I just wanted to survive. I grew up in a two-up, two-down council house and left school at 14 with no qualifications. I was really the sole breadwinner in our family from the age of 11. I had two very creative parents; my dad was an artist and a magician but he was also a huge gambler. At the weekends, my job was to go to the markets with him to help sell paintings, because if we didn’t sell a painting we wouldn’t eat. I was also a magician’s assistant so I looked after all the white rabbits as they appeared out of hats and I had a pet dove called Suki who would appear from a pan of fire. He also taught me to read marked cards in a poker game, so at the age of seven I would be standing in the corner while he was playing poker and making signals to my father to tell him who had a royal flush. I still can.

My childhood was tough but I had this unbelievable respect for creativity the whole time. I thought everyone could smell the way I could and then, as I got older, [I realised] this is something very unique. I’m severely dyslexic so I can’t often tell my left from my right, I couldn’t tell the time until I was 19 and can’t drive. I can’t do lots of things other people can do but as I started to trust my nose and my palate, I realised I had something pretty unique.

I started to see this gift could really change my destiny. I didn’t ever intend on building a global brand; life comes to me and it says ‘do you want to jump, or do you want to stay nice and safe?’ I’ve jumped every time.

Gary [Willcox] and I were married when we were 21 and we went to Grasse as I knew I really loved fragrance. I remember staying in a place called The Perfume Hotel or something – it was awful – but it was all we could afford. That evening, we walked down into Grasse and I remember sitting in this square – it was all terracotta walls, turquoise shutters – and we had steak frites and a carafe of rosé wine. I could smell this incredible orange blossom and rose de mai, and I fell in love with fragrance that day. I’m still in love with it, I knew it was going to be part of my life forever.

I think lack of education, but it was also my strength in a funny way because I didn’t have any preconceived ideas of what life should be. If I heard the answer no, I would find another way.

I don’t think there are any worst parts. Across all my projects, I always like working with a small team, whether that be at Jo Malone Creative Consultancy or new projects such as Jo Vodka. The smaller the team, the better, as it allows me to work with my senses more; the bigger the team, the more complexities come in. I’m not someone who focuses on negatives; if something is negative or I don’t enjoy it, I get rid of it.

The great thing is creativity. I’m up at 6.30am and smelling for half an hour because my nose is really clean in the morning. If I didn’t do that – and I didn’t do it for five years when I had my lock-out – I lost who Jo was completely. I just never want to be in that place again.

No one is responsible for making your dreams happen; the only person who can do that is you. But also no one has the right to take your dreams from you either and learning that at a young age has really helped me feel responsible for my own happiness and not allow somebody to take that from me. At the beginning, Gary and I were two young kids and we went into shopkeeping and retailing and had no idea at all, so we learnt on the hoof. Joseph Ettedgui, Anya [Hindmarch] and I were all on the same street and we all helped each other. If you didn’t know something, you could always ask someone and nobody ever felt embarrassed. I wish that would come back because it’s a real life-enhancing thing to be able to hand that baton over or help somebody else.

The hard times came after I sold my business and developed breast cancer in 2003. I was out of the whole thing for a good 18 months. I lost my sense of smell and that was a very tough moment in my life. I had one of the most aggressive forms of breast cancer, and went to New York to be treated at the Sloan Kettering with Dr Larry Norton, who saved my life. He told me recently that when I walked into his office, he’d seen my test results and knew I would not have survived on normal chemo. It would have come back. He had been working on a really specific protocol of severe chemo every five days. The Sloan Kettering told him to choose 30 people to put on this programme and he chose me; if he hadn’t, I wouldn’t be sitting here right now but the 30 women he did choose, every one of them is still alive today. Protocol for breast cancer immunology now comes from that research. Isn’t that incredible? So, thank you Larry Norton and the team that did that.

It took my sense of smell and I didn’t tell anyone; I was so embarrassed and humiliated that the Jo that was will never be again. I walked away and quit Jo Malone London [thinking] I’d never smell again. I eventually told my husband and, a month after walking away from the brand, my sense of smell came back one morning. But it came back so differently. I could smell everything; the wall, my skin, the bed sheets. Of course, by then I’d signed a lock-out and couldn’t enter the industry for five years. It was at that point that I lost my identity, suffered really severe anxiety and had a breakdown. I knew then it wasn’t a job and it wasn’t a business, it was my best friend. The minute those five years were up, I had to come back.

Wine is my tipple if I’m really honest but, when I went to Dubai four years ago, I went to find opportunity. I wanted to sit at the banquet of opportunity. Everyone knows me for my sense of smell, so could I take Jo into the other four senses?

Taste was the most natural one to go into. Vodka is not dissimilar to creating fragrance, except one you taste and one you smell. The first time we ever tasted the 101 Purist, I picked up my papers and dipped it into the vodka and started to smell. [Master distiller] Joanne Moore asks what I’m doing and I say smelling because it’s the most natural thing in the world to me. I could smell sea salt and fresh blossoms, and then we tasted, and it was like life said, ‘That’s why you’re here’.

Without Moore, this wouldn’t exist; she embraced my gift and I embraced hers and together we were able to bring the best of ourselves to create this third identity. It’s like having a baby again. We’ve had all the lovely problems of labels, bottle tops; it’s like going back in time. The day I see this in the airports, I’m going to cry. Most people build a business and wait three years for some of the things that are happening to us.

Madame Lubatti in the beginning; she taught me to make face creams from scratch and she taught me to trust my instinct. She would say: “Jo, if you can’t do anything brilliantly, don’t bother doing it at all” and that has stayed with me throughout my life. I always aim to bring my very best and push myself. This [vodka] has pushed me out of my comfort zone.

Rose Marie Bravo, the woman who recreated and reinvented Burberry; she was a big influence in my 30s and helped me understand retail. She was and is a very generous character. People like Anya [Hindmarch], Isabel Ettedgui, Janie Schaffer, Tanya Rose – I can think of a whole heap of them – we’re all top of our game and we have always shared each other’s lives and I feel very privileged to have them as my friends.

My husband Gary has probably been one of the biggest influences in my life. I have been married to him for 40 years; he’s so wonderful and he’s taught me a huge amount in life and business.

Truthfulness, kindness and being a visionary. I think the higher you go, the lonelier it becomes. We need to start building companies where people are able to step up with their ideas and I believe we need to be back in the office. I think that human connection is really important. It’s not a destination, it’s a journey, and we need to really nurture that younger generation. Don’t tell them to fill up shelves – put them in the boardroom, they will probably have much smarter ideas.

Don’t be threatened by someone who can do something better than you. Tell your team members when they’ve done well and share that success. The world is going through a very tumultuous time at the moment. We’re human beings and we change but it takes truthfulness and integrity. I don’t always make the right decisions and I can make mistakes, but I want to build this business with all of us living our dreams. The creation of jobs, business and products is where we should be focused. We should be nurturing creativity.

I’ve witnessed the evolution across many generations, and I’ve been fortunate to be surrounded by pioneering women who have boldly paved the way for those to come. Today, there are more opportunities for women than ever before and rightly so. It’s inspiring to see a growing culture that celebrates and supports female entrepreneurship. I’m a strong advocate for mentorship and believe in uplifting anyone striving to grow and succeed. While there’s still progress to be made before women truly have equal footing in the business world, the momentum is encouraging. With self-motivation and resilience, women can seize every opportunity that comes their way.

Self-belief. When you’re beaten down, it takes a lot to stand back up again. I’ve got to say some women are awful to each other because they’re very competitive. I’ve never been in that mindset. People will say ‘opportunity’ but no one in life is responsible for that, you’ve got to make that yourself. Take that responsibility and say that’s mine and I’m going to make it happen. I think a lot of this starts with education at school and the belief you can do things.

Don’t be in such a hurry, you’re going to get there and you’re going to change the world. In my younger years, I was always in such a hurry to get to the next day so I never enjoyed it. Once a product was in the bottle, I was off again. This time I’m really going to enjoy the moment of showing somebody a new brand. I’m enjoying my life; travelling around the world, meeting new people, new adventures and creating. I’d say take it easy, you don’t have to be there in 10 minutes, because sometimes you miss the opportunities along the way.