Business mentors, networks and the wrong A-levels

Wednesday, August 05, 2009 | Posted by: Fiona Cullinan
Categories: Retail sector | Tags: entrepreneur, Ros Simmons, women in business, health, VIE at home, success, Virgin, fashion, networks, mentors, Liz Warom, beauty, qualifications, Felicity Hone, mentoring, London College of Fashion

Ros Simmons, CEO, VIE at home : I feel very lucky to work in the health and beauty industry. There are always new products and better ingredients and formulas to make us all look younger and more radiant. No one can ever say that the beauty industry is an unimaginative, non-creative one! But I got here by an accident of my A-levels – and the help of two fantastic mentors…

You see, I really wanted to be a sports physio, but sadly did the wrong A-levels – I should have done physics instead of chemistry!

My life then took on a very different angle when I decided to go to the London College of Fashion (LCF) and train in the highest possible beauty qualification that I could get – a HND in Beauty Therapy – with the aim of setting up my own salon. I never thought for one moment that I would have a run-of-the-mill job; I just never realised which direction my life would take me.

At college, I met an inspirational woman called Felicity Hone. She was head of the LCF Beauty Department, had her own salons and also had twins. She really was the original superwoman and I remember her words of wisdom of ‘being aware of the time’ – even in the middle of the night! – and ‘making every moment count’.

I have often thought back to her, as she gave me a very strong sense of work ethic and also that everything was possible. She really believed in empowering women, long before it became a given, and showed that you really could have it all.

Having been to LCF, which is one of the world’s leading fashion schools, I realise now how many doors it opened – although the owner of the first company I worked at thought I had been to finishing school!

Although I didn’t actually ever open my own salon, being able to know how to develop and market products gave me a head start, for sure.

At the first company I worked in, ER Holloway, a cosmetics manufacturer for companies such as M&S, Tesco, Asda and The Body Shop, I met my other great mentor. A woman called Liz Warom, who was an account manager there, really gave me confidence and training in how to be a good sales person and also how to create products, and importantly doing it all with a high sense of fun and team spirit.

We then went on to join Body Shop and Virgin Vie, where, as my manager, she continued to give me sound business and people skills advice. At Body Shop I also met the amazing Anita Roddick… what an inspiration she was. There will never be another Anita; she was truly ground-breaking.

All of these amazing women were excellent at multi-tasking and also had high standards with a high level of consistency, and have achieved a lot.

I continue to be in awe of so many of the women (sorry and men!) I work with, both at VIE at home’s Head Office and also in the field. Their work ethic and passion for success, often while also bringing up a family, is truly admirable.

Image: © DC John

You can catch up on Ros’s previous posts from our Entrepreneur’s Diary series, in which we follow a male and a female CEO to discover what life is like behind the scenes of their business.