Jo is incredibly humble and down to earth. This is one of the first things that struck me about her. I heard her speak first hand about her journey as a perfumer and as a business woman. She told of her humble beginnings and her first job at a florists where her boss would talk down to her. She shared her struggles with dyslexia, growing up on a council estate and how her teacher told her she’d never go far. Yet despite all this she was stood in front me years later having sold her business (which she began in her kitchen), to Estee Lauder for millions.
Humble beginnings
She began by blending hand made creams and bath oils for her clients. She worked as a beauty therapist and clients would visit her at her home for beauty treatments. People were blown away with the scents of her creams, quickly making her renowned for her craft in perfumery. She gained popularity for pairing unusual scents together which she managed to make work through her skills. When (as she described it), ‘our house was full of our products and we were falling over them, we decided we needed a shop’ and so she opened her first store at 154 Walton Street in London.
Proud Shop Keeper
To this day it stayed with me how proud she was to be a shop keeper and how fondly she spoke of it. I had just started The Perfume Closet and had recently opened my first boutique. Nobody knew me much and my journey was very much starting. I was faced with alot of questions from my own personal social circle and wider family members as to why I wanted to be a ‘shop keeper’. They felt I was wasting my education and had thrown my marketing career away. To see Jo, with a phenomenal success story behind her , so proud to be a shop keeper and creator of one of Britain’s most famous fragrance brands, was exactly the inspiration I needed.
The Person Behind It All
It all got abit emotional when she shared her journey of her battle with cancer, but her determination to beat it won through and she came back stronger than before. She spoke about how she built her business and then sold it along with her name, which she could no longer use. How she had to start again from scratch, when she created her second brand Jo Loves. She let her commitment to her business and love for family shine through. This was a breath of fresh air as she was realistic in sharing that launching her business did mean working all hours in the early years. She went on to explain that working alongside her beloved husband made it more enjoyable as all the time they spent together, doing what she loved, made it feel like anything but work.
Self-Made Millionaire
Meeting Jo was as every bit enjoyable as I had imagined and even more insightful than I had expected. There was so many things I could relate to – I met her at a time when I really needed a role model.Her story from such humble beginnings to self-made millionaire is truly phenomenal. That afternoon with Jo is one I’ll never forget.
Fragrance is where I belong. I love to build, I love to create – I’m a shopkeeper, I’m a creator. I’m all these things. Fragarance gives me the ability to be able to do that. I love fragrance and fragrance loves me. It’s a love affair that I will never walk away from again, no matter what. Because it makes me unbelievably miserable not creating it. I’m brilliant at this, I know I am. I’m not big headed, but I can create fragrance like no one else in the world. Jo Malone x
