I grew up in a household of publishers and writers. My mother was a managing director of a publishing company and that was my first job. I was pretty steeped in books.

There was no plan. I think my career evolved in directions I didn’t expect. I started my working life in publishing and that continued to influence me as I co-founded the Women’s Prize for Fiction, which I ran for 27 years until 2023. It was my experience as director of consumer brands at a PR agency during the dot-com boom that kicked off my interest in e-commerce and the new opportunities it presented.

I had just had my fourth child and was working in brand marketing. I ran out of steam doing the big full-time job. I had the idea [for Biscuiteers] with my husband; he ran, and now my daughter runs, the catering company Lettice. He was already in the food business and I had done a lot of work in brand marketing and e-commerce, and we had this idea that food gifting was just a big open space. If you roll back to 2007, we were pre-social media and no one else had really got in [with food gifting]. We looked at flowers, cupcakes and chocolates but nobody was doing food gifting in the stylish and personalised way that we thought we could.

Unquestionably the biggest challenge, which strangely we hadn’t really thought through ( but that’s often the best way), is because everything we make is hand-iced, what we were trying to do was scale an artisanal business, which is incredibly hard to do. We were actually launching a manufacturing business, which I hadn’t entirely realised. It took us quite a long time before we built our factory in Wimbledon and got to the point where we could hand-ice three million biscuits per year.

One of the joys of founding a business is that my days are hugely variable. As creative director I am in charge of marketing which takes up a lot of my time keeping the brand fresh, topical and newsworthy! I am also closely involved in product development as we design and launch seasonally at Biscuiteers like a fashion brand.

I love all the creative sides to my job and I love being part of a dynamic team of people. Lately I have been also focusing on the brand ambassador side of my role and I enjoy meeting people and making connections that can lead to exciting brand collaborations. One of the great privileges of running a manufacturing business like Biscuiteers has been learning about all aspects of a big operational team but it can be challenging and complicated and I am lucky to have some very talented colleagues. The hardest part is the resilience required to navigate the highs and lows and keep driving the business forward. Building businesses takes time and a lot of energy.

Opening our Icing Cafe in Notting Hill in 2012 felt like a big moment – our first foray into high street retail with a completely new retail model. We took inspiration from pottery cafes and set about creating a brand experience. In effect, we treated it like marketing, and awareness of the brand definitely leapt up. At the other end of the spectrum, I was very proud to be at the 30th anniversary of the Women’s Prize in 2025 and reflect on the fact that we managed to create the largest celebration of women’s creativity in the world which continues to go from strength to strength.

I think Covid was probably one of those times. The business thrived but the challenges of looking after our team and continuing to run a manufacturing business in London was very difficult indeed. We needed to make sure we supported our staff and cared for their welfare. We literally re-designed work spaces, working patterns and operational systems as we went, while dealing with unprecedented demand.

I’m not good at this but I have found that I am more relaxed if I feel in control of business – so some light touch emailing is okay!

Read, walk, swim. I like to hang out with my friends and family in Suffolk and when in London I love an art gallery – I find them some of the most joyful places to be.

It would be my mother, who died when I was very young. She worked full-time when I was a child and, at that time, that was incredibly unusual. She was the only one of my parents’ friends that did work. Having that kind of example, and watching her, has had one of the greatest impacts on me.

Working out what you aren’t good at and building a great team to support you. I think good leaders drive a sense of purpose but crucially enable other people to thrive while sensing when to step in to guide and support.

I think women have become far more effective at supporting each other with powerful women’s networks like Buy Women Built, of which I am a founding member. This certainly feels like a hugely positive development since I started the business.

Investment in women founders is still shamefully low despite all the work that has gone into raising the profile of female entrepreneurs. The latest figures suggest just two per cent of UK equity investment went to businesses with female founding teams; this has to change.

Yes, beyond doubt. Aside from the obvious impact of flexible working, I think that the workplace is much more fluid. I sense that people are much less likely to stay in one career but have sequential careers, particularly as we adapt to technological development.

Be brave and go for it. The great joy of being young is that you can, and should, make mistakes and that is the best way to learn. If something doesn’t work out, you have all the time in the world.

It’s such a new world but the most important thing with any endeavour is to go for it and put yourself in 100 per cent. I have daughters working in creative industries and I think one of the most important things is to be flexible in your approach. Be prepared to commit yourself.