329
00:34:05,100 --> 00:34:07,260
He was already starting and going ahead.
330
00:34:07,659 --> 00:34:10,679
So I, I think there's some personality things in there.
331
00:34:10,820 --> 00:34:16,639
I think there's some confidence things in there as well, because it's quite, you know, can be quite lonely doing something by yourself.
332
00:34:16,639 --> 00:34:18,420
So the support is really important.
333
00:34:18,719 --> 00:34:18,819
Yeah.
334
00:34:19,300 --> 00:34:27,540
And I think these days, it costs quite a lot of money to I think it's, you know, once you understand the process to make the product, the product part is quite easy.
335
00:34:27,980 --> 00:34:30,500
The brand and the marketing is expensive.
336
00:34:31,260 --> 00:34:48,960
So what many people do is they, you know, they have their career and they have something so they can do their project on the side till they get to the point where actually, it's earning enough money that they can, they can swap and they can make their role, the main, you know, their project, the main thing, and let their career go.
337
00:34:49,940 --> 00:34:55,219
Because it's, there is timing, there's a lot of things into going to making a brand.
338
00:34:55,780 --> 00:34:58,840
And, you know, people see a new brand and they think, oh, it happened last week.
339
00:34:59,380 --> 00:35:08,520
You know, I know many founders, it's taken them five years, more than five years, you know, some, sometimes one particular aspect might take just two years and you've not launched.
340
00:35:08,780 --> 00:35:11,340
So there's not really an overnight success to that.
341
00:35:11,640 --> 00:35:25,020
So I think having, maybe it's a bit, a bit of both to be able to go and work for an organization, learn some things, you know, and, and, and then have your own idea on the side.
342
00:35:25,340 --> 00:35:27,640
I think you've got to go with what feels right for you, haven't you?
343
00:35:27,740 --> 00:35:33,740
It's following you, is trusting your instinct, your intuition, working with what feels right for you, recognizing opportunities.
344
00:35:33,940 --> 00:35:38,240
And if it's, if it is a great opportunity, seize it because of what you can learn.
345
00:35:39,020 --> 00:35:43,320
And yeah, I mean, if you are somebody that really wants to go for it, go for it.
346
00:35:43,360 --> 00:35:52,260
I mean, one of the things I recognize working in recruitment, you know, sometimes when you had somebody walk in, you go, Oh my gosh, they're, you just knew that they're going to go a long way.
347
00:35:52,380 --> 00:35:55,000
And you know, now I see them on LinkedIn, you go, Oh my gosh.
348
00:35:55,480 --> 00:35:55,580
Yeah.
349
00:35:56,640 --> 00:36:05,320
As I thought, as I predicted that, and like you will, with that young man, you know, he's off, you just recognize it, but we're all different.
350
00:36:05,440 --> 00:36:08,640
We're all meant to have different roles and do different things.
351
00:36:08,640 --> 00:36:12,120
And it's just following what is, is right for you.
352
00:36:12,120 --> 00:36:16,640
And it might be that you do go into a large organization, you could spend all your lifetime there.
353
00:36:16,760 --> 00:36:25,300
You might come out of that and then go suddenly go, whoa, I'm going to do this now because I can, or you start off, you start off with a, with a brand and then suddenly it grows.
354
00:36:25,520 --> 00:36:26,800
I don't know, you might get acquired.
355
00:36:27,280 --> 00:36:27,420
Yes.
356
00:36:27,900 --> 00:36:35,080
But you know, it's, it's starting out crushing those rose petals in the garden and being inspired to make your, make your perfume at home.
357
00:36:35,360 --> 00:36:35,720
Yeah.
358
00:36:36,160 --> 00:36:36,260
Yeah.
359
00:36:36,500 --> 00:36:49,680
You know, and you never know, but I think as well, hopefully I've created something that can be done at home without, you know, a carer, a teacher, or another, you know, a family member and to give them them support.
360
00:36:49,920 --> 00:36:59,660
Cause there are, you know, the process that's in here and how to do it is the same for what it's the same process that big industries and big brands follow.
361
00:36:59,940 --> 00:37:04,840
And the hard one of the hardest thing was to make the language easy that a child could understand it.
362
00:37:04,960 --> 00:37:29,960
I think it's very clever what you've done style that you've used and the writing encourages it to be more child-like if you like, but it's not child, it's not really childish writing, but it's got that rather than it just being printed in sort of canvas sounds or whatever it is or New Roman, it's written in such a way in a stylized way that it, it is appealing.
363
00:37:30,360 --> 00:37:47,940
And I wouldn't be surprised that there aren't the adults that read that book and then get inspired themselves because it just breaks it down into that, you know, when you want to learn something new, but there aren't really any books out there that because, you know, you'll go and buy a book and it's like, oh God, how am I going to read through that lot?
364
00:37:48,220 --> 00:37:53,180
But you can then pick up an element of that and then go and read from that and go, I didn't think about that bit.
365
00:37:53,300 --> 00:37:53,440
Right.
366
00:37:53,560 --> 00:37:53,780
Okay.
367
00:37:53,840 --> 00:37:54,760
I can go and learn that.
368
00:37:54,920 --> 00:37:56,680
So I think there's so many different aspects.
369
00:37:57,020 --> 00:37:59,540
So what I ought to ask is how can people buy it?
370
00:38:00,120 --> 00:38:08,780
I can't take any credits for the, I knew I had a concept and I knew what I wanted, but Faye is an amazing illustrator.
371
00:38:09,020 --> 00:38:21,480
So she's from Nottingham Trent Uni and she came up, she watched you think of these and I wanted them to be, you know, kind of fairly unisex, but also we've made them so they're black and white, so people can colour it in and make it their own.
372
00:38:21,800 --> 00:38:27,640
So, you know, if they've got dark hair or light hair or whatever, they can make that person look like them.
373
00:38:28,320 --> 00:38:33,540
So that was the idea is that we've purposely not coloured them in so they can, it could be them.
374
00:38:34,860 --> 00:38:36,520
So Faye is brilliant.
375
00:38:36,900 --> 00:38:44,280
So she's from, she's local, well, she was a Nottingham Trent, she was one of my interns actually when she created this.
376
00:38:44,300 --> 00:38:44,740
Oh really?
377
00:38:44,960 --> 00:38:45,120
Oh my gosh, brilliant.
378
00:38:45,120 --> 00:38:57,460
And then the other who Faye did all the illustration and then Ethan is also a designer, also from Nottingham Trent Uni and you see them both kind of mentioned in the front boilerplate here.
379
00:38:57,980 --> 00:39:08,400
So Ethan, when I said to Ethan, I want it to be colourful, pick the designs and so Ethan came up with, so Ethan pulled it all together in the right layout and the right structure.
380
00:39:08,860 --> 00:39:26,260
But this is an example, you know, these are both young people at the start of their career and this was both the first things they had with their name on and so that's kind of helped them, you know, and they came up with bookmarks and, you know, so the ripples continue, doesn't it?
381
00:39:26,380 --> 00:39:27,660
You give somebody the opportunity.
382
00:39:27,820 --> 00:39:30,300
Oh my God, you made me go all tingly, you made me go all tingly with that.
383
00:39:30,600 --> 00:39:31,280
That's amazing.
384
00:39:31,460 --> 00:39:32,600
So are they still studying them?
385
00:39:32,700 --> 00:39:33,780
Will that form part of their...
386
00:39:34,340 --> 00:39:40,160
So they had, and hats off to Nottingham Trent Uni, so they have a great employability scheme.
387
00:39:40,360 --> 00:39:48,180
So if you do a degree with them, then they match you with employers who give you projects and that's why same before I gave them a real project to do.
388
00:39:48,260 --> 00:39:52,860
In fact, Ethan, I'd worked with in the year before, as you can see, I've got some planners in the background and notebooks.
389
00:39:53,420 --> 00:39:57,580
I wanted a beauty CEO planner, you know, some notebooks.
390
00:39:58,960 --> 00:40:03,060
And so this is a 2026 one, he's just working on the 2027 one now.
391
00:40:03,780 --> 00:40:09,640
And so Ethan came up with the, it's all been bespoke designed, we've got quotes in there, coaching tips.
392
00:40:10,280 --> 00:40:15,740
So Ethan came up with those and I said, you know, these are the colours I'm thinking of, what do you think he came up with, a palette.
393
00:40:16,500 --> 00:40:18,700
And then he's, you know, he helps with this.
394
00:40:18,860 --> 00:40:23,440
And then Fay, I've got some other book ideas, so Fay will be helping me with those.
395
00:40:24,100 --> 00:40:24,820
Oh, that's amazing.
396
00:40:25,140 --> 00:40:27,960
So that gives them sort of a portfolio of work as well.
397
00:40:28,120 --> 00:40:29,040
That's amazing, Carol.
398
00:40:29,260 --> 00:40:29,940
Yeah, yeah.
399
00:40:30,080 --> 00:40:35,080
I love that sort of the ecology, or the ecosystem, I should say, of the book.
400
00:40:35,740 --> 00:40:43,100
So getting back to it, how does anybody reach out to you, get a copy of the book, find out more, where can they find you?
401
00:40:43,100 --> 00:40:44,680
Where are we best to direct people to?
402
00:40:44,820 --> 00:40:49,460
So I've got a website called growyourbrands.com and Brands has got an S on the end.
403
00:40:50,320 --> 00:40:55,960
Or you can find me on Instagram, which is Carol Carson Beauty Brands, or you can just find me on LinkedIn, Carol Carson.
404
00:40:56,900 --> 00:40:59,260
So that's, they're the best places to find it.
405
00:40:59,660 --> 00:41:00,700
So yeah, brilliant.
406
00:41:00,960 --> 00:41:02,980
And I'll put all that into the show notes as well, folks.
407
00:41:03,320 --> 00:41:06,000
So wherever you're listening from, it will be in the show notes.
408
00:41:06,000 --> 00:41:26,740
If you want to reach out to Carol, please do because she's, as you can tell, she is a font of information and also really, really passionate about supporting and encouraging the next generation, and anyone, I guess, really to sort of follow their flow and really be curious and create things.
409
00:41:26,980 --> 00:41:27,480
Yes, yeah.
410
00:41:27,640 --> 00:41:40,360
And what's been great is some people that I, some of my network that are in the industry have bought it for their kids to say, this is what mum does at work, you know, and they have their aspect of it.
411
00:41:40,440 --> 00:41:42,940
So they've been able to kind of help their children understand.
412
00:41:43,340 --> 00:41:59,940
But one of the things I would love to, and ask really, is if you are involved in with children at all, and you want to kind of do get, you know, be involved somehow, just reach out, you know, if I'd love to be able to be able to reach more young people.
413
00:42:00,140 --> 00:42:11,000
So if you're a teacher, or there's some sort of, you know, you're connecting with young people, then, you know, I'd love to kind of find a way that we can work together and find a way to get this out to more young children.
414
00:42:11,160 --> 00:42:24,380
So obviously, every individual can buy things, but that's why I like working with schools and young people and, you know, some hoping, you know, children's museums, and anybody that works with with children that, you know, we've got an opportunity to inspire.
415
00:42:25,080 --> 00:42:26,840
I'd love to be able to learn to do that.
416
00:42:26,900 --> 00:42:33,380
We've got a school at the moment where they've got 20 children kind of working through it with somebody that's facilitating that at the moment.
417
00:42:33,700 --> 00:42:34,420
So that kind of thing.
418
00:42:35,000 --> 00:42:36,220
Exciting, exciting, exciting.
419
00:42:37,660 --> 00:42:39,040
Oh, this has been absolutely brilliant.
420
00:42:39,220 --> 00:42:43,820
I mean, I know we've known each other for quite a long time, a number of years now, but you know what?
421
00:42:44,280 --> 00:42:57,500
I feel very grateful to have this time to be able to talk to you, and it's done interrupted, and we can talk and and then share it and inspire across the globe, you know, because the podcast is listened to all over the world, which is amazing.
422
00:42:57,800 --> 00:42:59,180
So thank you, thank you, thank you again.
423
00:43:00,260 --> 00:43:03,120
And yeah, if you want to reach out, look at the show notes.
424
00:43:03,480 --> 00:43:04,480
Carol's already given you the information.
425
00:43:05,260 --> 00:43:07,000
And thank you so much, Carol.
426
00:43:07,220 --> 00:43:08,640
Good luck with everything.
427
00:43:08,780 --> 00:43:15,220
And good luck to all those lives and all those children that get inspired moving forward from from listening and parents too.
428
00:43:15,660 --> 00:43:16,500
Thank you so much.
429
00:43:16,600 --> 00:43:17,580
Take care, everyone.
430
00:43:18,180 --> 00:43:18,280
Goodbye.
431
00:43:19,140 --> 00:43:22,320
Thanks for listening to the Harnessing Happiness podcast with Sarah J.
432
00:43:22,500 --> 00:43:22,620
Naylor.
433
00:43:22,860 --> 00:43:26,460
If you took value from the content, please follow the show on your podcast app.
434
00:43:26,720 --> 00:43:31,240
And to find out more about Sarah's ape mindset, visit sarahjnaylor.com.
435
00:43:31,260 --> 00:43:33,120
That's sarahjnaylor.com.
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:04,980
Welcome to the Harnessing Happiness Podcast, upbeat vibes generated and transferred to you.
2
00:00:05,420 --> 00:00:12,160
Hello and welcome to another episode of Harnessing Happiness with myself, Sarah J Naylor.
3
00:00:13,000 --> 00:00:16,820
Today, I am delighted to be joined by the fabulous Carol.
4
00:00:17,560 --> 00:00:21,620
Now, let me give you a little bit of background about Carol to start with before we really dig in.
5
00:00:22,180 --> 00:00:40,260
Carol is the managing director of Grow Your Brands International Beauty Brand Consultancy and the beauty CEO Academy and also the author of Glow Up Create Your Own Beauty Brand, a children's book, children's come teenage book.
6
00:00:40,680 --> 00:00:49,780
And that's what I'm really excited about digging into, but we'll get to that shortly because I just want to give you a little bit more background because Carol comes with huge amounts of experience.
7
00:00:50,260 --> 00:01:03,099
She's an international beauty expert, entrepreneur, speaker and mentor with more than 30 years experience within the beauty industry, helping beauty and wellness brands grow.
8
00:01:03,800 --> 00:01:12,500
She's held senior leadership roles within global organizations, including Boops International Retail and The Body Shop.
9
00:01:13,160 --> 00:01:15,920
Let's put it this way, Carol knows her stuff.
10
00:01:16,040 --> 00:01:17,940
I was going to use another word there, but I won't.
11
00:01:18,180 --> 00:01:19,720
Carol knows her stuff.
12
00:01:20,060 --> 00:01:24,040
She's worked across the UK, Europe, North America and Asia.
13
00:01:25,260 --> 00:01:34,660
And today we really want to get into and talk about the inspiration and what made her actually want to write and create this book.
14
00:01:35,040 --> 00:01:43,860
So Carol, without further ado, let's get into it because I'm really excited because when you sent me a copy of the book to look through, I was inspired and opened my eyes up to stuff.
15
00:01:44,140 --> 00:01:51,980
So even though it's aimed at children and teenagers, I think there's a lot there for adults to learn, surely.
16
00:01:52,500 --> 00:01:53,400
Absolutely, Sarah.
17
00:01:53,980 --> 00:01:56,800
And well, first of all, thank you for having me on your amazing podcast.
18
00:01:57,640 --> 00:02:04,780
When I first started to show people the book, before it was launched, I showed it to a couple of the manufacturers I work with.
19
00:02:05,060 --> 00:02:14,880
So I work in a lot in the beauty industry and have a kind of a wide network of all those kind of industries behind the scenes that go into making a finished product.
20
00:02:15,600 --> 00:02:18,520
And a number of them said, actually, our customers need this.
21
00:02:18,860 --> 00:02:20,180
So I thought that gave me some hope.
22
00:02:20,760 --> 00:02:26,180
Yeah, so it's, and shall I tell you a little bit about where the inspiration came from?
23
00:02:26,280 --> 00:02:28,320
No, that's what I'm really fascinated about.
24
00:02:28,600 --> 00:02:30,320
What inspired you to write it?
25
00:02:30,800 --> 00:02:35,580
Because there's a parallel, I guess, to the book.
26
00:02:35,800 --> 00:02:41,680
I mean, I wrote my book and published it back in 2017, shining a light on you how to manifest your dream job.
27
00:02:42,500 --> 00:02:50,080
And it kind of hooks into the prelude to where I've been talking to sort of adults and looking at jobs and things like that.
28
00:02:50,160 --> 00:02:59,540
Because actually, what you're doing through the book is inspiring the next generation to think creatively, to think outside of the box, think about other stuff.
29
00:02:59,700 --> 00:03:05,480
I mean, before we jumped on, you quoted some stats from the government that were really interesting.
30
00:03:06,100 --> 00:03:07,540
I don't know if you want to share those with the audience.
31
00:03:07,780 --> 00:03:13,740
But yeah, it's just, I think it's great, because anything we can do to inspire the next generation is awesome.
32
00:03:14,100 --> 00:03:23,240
Yeah, so I worked with a lot of when I was working for Boots and the Body Shop, very, very big brands with lots of money and, you know, obviously, well known brands globally.
33
00:03:23,780 --> 00:03:30,360
But I also mentor a lot of new founder brands, people who are kind of new to the industry and don't know anything.
34
00:03:30,840 --> 00:03:35,300
And as part of that, I started to do some mentoring and supporting schools.
35
00:03:35,800 --> 00:03:40,300
And that's where the book came from, because I would either do interviewing or career talks.
36
00:03:41,460 --> 00:03:45,880
And where the book actually came from was one particular class in a primary school.
37
00:03:47,120 --> 00:03:52,800
And what I did, I was doing the talk about the whole start to finish about how you create a beauty brand.
38
00:03:52,840 --> 00:04:06,520
And because it was going to be mixed, you know, kids, male, you know, boys and girls, I did I decided three products, I said, we'll create a digital product, we'll create a personal care product, something that's in your bathroom, cabinet and a food product, maybe a cereal or something like that.
39
00:04:06,600 --> 00:04:08,060
So I took them through the whole process.
40
00:04:08,060 --> 00:04:14,420
And I had product samples and empty containers, you know, containers before they've been through the print process.
41
00:04:14,540 --> 00:04:20,459
And I made a little conveyor belt of everything that that they, you know, the whole process that they could see.
42
00:04:21,160 --> 00:04:24,940
And then we, you know, as part of that, I was asking for their ideas.
43
00:04:25,400 --> 00:04:31,720
And these young children came up with the most amazing ideas, and they were had questions about sustainability.
44
00:04:32,960 --> 00:04:38,100
They had different packaging ideas, things that we don't even think of.
45
00:04:38,600 --> 00:04:44,880
And then I noticed when I were doing similar talks to slightly older children, it became much more about the subjects.
46
00:04:45,700 --> 00:04:46,300
And they'd lost.
47
00:04:46,500 --> 00:04:50,120
So I do a very similar talk, maybe tweaked it a little bit more age appropriate.
48
00:04:51,360 --> 00:04:54,020
And they had, it was all about the subjects.
49
00:04:54,160 --> 00:05:03,520
And also, they were nervous about those subjects as in which subjects do I choose, but they'd lost that entrepreneurial spark and these these great ideas.
50
00:05:03,760 --> 00:05:10,180
So it was those early questions that I thought, you know, what I'm going to do is I'm going to, I'm going to put that into a book.
51
00:05:10,400 --> 00:05:18,800
Because one of the things I did at the end of the session is when we went around the class and said, Okay, which part of the all of the process would you like to do?
52
00:05:19,140 --> 00:05:23,560
And then one guy put his hand up and said to one child, I want to be a forklift truck driver.
53
00:05:23,720 --> 00:05:29,300
I said, Great, okay, so forklift truck driver, they're in the warehouse, you need to be able to read signs.
54
00:05:29,520 --> 00:05:31,800
So being able to understand reading is good.
55
00:05:32,020 --> 00:05:36,440
And maybe good coordination, because you're having like, you know, so maybe do some athletic things.
56
00:05:36,600 --> 00:05:42,300
So some of the things that I pulled out were not always academic, somebody else wanted to be the influencer.
57
00:05:42,440 --> 00:05:47,380
So of course, you know, what children are thinking about in school these days, the jobs are very different.
58
00:05:47,720 --> 00:05:51,060
And and probably by the time they leave school, the jobs will be very different again.
59
00:05:51,520 --> 00:06:02,920
Okay, you want to be an influencer, as soon as you're able to have a phone, or if you have a camera, learn how to take good photos, learn how to edit, learn how to be comfortable talking on camera, understand lighting.
60
00:06:03,380 --> 00:06:07,420
And so we went round one guy wanted who is a video game.
61
00:06:07,540 --> 00:06:12,360
In fact, his one of his family worked for one of the big gaming companies.
62
00:06:12,580 --> 00:06:14,140
So you could see where some of the inspiration.
63
00:06:15,220 --> 00:06:21,220
But he wanted to do graphic design on the cover of the video game box.
64
00:06:21,940 --> 00:06:27,400
So again, you know, so they're not always what we would think of, you know, the maths and English and the academic subjects.
65
00:06:28,020 --> 00:06:29,880
So you know, we talked about so maybe that's art.
66
00:06:30,220 --> 00:06:39,100
So and then depending on the age of this, of the child, we might talk about what they might study at GCSE, what they might study at university, if they go, if they go that far.
67
00:06:39,440 --> 00:06:40,780
So that's kind of where it came from.
68
00:06:40,900 --> 00:06:46,540
I had all the I had my kind of years of experience, but I had all of the what questions do people ask?
69
00:06:46,760 --> 00:06:47,880
And what do they want to know?
70
00:06:48,340 --> 00:06:53,400
And so the aim is to give them the whole process, but to make it fun.
71
00:06:54,020 --> 00:07:03,100
And to and then to learn about, you know, so they do they learn about cost of goods, you know, which actually is maths, you know, where you learn about the retail price, the cost.
72
00:07:04,100 --> 00:07:12,640
And, and you know, if I growing growing up knew that learning more about chemistry would enable me to be a cosmetic science, I might have paid a bit more attention in the chemistry car.
73
00:07:12,780 --> 00:07:14,040
Carol, absolutely.
74
00:07:14,360 --> 00:07:15,160
I mean, this is something,
75
00:07:15,240 --> 00:07:20,240
as I say, when I was doing my book, and as I say, but mine was focused further along,
76
00:07:20,580 --> 00:07:30,540
I did actually take some chapters out that I'd always planned, still 10 years on, they're still
77
00:07:30,540 --> 00:07:36,900
asking questions for the 11 to 16, 16 to 18, and then the undergraduate level,
78
00:07:37,300 --> 00:07:44,080
because what you're saying is, is that curiosity, which firstly, that is ironed out of kids,
79
00:07:44,220 --> 00:07:48,100
which is so sad, because they've got all these ideas, and people go, don't be silly, don't be,
80
00:07:48,200 --> 00:07:52,300
you know, you can't do this, you can't do that, because then they become dampened down,
81
00:07:52,320 --> 00:07:56,680
and they don't say things because they're fearful, and the fear builds up, and we need to
82
00:07:56,680 --> 00:08:04,760
encourage that exploratory mind, that curiosity, to find out what fires you up,
83
00:08:04,840 --> 00:08:09,280
what interests you, because that does then influence how you study in schools,
84
00:08:09,500 --> 00:08:14,960
and what subjects you pick, and that helps you then go along the line to the qualifications,
85
00:08:15,200 --> 00:08:16,180
the education that you might need.
86
00:08:16,640 --> 00:08:19,680
You might not end up going and taking that job that you
87
00:08:19,680 --> 00:08:25,000
thought you wanted to do at four years old, however, that inspiration will still be there,
88
00:08:25,000 --> 00:08:31,100
because you're creating something that will be anchored through that activity,
89
00:08:31,100 --> 00:08:34,840
that they will always remember, because obviously the subconscious will recall that,
90
00:08:34,980 --> 00:08:39,360
and that experience that they had, and that curiosity, and that support and encouragement
91
00:08:41,100 --> 00:08:42,960
goes miles and miles and miles and miles.
92
00:08:43,100 --> 00:08:45,700
It's just so impactful, isn't it?
93
00:08:45,800 --> 00:08:50,240
And when I read the book, I just thought, oh, this is brilliant, it's just great.
94
00:08:50,240 --> 00:08:52,120
Yeah, there's a couple of things.
95
00:08:52,240 --> 00:08:56,660
I've designed it as a workbook rather than a reading book, so just pull it up here.
96
00:08:57,460 --> 00:09:02,520
And also, I've designed it so that each two pages are a colour, and that's kind of a section.
97
00:09:04,080 --> 00:09:15,600
So for example, there's a section about designing branding and logo, and so whoever the parent, the teacher, whatever, might just want to pull out, let's just do about logos.
98
00:09:15,980 --> 00:09:18,220
You don't have to sit there and do start to finish.
99
00:09:18,540 --> 00:09:22,620
It's very much about how to work, but you learn about logos, you learn about branding.
100
00:09:23,380 --> 00:09:33,440
A part of what they may not do so much at school is about getting feedback, because when anybody's creating a brand, it's not just your idea, you learn feedback.
101
00:09:33,800 --> 00:09:36,600
So I've encouraged them to get feedback in there.
102
00:09:36,760 --> 00:09:48,900
So that's kind of a business skill that they're learning, and some of them are like, okay, people are giving me different ideas to mine, and you can build on that, although for some children, they might find it interesting that not everybody agrees with their idea.
103
00:09:49,100 --> 00:09:51,080
But it's the whole inspiration though, isn't it?
104
00:09:51,400 --> 00:10:11,780
And yes, you've written it in terms of, you know, with a beauty brand focus, but actually, that understanding, and this is where it sort of hit me as an adult, because like you said, you know, you will pick out, let's say, it is a beauty product off the shelf, but it could be any product, it could be a bag of nails, I don't know, it could be anything.
105
00:10:12,060 --> 00:10:22,980
We have this level of acceptance, we go into a supermarket, we go into a shop, we buy something, we have no real concept of what goes on behind all of that.
106
00:10:24,060 --> 00:10:36,780
And to enlighten the children and the parents that are working with the children with the book, to what actually goes on behind all of that, and where all these different avenues of career opportunities and jobs can be, is absolutely brilliant.
107
00:10:36,960 --> 00:10:42,660
But also, what I love, what you've done with the book as well, is you've brought in the environmental issues.
108
00:10:42,760 --> 00:11:00,060
I know when we had our pre-record chat, one of the things that stood out for me was obviously your passion as well about the environment, and how you enlightened me to the, for instance, the fragrance sector as well, that I was like, oh gosh, I'd not even thought about that.
109
00:11:00,140 --> 00:11:04,820
And it was something I shared with one of my clients yesterday, because you were talking to me about the Sandalwood.
110
00:11:05,500 --> 00:11:13,280
And we just, we spend so much time being conditioned to just accept stuff.
111
00:11:13,660 --> 00:11:19,040
But we've got to, you know, we've all got to be curious, we've all got to ask questions as to what's right and what's wrong.
112
00:11:19,320 --> 00:11:23,100
Yeah, so the young children are really interested in sustainability.
113
00:11:23,480 --> 00:11:27,120
And I think for many of us, people think about packaging.
114
00:11:27,280 --> 00:11:30,260
It's one of the things that our local councils encourage us to do, don't they?
115
00:11:30,360 --> 00:11:33,520
You know, we've just started recycling food in our area, and we've got a separate bin.
116
00:11:33,740 --> 00:11:37,740
But most people get into, okay, separating the waste and understanding that.
117
00:11:38,120 --> 00:11:43,900
And if you're creating a brand, then there's much more of a responsibility to think I'm creating something new.
118
00:11:44,180 --> 00:11:46,300
And so I'm automatically going to be creating waste.
119
00:11:46,760 --> 00:11:48,740
How can I do that in the most responsible way?
120
00:11:49,280 --> 00:11:51,780
But if, but there is waste in lots of ways.
121
00:11:52,120 --> 00:11:56,160
But there's also, you know, there's been this whole trend about natural ingredients.
122
00:11:57,600 --> 00:12:00,380
And but some of those natural ingredients are actually quite scarce.
123
00:12:00,540 --> 00:12:07,240
So I was talking about the Sandalwood tree, which I think takes 125 years to grow and be at the point where it can be harvested.
124
00:12:08,220 --> 00:12:12,460
And yet it's almost at extinction, because Sandalwood has been used so much.
125
00:12:12,620 --> 00:12:15,560
And yet people don't think about those natural resources.
126
00:12:16,360 --> 00:12:20,800
And also the water or the or what's, what's needed and the energy that's needed.
127
00:12:21,300 --> 00:12:38,320
Nearly every, you know, pretty much every ingredient, if it's what whatever it's going to be, although I'm talking beauty brands, it could be anything you use in your bathroom, no haircare, sun care, anything like that, you know, a safe way to be made into something.
128
00:12:38,860 --> 00:12:50,260
And all of that process usually takes water, energy, you know, so there's, there's that side of sustainability, there's the supply chain, you know, people get very confused about packaging and packaging, I think it's one of the most tricky things.
129
00:12:51,060 --> 00:13:04,660
Glass is really good in that it, it, you know, it doesn't react with most things, but then it's very heavy to transport, you know, you know, so and there's much more, there's other materials that are being used out there.
130
00:13:04,700 --> 00:13:10,860
Oh, actually, just while I'm on that, so one of the things the exercises in here is about a recycling symbol.
131
00:13:11,020 --> 00:13:21,800
So I encourage the people going through the book, the children to go and look at take some products in their house and look at the recycling symbols and what types and what they mean.
132
00:13:22,280 --> 00:13:27,040
And when they're thinking about their product, what type of recycling symbols would they like to have?
133
00:13:27,920 --> 00:13:32,820
And and then to start drawing those symbols, so they start to recognize those.
134
00:13:32,820 --> 00:13:34,520
But that will anchor it, won't it?
135
00:13:34,820 --> 00:13:43,320
Yeah, yeah, when you were talking about inspiring, though, one of the things and why I love working with schools is we're all inspired by the people we have around us.
136
00:13:43,760 --> 00:13:45,740
And obviously, social media is a big influence.
137
00:13:46,320 --> 00:13:51,900
But for many children, you know, and I work with inspiring the future, which is an amazing organization.
138
00:13:51,900 --> 00:14:00,080
And if anybody here is listening and wants to volunteer and do more with schools, inspiring the future.org is is an organization to tap into.
139
00:14:00,340 --> 00:14:04,540
You tell them what your expertise is and then they would, I'm sure, snap you up as a volunteer.
140
00:14:05,020 --> 00:14:07,880
They look where you live and then they match you with a school and an activity.
141
00:14:08,880 --> 00:14:15,380
But during Covid, many of those activities went online, you know, like they did for many things.
142
00:14:15,700 --> 00:14:19,160
And we have a special briefing for one school that was in inner city school.
143
00:14:19,580 --> 00:14:22,760
And they said these kids are third generation unemployed.
144
00:14:23,420 --> 00:14:23,960
So can you imagine?
145
00:14:24,220 --> 00:14:29,400
Oh, your parents, the parents hadn't worked, their grandparents hadn't worked, their great grandparents hadn't worked.
146
00:14:30,000 --> 00:14:38,020
So they had and the and the brief was we're going to keep these children out of, you know, out of gangs and show them other opportunities.
147
00:14:38,460 --> 00:14:46,520
So can you imagine that, you know, you haven't got no one in your immediate sphere that will that you can look to to say, I want to do that.
148
00:14:47,060 --> 00:15:05,960
And that's why I love about working with schools, because sometimes you go and then you see the typical, you know, the police, the fire, you know, the, you know, that there are no break from when I was at school for the local industries, which are great, you know, the local accountancy firm, all of those local industries go and support the school and is great.
149
00:15:06,560 --> 00:15:21,700
And there's a lot of creativity behind things like creating a brand that is often missed at these types of events, because you never know, I think it was Oprah that said you never truly know who you influence and who you impact, because you can have a conversation with someone.
150
00:15:22,380 --> 00:15:30,080
And then, you know, then then they can, they can, years later, think, gosh, I did this because of that person who mentioned something all that time ago.
151
00:15:30,440 --> 00:15:34,100
And there was one talk I did with it with a high school.
152
00:15:34,540 --> 00:15:42,500
And the way they did it, actually, it was, you had a stand, all the youngsters by class walked around, chatted to you.
153
00:15:42,600 --> 00:15:46,040
And if there's anything they were particularly interested in, they booked a slot and came back.
154
00:15:46,660 --> 00:15:53,340
And there was one, one person I remember, she came back and she wanted to create a lip gloss brand.
155
00:15:53,880 --> 00:15:55,560
And she knew exactly what she wanted.
156
00:15:56,240 --> 00:15:58,540
So I said, I told her exactly what she needed to do.
157
00:15:58,600 --> 00:16:03,460
I said, You can't you won't be able to do this on your own, because you're a rage, you're going to need an adult for some of these things.
158
00:16:03,840 --> 00:16:05,760
But I gave her some contacts to talk to.
159
00:16:05,960 --> 00:16:08,600
And I hope she's done it because she was so passionate.
160
00:16:08,740 --> 00:16:10,580
And you know, she was, I think 15.
161
00:16:11,100 --> 00:16:14,440
And just because, you know, the age shouldn't be a barrier.
162
00:16:14,760 --> 00:16:18,500
If somebody's got these entrepreneurial skills and ideas, as long as they've got the support.
163
00:16:19,100 --> 00:16:30,480
So that's what the book is about is to give people, they might want to create not create the whole thing, they might just want to do one aspect of it, you know, maybe they want to get into packaging, or maybe they want to get into the testing side of it.
164
00:16:30,600 --> 00:16:38,300
Or, you know, there's lots of different aspects, it supports it, the, the product and the beauty industry supports so many careers, it really does.
165
00:16:38,300 --> 00:16:41,820
But that's what I loved about it is the the inspiration that it delivers.
166
00:16:42,140 --> 00:16:51,100
And that's that impact that you have, like you've just said, and it's a ripple effect, but you cannot underestimate the power of inspiration and support.
167
00:16:51,660 --> 00:16:57,340
And obviously, this is why there's so many influencers out there, because they get on and they and then people listen to what they're saying.
168
00:16:57,460 --> 00:17:02,840
But we've got to always be mindful about what we are influencing and how we are impacting people.
169
00:17:02,840 --> 00:17:16,720
But when you can see that inspiration, and you know, I spent 36 years working in recruitment, and although I work with people at all different stages in their career, there's something really rather magical about helping somebody on that first step.
170
00:17:16,819 --> 00:17:18,420
Yes, on the career ladder.
171
00:17:18,839 --> 00:17:39,260
And there are people that I met years and years and years ago came into the office and you know, and I helped them go in, you know, that this one job move, and I was always very mindful of the role that I played within their lives, you know, and they've gone on to like HR director level roles and senior sort of accountancy and business finance and all sorts of roles and sales directors.
172
00:17:39,760 --> 00:17:45,280
And, and you know, you just know that you've played that part, you know, it's not that I'm taking any credit for it.
173
00:17:45,380 --> 00:17:56,400
But that's what I'm saying is about being mindful, but in the same way with your with your book and the talks and inspiring children because it, they they have got that open mindedness.
174
00:17:56,600 --> 00:18:02,900
But as I said before, too much is done to dampen them down, or you can't do this, you can't do everything is possible.
175
00:18:03,260 --> 00:18:15,760
If you've got the inspiration, and you've got the people supporting you, and that's why it's always mindful to be around people who are like minded, who will support you, but we can start supporting our children.
176
00:18:16,100 --> 00:18:20,840
And I would like to actually say thank you again for the support that you gave my son many, many years ago.
177
00:18:21,460 --> 00:18:24,500
Because obviously, we were talking and you said, well, let me have a chat with him.
178
00:18:24,600 --> 00:18:29,260
And you spent a good amount of time talking to him about what he was doing with his brand.
179
00:18:29,580 --> 00:18:32,420
And so I, I know that Carol walks her time.
180
00:18:34,260 --> 00:18:41,360
How did I'm actually curious, Carol, I mean, I know we've talked about the book and how you're inspiring, but how did how did you end up doing what you're doing?
181
00:18:41,540 --> 00:18:43,460
Because that always fascinates me.
182
00:18:43,500 --> 00:18:53,480
And I always love to know what, you know, people's route to their career has been because I mean, there must be something in there that's inspired you along the way to do what you're doing now.
183
00:18:53,940 --> 00:18:54,200
Yes, yes.
184
00:18:54,400 --> 00:18:57,380
So I worked, I spent most of my career in in Boots.
185
00:18:58,080 --> 00:19:03,140
And, you know, and I actually started off in stores and I had a really good first.
186
00:19:03,380 --> 00:19:04,820
So somebody spotted me.
187
00:19:05,640 --> 00:19:11,220
I knew when I had my interview, and he, that it was the manager, the store manager, he fast tracked my career.
188
00:19:11,560 --> 00:19:14,300
And I'm so grateful to I'm so grateful to him.
189
00:19:14,900 --> 00:19:15,920
And his name is Peter Roach.
190
00:19:16,580 --> 00:19:20,460
And he, yeah, he kind of put me on a development program.
191
00:19:20,460 --> 00:19:22,360
And I was promoted within three months.
192
00:19:22,360 --> 00:19:23,760
And I was looking after a department.
193
00:19:24,120 --> 00:19:25,240
So I got a lot.
194
00:19:25,520 --> 00:19:31,100
And I was my first department, actually, with the health care and the pharmacy area, and then beauty.
195
00:19:31,240 --> 00:19:48,700
So I looked after cosmetics, fragrance, you know, the electrical beauty, you know, all of their cosmetics, sun care, sunglasses, also photography and when photography was quite a big homebrew in those days, if you remember that period of time when that was sold in stores.
196
00:19:49,340 --> 00:19:57,700
But I started to work with, we had teams of beauty advisors, and from quite a young age, I had about 30 people working underneath me.
197
00:19:57,820 --> 00:19:59,420
So I learned a lot of good.
198
00:19:59,980 --> 00:20:02,540
That taught me a lot of leadership skills, boots were amazing.
199
00:20:03,880 --> 00:20:10,600
And I think if you can work with a big company early on in your career, the support and the development skills you get is unbelievable.
200
00:20:11,340 --> 00:20:14,300
And also with a big organization, you've got lots of career opportunities.
201
00:20:14,640 --> 00:20:20,300
So I ended up kind of going into the, into the beauty side of it.
202
00:20:20,480 --> 00:20:25,220
So initially, I was in the number 17, we look at became like an area manager for number seven.
203
00:20:25,640 --> 00:20:32,500
But what we were looking at was store space, bought store layout, merchandising, that took me into learning and development.
204
00:20:33,740 --> 00:20:38,920
And then years and years later, I was in management development.
205
00:20:39,920 --> 00:20:42,940
And I always wanted to work internationally.
206
00:20:43,840 --> 00:20:50,220
And so I joined the international retail team, which boots were setting up overseas around the world.
207
00:20:50,340 --> 00:20:52,120
My first country was Taiwan, was Taiwan.
208
00:20:52,940 --> 00:20:57,500
And that was setting up boots are all recruiting all the local teams training all the local teams.
209
00:20:58,000 --> 00:21:06,360
And then I started to see other product brands and other different, you know, how beauty and how products were valued differently in different parts of the world.
210
00:21:06,540 --> 00:21:09,720
So, you know, when I first went to Asia, they were talking about whitening products.
211
00:21:10,000 --> 00:21:11,020
And I was like, Oh, isn't that interesting?
212
00:21:11,300 --> 00:21:19,020
And I was remember out in the sun at the weekend and going into work on the Monday and the team were like, Oh, my goodness, what have you done to your skin, you disabled yourself.
213
00:21:19,020 --> 00:21:23,640
I was like, What's the beauty and how was perceived very, very differently.
214
00:21:23,840 --> 00:21:36,440
And when I worked in the L'Oreal group, that was something that they had this kind of perceptions of beauty around the world program that people went through to understand how its beauty varies culturally and what people understand.
215
00:21:37,880 --> 00:21:47,040
So working internationally in those various different, you know, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, Thailand, and the US and Canada with boots.
216
00:21:47,460 --> 00:21:55,520
And then just also as part of that, when we're training beauty advisors, recruiting, setting up in new markets, there was always a big product elements.
217
00:21:56,040 --> 00:22:06,580
And as part of that, when we were introducing, you know, it's just a the media and the PR teams, or even the brand teams and the big retailers, then we would bring over the UK scientists.
218
00:22:07,160 --> 00:22:14,440
And I just got to over there to explain, you know, so there was, you know, if there was a particular technologies around it.
219
00:22:14,820 --> 00:22:24,640
So I just then I met all the scientists, you know, as part of, I was usually, you know, developing the training as well for, you know, so I understood all what the ingredients did and how to sell the products.
220
00:22:24,640 --> 00:22:27,540
So, so we kind of evolved from that, really.
221
00:22:27,960 --> 00:22:33,280
And then I had a global job at the body shop as well, where I was responsible for learning and development.
222
00:22:33,760 --> 00:22:39,040
And if say a new product was being launched in say, three years time, we'd be working at the lab sample stage.
223
00:22:39,260 --> 00:22:43,780
And yet this product, when it launches, it's going to be doing this, these are claims we're going to start making.
224
00:22:44,480 --> 00:22:48,540
But the timeline in those days was very long, these days, the timelines are much shorter.
225
00:22:48,900 --> 00:22:59,020
So I just got more and more involved with working with the lab and seeing behind the scenes of what goes into it all the testing, you know, sometimes me why we'd be planning a launch of a product.
226
00:22:59,200 --> 00:23:03,380
And they said, actually, that product is not going to launch because of there's an issue.
227
00:23:03,740 --> 00:23:13,620
And now I understand, you know, you can plan something, but if it's failed a stability test or something, then the timeline might have to be put back because all the products have to pass all of their safety testing.
228
00:23:14,240 --> 00:23:16,280
So yeah, that's, that's how I got involved in it.
229
00:23:16,360 --> 00:23:23,260
And then when I decided to set up my own business, it was initially to help brands get into retail.
230
00:23:23,780 --> 00:23:28,940
But so many people started to say, if we sell this into a buyer, what would they, what would the buyer say?
231
00:23:29,660 --> 00:23:31,580
And then they said, and actually, can you help me create it?
232
00:23:31,720 --> 00:23:44,360
And the good thing about being part of the, you know, boots and L'Oreal, I've got all I've got a massive directory of all those people behind the scenes, which people see the product on the shelf, but there's so many careers and so many stages that involved.
233
00:23:45,240 --> 00:23:48,640
So that's, that's how I got into it.
234
00:23:48,820 --> 00:23:54,640
So if anybody's thinking of, you know, has some as an idea, then just message me and I'll give you a few pointers on where to start.
235
00:23:54,760 --> 00:24:05,960
Because I think that's the other thing about the children's book is that people, they might want to create something, but it's still quite, it's not that it's secretive, but it's not a public area of the industry.
236
00:24:06,260 --> 00:24:07,940
What people see is the finished product.
237
00:24:08,040 --> 00:24:13,160
They don't necessarily see the various stages behind the scenes and what goes into it.
238
00:24:14,020 --> 00:24:24,440
And once you like anything, once you know that when I created the book, once you know how to create a book, you know how to create a book, but that very first time, you need to tap into experts who've already been and done it.
239
00:24:24,480 --> 00:24:27,500
And it just makes it so much easier and simpler and takes the risk away.
240
00:24:27,760 --> 00:24:39,960
Having spent all that time in recruitment myself, you know, I've always been fascinated about people's careers and you know, the journey, but what I love about it is that it gave you such a wide breadth of knowledge and understanding about all the sectors.
241
00:24:39,960 --> 00:24:46,880
And that's, I have to say what I loved about recruitment, because I would talk to people, go out to businesses, I'd get around and be introduced to manufacturing companies.
242
00:24:47,040 --> 00:24:52,320
It could be lawyers, you name it, any business that I dealt with working on recruiting, commercial support.
243
00:24:52,560 --> 00:24:58,260
So you get to learn and you get to see, which is where then you can start to inspire as you have done.
244
00:24:58,720 --> 00:24:59,960
There are more opportunities.
245
00:25:00,240 --> 00:25:02,440
It's not just what you see in front of you.
246
00:25:02,560 --> 00:25:13,840
And also what I believe, truly believe is that if you've got an idea, stop looking for jobs that are out there, because actually you can create your own opportunity that doesn't need to have a job title.
247
00:25:13,960 --> 00:25:16,100
It's about what it is that you enjoy doing.
248
00:25:16,280 --> 00:25:18,860
It could be, as you say, it could be the creative side.
249
00:25:19,040 --> 00:25:20,000
It could be the influencing side.
250
00:25:20,140 --> 00:25:22,940
It might be that you like doing the driving and the truck driving and moving forward.
251
00:25:23,360 --> 00:25:31,100
It's about tapping into and having a feel and an essence of what it is that you're interested in, but being supported, that that can manifest.
252
00:25:31,260 --> 00:25:37,660
But once you recognise what it is that you are interested in, then you will start to become aware of those opportunities.
253
00:25:38,180 --> 00:25:43,740
And actually when you start to seed it in the children at the beginning, that there are lots of opportunities out there.
254
00:25:43,880 --> 00:25:52,980
It isn't just because you're just generally sort of influenced by maybe what your parents do, what your grandparents have done or what your friends' parents have done.
255
00:25:53,480 --> 00:26:04,560
And I've always said, just ask questions, find out what people do and just ask, always ask open questions because that way you learn, which is what the children do at a certain age.
256
00:26:04,680 --> 00:26:18,160
And then as we were saying right at the beginning of our conversation, that when they get to a little bit more teenage years, they become that little bit more reluctant because that enthusiasm, that sort of innocence has been smashed out.
257
00:26:18,780 --> 00:26:19,980
And we don't want that.
258
00:26:20,100 --> 00:26:22,380
We want people to be interested, don't we?
259
00:26:23,280 --> 00:26:29,680
So that's why I love what you've done and what you're creating and what you've created and what you go into schools to do, which is fantastic.
260
00:26:30,180 --> 00:26:36,740
And I would encourage if anybody does work with young people, go and have a look what's on your local industrial estate.
261
00:26:37,220 --> 00:26:51,380
They may not look the most sophisticated or modern buildings, but inside there's probably, so some warehouses like these days, there are so many, they're DTC, there's so many modern warehouses popping up on the side of motorway, junks and etc.
262
00:26:51,800 --> 00:26:54,240
But if you've got a local industrial estate, what's in there?
263
00:26:54,320 --> 00:27:01,720
You might find there's a packaging company or somebody that makes a manufacturing company or you know, who knows what's there and go and speak to them.
264
00:27:01,920 --> 00:27:07,460
And I bet they would love to host your school, a class and take them on a tour.
265
00:27:07,900 --> 00:27:11,240
And you just never know what that spark will will will produce.
266
00:27:12,360 --> 00:27:20,240
So yeah, because I think the practical side of it, not just sitting in a classroom, listening, going out and doing things.
267
00:27:20,860 --> 00:27:30,360
And so that's part of it, you know, is the next thing that I want to have like a next stage of some practical things, which at the moment, I'm calling it the beauty science lab.
268
00:27:30,600 --> 00:27:46,440
But because I know that it's and it might not end up being beauty, because I think I want to expand it a little bit to be more around products, but we may end up creating a beauty product as part of it is to have some activities that schools can do where they can make physically make something.
269
00:27:46,560 --> 00:27:51,100
So they could go through the book, they could do exercises, they could talk about learn about branding.
270
00:27:51,500 --> 00:27:56,000
But then there's something that the school can order that's a kit that they can actually make.
271
00:27:57,560 --> 00:28:03,160
And it's all that they can actually have something that with a label on that is a finished item.
272
00:28:03,720 --> 00:28:12,120
So that's what I'm working through next is to be able to have to have that a far cry from trying to melt your rule, your plastic ruler over the bent bumps and burner in science.
273
00:28:12,120 --> 00:28:15,020
Is that what you did, is it?
274
00:28:15,140 --> 00:28:18,020
But it is, I mean, kids are interested, aren't they?
275
00:28:18,140 --> 00:28:24,820
And I think that, you know, just, as you've said, going and seeing and doing because we all learn in different ways, we've all got different learning styles.
276
00:28:24,960 --> 00:28:27,780
I'm very much of an activist by learning style and we're very much a pragmatist.
277
00:28:27,900 --> 00:28:32,920
I need to do something for the anchor, then I can, you know, I can draw on that experience, that knowledge.
278
00:28:33,560 --> 00:28:35,520
Don't give me a book, but other people are much better.
279
00:28:35,720 --> 00:28:39,020
They'd much rather read a book and sort of get all the theory behind it.
280
00:28:40,300 --> 00:28:51,280
And then there's, you know, then you've got that time that there are the reflectors as well that may well come into that classroom, may well be quieter because they might be a bit more introverted, but they will be taking the information in and they'll go away and they'll reflect upon it.
281
00:28:51,380 --> 00:29:00,260
But it's all about the different learning styles, but having that experience, but appealing to different people, you know, some people will like the stats.
282
00:29:00,500 --> 00:29:15,300
Yes, so it was on the Google UK site, so it's saying 31% of young people aged 11 to 18 say they're interested in a career in creative industries, yet 49% of them, so almost half, just don't know what skills or qualifications they need to do that.
283
00:29:15,520 --> 00:29:21,980
And there's about 270,000 creative businesses in the UK, which is about 10% of all registered businesses.
284
00:29:21,980 --> 00:29:25,240
So it's not just all about maths and, you know, maths and English.
285
00:29:25,520 --> 00:29:30,920
And the beauty industry is worth around, well, it contributes about 30 billion to the UK economy.
286
00:29:30,920 --> 00:29:34,760
This is from the Times and supports more than 600,000 jobs.
287
00:29:35,500 --> 00:29:42,700
So, you know, when you look at a product and it could be, you know, a shampoo, a conditioner, a bath product, a sun cream product.
288
00:29:43,460 --> 00:29:53,680
It's all the scientists, the chemists, you know, the designers, the photographers, the website developers, you know, the logistics teams, the sustainability experts.
289
00:29:53,840 --> 00:29:56,660
I mean, there are so many jobs that go into that.
290
00:29:58,100 --> 00:30:00,540
You know, so there's just so many careers.
291
00:30:01,620 --> 00:30:06,920
Yeah, and it's changing all the time, you know, sort of AI, where is all that going for the young people?
292
00:30:07,800 --> 00:30:09,020
And what's that going to do?
293
00:30:09,140 --> 00:30:23,300
And my worry, I read something recently about work experience and how that might be impacted by AI, because many of the companies are using AI to do the junior jobs that typically an intern or someone having work experience might have got.
294
00:30:23,460 --> 00:30:31,400
And I hope that organisations still give young people the chance to try and be part of a business and just see what it's really like.
295
00:30:32,240 --> 00:30:48,000
And I also hope that they get given some little tasks to do as well, rather than being asked to just, you know, open the post and collect the, you know, make, load the photocopier, but do some, you know, see if they can find them a little project or something to do that gives them a real insight.
296
00:30:48,300 --> 00:30:52,500
Having spent like 36 years working in the recruitment sector up until 2023,
297
00:30:52,500 --> 00:30:59,880
when I came out of it, I've gone through sort of different periods of seeing how the
298
00:31:02,120 --> 00:31:07,360
working world has changed, you know, from sort of, here in the UK, I mean, we used obviously,
299
00:31:07,400 --> 00:31:10,960
there's a lot of mining, the mining went and that made a lot of redundancies, then we had
300
00:31:10,960 --> 00:31:16,760
the rise of the call centres, the call centres then were offshored and things keep changing.
301
00:31:16,940 --> 00:31:21,720
That is one thing in the world, everything keeps changing and yes, we've got AI and yes, it's impacting.
302
00:31:22,060 --> 00:31:30,260
But is it taking away the jobs that mean that we spend, because we do, so many of us spend far too much time in front of tech and what have you.
303
00:31:30,700 --> 00:31:48,040
But therefore, it is one thing that AI can't do is all the practical stuff, the hands-on stuff, you know, for instance, you know, like you were saying with the beauty products, use that as an example, it, you know, you have got to be able to try things, make things, AI can't just go out and do all of that.
304
00:31:48,220 --> 00:31:55,080
There's got to be the sort of AI can't smell it, you know, you might be chatting to chat GP to go, oh, yes, I do like that fragrance.
305
00:31:55,560 --> 00:31:58,040
I don't think you do because you have no idea.
306
00:31:59,160 --> 00:32:08,820
But you know, there's lots of, we've not talked about that, because there are testers aren't there, people that will work out what fragrances are right, and you know, you've got to know what the environment is.
307
00:32:09,160 --> 00:32:12,860
And it's the other other roles are what I'm saying will evolve.
308
00:32:13,120 --> 00:32:19,640
Yeah, as a result, because a vacuum doesn't exist, it has to be filled, and things will materialize.
309
00:32:19,640 --> 00:32:35,380
But we have got to take control of that and keep that creativity, keep that curiosity, keep that inspiration, keep that support and encouragement of everyone to do different things and think outside the box, think differently, move away from the narrative, let's see what happens and encouragement.
310
00:32:35,700 --> 00:32:35,820
But
311
00:32:35,820 --> 00:32:41,020
one of the things I wanted to ask you because of what you've just said in conjunction with what
312
00:32:41,020 --> 00:32:46,100
you've said previously, which was about how the big organizations are great to get into,
313
00:32:46,320 --> 00:32:51,420
but equally, we're looking at entrepreneurs, would you wherever possible recommend that
314
00:32:51,420 --> 00:32:57,640
anybody that's got ideas goes and works in a big organization, if they possibly can, or
315
00:32:58,420 --> 00:33:03,460
would it be better for them to just do their own thing without that influence
316
00:33:03,460 --> 00:33:04,840
because of the changes?
317
00:33:05,080 --> 00:33:05,720
What do you think?
318
00:33:06,020 --> 00:33:09,840
It's interesting, because I, you know, the route I came up was working for a big organization.
319
00:33:10,280 --> 00:33:18,800
And what that gives you is, you know, what good looks like, you also learn so much, because you work, I'm very lucky to have worked with some brilliant people.
320
00:33:19,460 --> 00:33:30,280
And you and most of the people I worked with were so talented and so amazing, that occasionally you come across something and you think, I'm not happy about that, you still learn maybe I wouldn't have handled it that way.
321
00:33:30,280 --> 00:33:31,740
So you learn a lot.
322
00:33:32,360 --> 00:33:34,640
And, you know, and you maybe get to have opportunities.
323
00:33:35,300 --> 00:33:43,160
But I met at a careers event I did not so long ago, a young, you know, and how old he was, maybe 15.
324
00:33:43,700 --> 00:33:49,820
And he was already buying and selling things online, and making a fair bit of money.
325
00:33:50,060 --> 00:33:52,920
And I think he's going to completely bypass everything.
326
00:33:53,340 --> 00:33:57,420
And he's on a fast track to being very, very successful entrepreneur.
327
00:33:58,100 --> 00:34:00,200
So I think there's some personality things in there.
328
00:34:00,360 --> 00:34:04,740
He was very clear on what he was, he's already starting and he wasn't seeing his age as a barrier.
329
00:34:05,100 --> 00:34:07,260
He was already starting and going ahead.
330
00:34:07,659 --> 00:34:10,679
So I, I think there's some personality things in there.
331
00:34:10,820 --> 00:34:16,639
I think there's some confidence things in there as well, because it's quite, you know, can be quite lonely doing something by yourself.
332
00:34:16,639 --> 00:34:18,420
So the support is really important.
333
00:34:18,719 --> 00:34:18,819
Yeah.
334
00:34:19,300 --> 00:34:27,540
And I think these days, it costs quite a lot of money to I think it's, you know, once you understand the process to make the product, the product part is quite easy.
335
00:34:27,980 --> 00:34:30,500
The brand and the marketing is expensive.
336
00:34:31,260 --> 00:34:48,960
So what many people do is they, you know, they have their career and they have something so they can do their project on the side till they get to the point where actually, it's earning enough money that they can, they can swap and they can make their role, the main, you know, their project, the main thing, and let their career go.
337
00:34:49,940 --> 00:34:55,219
Because it's, there is timing, there's a lot of things into going to making a brand.
338
00:34:55,780 --> 00:34:58,840
And, you know, people see a new brand and they think, oh, it happened last week.
339
00:34:59,380 --> 00:35:08,520
You know, I know many founders, it's taken them five years, more than five years, you know, some, sometimes one particular aspect might take just two years and you've not launched.
340
00:35:08,780 --> 00:35:11,340
So there's not really an overnight success to that.
341
00:35:11,640 --> 00:35:25,020
So I think having, maybe it's a bit, a bit of both to be able to go and work for an organization, learn some things, you know, and, and, and then have your own idea on the side.
342
00:35:25,340 --> 00:35:27,640
I think you've got to go with what feels right for you, haven't you?
343
00:35:27,740 --> 00:35:33,740
It's following you, is trusting your instinct, your intuition, working with what feels right for you, recognizing opportunities.
344
00:35:33,940 --> 00:35:38,240
And if it's, if it is a great opportunity, seize it because of what you can learn.
345
00:35:39,020 --> 00:35:43,320
And yeah, I mean, if you are somebody that really wants to go for it, go for it.
346
00:35:43,360 --> 00:35:52,260
I mean, one of the things I recognize working in recruitment, you know, sometimes when you had somebody walk in, you go, Oh my gosh, they're, you just knew that they're going to go a long way.
347
00:35:52,380 --> 00:35:55,000
And you know, now I see them on LinkedIn, you go, Oh my gosh.
348
00:35:55,480 --> 00:35:55,580
Yeah.
349
00:35:56,640 --> 00:36:05,320
As I thought, as I predicted that, and like you will, with that young man, you know, he's off, you just recognize it, but we're all different.
350
00:36:05,440 --> 00:36:08,640
We're all meant to have different roles and do different things.
351
00:36:08,640 --> 00:36:12,120
And it's just following what is, is right for you.
352
00:36:12,120 --> 00:36:16,640
And it might be that you do go into a large organization, you could spend all your lifetime there.
353
00:36:16,760 --> 00:36:25,300
You might come out of that and then go suddenly go, whoa, I'm going to do this now because I can, or you start off, you start off with a, with a brand and then suddenly it grows.
354
00:36:25,520 --> 00:36:26,800
I don't know, you might get acquired.
355
00:36:27,280 --> 00:36:27,420
Yes.
356
00:36:27,900 --> 00:36:35,080
But you know, it's, it's starting out crushing those rose petals in the garden and being inspired to make your, make your perfume at home.
357
00:36:35,360 --> 00:36:35,720
Yeah.
358
00:36:36,160 --> 00:36:36,260
Yeah.
359
00:36:36,500 --> 00:36:49,680
You know, and you never know, but I think as well, hopefully I've created something that can be done at home without, you know, a carer, a teacher, or another, you know, a family member and to give them them support.
360
00:36:49,920 --> 00:36:59,660
Cause there are, you know, the process that's in here and how to do it is the same for what it's the same process that big industries and big brands follow.
361
00:36:59,940 --> 00:37:04,840
And the hard one of the hardest thing was to make the language easy that a child could understand it.
362
00:37:04,960 --> 00:37:29,960
I think it's very clever what you've done style that you've used and the writing encourages it to be more child-like if you like, but it's not child, it's not really childish writing, but it's got that rather than it just being printed in sort of canvas sounds or whatever it is or New Roman, it's written in such a way in a stylized way that it, it is appealing.
363
00:37:30,360 --> 00:37:47,940
And I wouldn't be surprised that there aren't the adults that read that book and then get inspired themselves because it just breaks it down into that, you know, when you want to learn something new, but there aren't really any books out there that because, you know, you'll go and buy a book and it's like, oh God, how am I going to read through that lot?
364
00:37:48,220 --> 00:37:53,180
But you can then pick up an element of that and then go and read from that and go, I didn't think about that bit.
365
00:37:53,300 --> 00:37:53,440
Right.
366
00:37:53,560 --> 00:37:53,780
Okay.
367
00:37:53,840 --> 00:37:54,760
I can go and learn that.
368
00:37:54,920 --> 00:37:56,680
So I think there's so many different aspects.
369
00:37:57,020 --> 00:37:59,540
So what I ought to ask is how can people buy it?
370
00:38:00,120 --> 00:38:08,780
I can't take any credits for the, I knew I had a concept and I knew what I wanted, but Faye is an amazing illustrator.
371
00:38:09,020 --> 00:38:21,480
So she's from Nottingham Trent Uni and she came up, she watched you think of these and I wanted them to be, you know, kind of fairly unisex, but also we've made them so they're black and white, so people can colour it in and make it their own.
372
00:38:21,800 --> 00:38:27,640
So, you know, if they've got dark hair or light hair or whatever, they can make that person look like them.
373
00:38:28,320 --> 00:38:33,540
So that was the idea is that we've purposely not coloured them in so they can, it could be them.
374
00:38:34,860 --> 00:38:36,520
So Faye is brilliant.
375
00:38:36,900 --> 00:38:44,280
So she's from, she's local, well, she was a Nottingham Trent, she was one of my interns actually when she created this.
376
00:38:44,300 --> 00:38:44,740
Oh really?
377
00:38:44,960 --> 00:38:45,120
Oh my gosh, brilliant.
378
00:38:45,120 --> 00:38:57,460
And then the other who Faye did all the illustration and then Ethan is also a designer, also from Nottingham Trent Uni and you see them both kind of mentioned in the front boilerplate here.
379
00:38:57,980 --> 00:39:08,400
So Ethan, when I said to Ethan, I want it to be colourful, pick the designs and so Ethan came up with, so Ethan pulled it all together in the right layout and the right structure.
380
00:39:08,860 --> 00:39:26,260
But this is an example, you know, these are both young people at the start of their career and this was both the first things they had with their name on and so that's kind of helped them, you know, and they came up with bookmarks and, you know, so the ripples continue, doesn't it?
381
00:39:26,380 --> 00:39:27,660
You give somebody the opportunity.
382
00:39:27,820 --> 00:39:30,300
Oh my God, you made me go all tingly, you made me go all tingly with that.
383
00:39:30,600 --> 00:39:31,280
That's amazing.
384
00:39:31,460 --> 00:39:32,600
So are they still studying them?
385
00:39:32,700 --> 00:39:33,780
Will that form part of their...
386
00:39:34,340 --> 00:39:40,160
So they had, and hats off to Nottingham Trent Uni, so they have a great employability scheme.
387
00:39:40,360 --> 00:39:48,180
So if you do a degree with them, then they match you with employers who give you projects and that's why same before I gave them a real project to do.
388
00:39:48,260 --> 00:39:52,860
In fact, Ethan, I'd worked with in the year before, as you can see, I've got some planners in the background and notebooks.
389
00:39:53,420 --> 00:39:57,580
I wanted a beauty CEO planner, you know, some notebooks.
390
00:39:58,960 --> 00:40:03,060
And so this is a 2026 one, he's just working on the 2027 one now.
391
00:40:03,780 --> 00:40:09,640
And so Ethan came up with the, it's all been bespoke designed, we've got quotes in there, coaching tips.
392
00:40:10,280 --> 00:40:15,740
So Ethan came up with those and I said, you know, these are the colours I'm thinking of, what do you think he came up with, a palette.
393
00:40:16,500 --> 00:40:18,700
And then he's, you know, he helps with this.
394
00:40:18,860 --> 00:40:23,440
And then Fay, I've got some other book ideas, so Fay will be helping me with those.
395
00:40:24,100 --> 00:40:24,820
Oh, that's amazing.
396
00:40:25,140 --> 00:40:27,960
So that gives them sort of a portfolio of work as well.
397
00:40:28,120 --> 00:40:29,040
That's amazing, Carol.
398
00:40:29,260 --> 00:40:29,940
Yeah, yeah.
399
00:40:30,080 --> 00:40:35,080
I love that sort of the ecology, or the ecosystem, I should say, of the book.
400
00:40:35,740 --> 00:40:43,100
So getting back to it, how does anybody reach out to you, get a copy of the book, find out more, where can they find you?
401
00:40:43,100 --> 00:40:44,680
Where are we best to direct people to?
402
00:40:44,820 --> 00:40:49,460
So I've got a website called growyourbrands.com and Brands has got an S on the end.
403
00:40:50,320 --> 00:40:55,960
Or you can find me on Instagram, which is Carol Carson Beauty Brands, or you can just find me on LinkedIn, Carol Carson.
404
00:40:56,900 --> 00:40:59,260
So that's, they're the best places to find it.
405
00:40:59,660 --> 00:41:00,700
So yeah, brilliant.
406
00:41:00,960 --> 00:41:02,980
And I'll put all that into the show notes as well, folks.
407
00:41:03,320 --> 00:41:06,000
So wherever you're listening from, it will be in the show notes.
408
00:41:06,000 --> 00:41:26,740
If you want to reach out to Carol, please do because she's, as you can tell, she is a font of information and also really, really passionate about supporting and encouraging the next generation, and anyone, I guess, really to sort of follow their flow and really be curious and create things.
409
00:41:26,980 --> 00:41:27,480
Yes, yeah.
410
00:41:27,640 --> 00:41:40,360
And what's been great is some people that I, some of my network that are in the industry have bought it for their kids to say, this is what mum does at work, you know, and they have their aspect of it.
411
00:41:40,440 --> 00:41:42,940
So they've been able to kind of help their children understand.
412
00:41:43,340 --> 00:41:59,940
But one of the things I would love to, and ask really, is if you are involved in with children at all, and you want to kind of do get, you know, be involved somehow, just reach out, you know, if I'd love to be able to be able to reach more young people.
413
00:42:00,140 --> 00:42:11,000
So if you're a teacher, or there's some sort of, you know, you're connecting with young people, then, you know, I'd love to kind of find a way that we can work together and find a way to get this out to more young children.
414
00:42:11,160 --> 00:42:24,380
So obviously, every individual can buy things, but that's why I like working with schools and young people and, you know, some hoping, you know, children's museums, and anybody that works with with children that, you know, we've got an opportunity to inspire.
415
00:42:25,080 --> 00:42:26,840
I'd love to be able to learn to do that.
416
00:42:26,900 --> 00:42:33,380
We've got a school at the moment where they've got 20 children kind of working through it with somebody that's facilitating that at the moment.
417
00:42:33,700 --> 00:42:34,420
So that kind of thing.
418
00:42:35,000 --> 00:42:36,220
Exciting, exciting, exciting.
419
00:42:37,660 --> 00:42:39,040
Oh, this has been absolutely brilliant.
420
00:42:39,220 --> 00:42:43,820
I mean, I know we've known each other for quite a long time, a number of years now, but you know what?
421
00:42:44,280 --> 00:42:57,500
I feel very grateful to have this time to be able to talk to you, and it's done interrupted, and we can talk and and then share it and inspire across the globe, you know, because the podcast is listened to all over the world, which is amazing.
422
00:42:57,800 --> 00:42:59,180
So thank you, thank you, thank you again.
423
00:43:00,260 --> 00:43:03,120
And yeah, if you want to reach out, look at the show notes.
424
00:43:03,480 --> 00:43:04,480
Carol's already given you the information.
425
00:43:05,260 --> 00:43:07,000
And thank you so much, Carol.
426
00:43:07,220 --> 00:43:08,640
Good luck with everything.
427
00:43:08,780 --> 00:43:15,220
And good luck to all those lives and all those children that get inspired moving forward from from listening and parents too.
428
00:43:15,660 --> 00:43:16,500
Thank you so much.
429
00:43:16,600 --> 00:43:17,580
Take care, everyone.
430
00:43:18,180 --> 00:43:18,280
Goodbye.
431
00:43:19,140 --> 00:43:22,320
Thanks for listening to the Harnessing Happiness podcast with Sarah J.
432
00:43:22,500 --> 00:43:22,620
Naylor.
433
00:43:22,860 --> 00:43:26,460
If you took value from the content, please follow the show on your podcast app.
434
00:43:26,720 --> 00:43:31,240
And to find out more about Sarah's ape mindset, visit sarahjnaylor.com.
435
00:43:31,260 --> 00:43:33,120
That's sarahjnaylor.com.
