ENTERPRISE + INITIATIVE Page 33 of 33

Do What You Love interview – Suzanne Woolcott of Gorjuss™

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thebiginterview1

This week I am delighted to share a conversation with Suzanne Woolcott, the inspiring creative brains behind the Gorjuss™ empire. Some of her fans are so crazy about her work, they have had her designs tattooed on their bodies! Suzanne’s Gorjuss™ Girls are licensed by Santoro, a brand creator, design and publishing company with distribution in over 50 countries around the world.

Suzanne runs her company with her husband Grant, from their studio in Glasgow, Scotland, where they live with their three children. Her work has been exhibited in galleries across the globe, but most regularly in Hollywood, LA , New York, NY, and Hong Kong (how cool is that?!)

Do What You Love interview - Suzanne Woolcott of Gorjuss™ blacksky
All images used with kind permission of Suzanne Woolcott

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Do What You Love interview – Kresse Wesling

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thebiginterview1

Waste not, want not: creative business tips from a leading social entrepreneur…

Meet Kresse Wesling, young sparky British creator of unique accessories for Hollywood superstars. Kresse is not your average fashion designer. She is one half of the very cool ‘Elvis and Kresse’ brand which took London Fashion Week by storm and has recently announced a collaboration with apple. She is one of the British Prime Minister’s Ambassadors for Social Entrepreneurship and a champion of responsible business practices. And the belt she made for Cameron Diaz to model in a Mario Testino shoot for American Vogue used to be a piece of fire hose.

Kresse takes what others throw away and makes beautiful high end fashion goods from them – handbags and belts from hose discarded by the London Fire Brigade, purse linings from parachute silk rejected by the military, and eco-friendly shopping bags for a major UK supermarket chain from old coffee bean sacks. Not only does she reuse and recycle what would otherwise go to landfill, she ploughs a chunk of her profits back into charities which support the people who have contributed the ‘waste’ in the first place, so 50% of the profits from her fire hose line (see picture below) go to The Firefighters’ Charity. Although the company is still quite young (launched in 2007), it has already taken London Fashion Week by storm, and unveiled the 2010 collection at legendary auction house Sotheby’s.

Do What You Love interview - Kresse Wesling ek+tote

I had the good fortune of being invited to do a job swap with Kresse as part of the Social Entrepreneurship programme, and was so inspired by what I saw and heard, I wanted to share her story with you.~ Beth
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Do What You Love interview – Kathy Heslop (Part 2)

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thebiginterview1

This is the second part of the Do What You Love interview with Kathy Heslop (see here for part 1). Kathy is an incredible woman who has lived many lives already, as professional musician, nautical globetrotter and serial entrepreneur who has seen multi-million dollar success for her creative businesses. We share a love of good wine, good food and good chat. She also happens to be one of the funniest women I know. ~ Beth

KathyHeslopKathy: image via Twitter 

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Do What You Love interview – Kathy Heslop (Part 1)

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thebiginterview1

Today’s Do What You Love interview is with Kathy Heslop, an incredible woman who has lived many lives already, as professional musician, nautical globetrotter and serial entrepreneur who has seen multi-million dollar success for her creative businesses. She also happens to be one of the funniest women I know.

Kathy H

British by passport, half Scandinavian and a NYC/London girl by heart, Kathy was once a professional violinist, working with UK orchestras, theatre and opera companies. She was the first female electric violinist to perform at Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club and co-wrote the trailer music for the movie Notting Hill. In 1998 Kathy co founded the digital recording studio Serious in London with her polymathic husband David. Within a year it had morphed into a digital publishing company and by the summer of 2000 they had moved to New York City to open a sister office.

Serious went on to win multiple awards and employ over seventy staff with three offices worldwide, (London, NYC & Singapore). In late 2007, Kathy and her husband sold their stake in the company and moved back to the UK. They have since founded a boutique management consultancy in London and also operate a software development company. They consult to clients across the entertainment, sports, technology, food and beverage, celebrity and lifestyle sectors, and Kathy specialises in helping companies establish brand identity and market position.

Here Kathy shares some very valuable insight and practical commercial advice for those of you trying to start or grow your creative business … (more…)

Do What You Love interview – Danielle LaPorte

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thebiginterview1

If you want to put a rocket under your ideas and ambition, start or grow your own business or revolutionise your current business, and make your own choices and your own money, then you need to meet Danielle LaPorte. She is one white hot woman. She made me think differently about aspects of my own business, and I wanted to share some of her magic with you.

Danielle La Porte

Danielle is the creator of www.daniellelaporte.com, and has brought out a new book, THE FIRE STARTER SESSIONS, which helps entrepreneurs rock their career with integrity, audacity and their truest strengths. Danielle is a former news show commentator, and director of a Washington-DC think tank, where she managed a team of analysts studying global trends for the likes of the Pentagon and the World Bank. She is the lead author of the Amazon bestseller, Style Statement: Live By Your Own Design, and has been featured in Elle, Vogue Australia, Body + Soul, The National Post, Entertainment Tonight, and The Huffington Post.

Here she gives us insight and some awesome advice…

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Do What You Love interview: Chrstina Sbarro (creator of ‘A Field Guide to Now’)

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thebiginterview1
In the first of a new series of Do What You Love interviews, I’d like to extend a warm welcome to Christina Sbarro, a woman who is on a mission to truly do what she loves. Christina is all wrapped up in the creation of ‘A Field Guide to Now’, a book which combines her beautiful writing, storytelling and mixed media art, and which is stitched together with the love of a community of supporters. 

Watch this gorgeous intro to her story here:


Here’s what she has to say to you all…

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Doing what you love

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Hearts on bench
The other day I was pottering around Covent Garden and came across some powerful words scribbled on a hot pink wall: “Do what you love, because the world needs more people doing what they love.” How true is that?

It made me stop and think. And think. And think. What is it I really love doing, and am I doing enough of it? I love to explore, discover, create. I love a nice cup of tea and a sit down, chatting and laughing with old friends. I love spending time alone in cafes, wandering anonymously through far away cities and wild landscapes, meeting new people and learning about other ways of life. I love using my hands to make things which carry the stories I have seen and heard. And there is always more of that to be done.

Are you doing what you love? Tell yourself about it. Tell someone else about it – or tell me about it!

I have just returned from an incredible adventure of the soul in California (more on that to follow), where I made a circle of precious new friends who are all fellow artists. What a learning experience – each and every one of them taught me something, and they were all doing what they love. Just what the world needs.

Books of the week

ART: Taking Flight by Kelly Rae Roberts. The book that inspired me to go to California and meet my soul sisters (see www.kellyraeroberts.com)

ADVENTURE: Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robin Pirsig.  One of those books everyone should read at least once, but it’s even better the second time around. It is both the story of a road trip and a meditation on values

STORIES: The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy. She makes English a more beautiful language (see https://www.weroy.org/arundhati.shtml)