That Was When Pudding The Lingerie Business Consultancy Was Born

I was brought up in a loving, happy family with parents who had broken the mould  - my dad in particular was a strong influence on me. He stepped out of his comfort zone and refused to accept the path set out for him because he wanted to achieve more and knew he could do better. He worked hard all his life, and I saw him doing that, and he reached the top of his profession, and out-performed his family , his peers and the expectations of someone from  his background.

He always told me that I was a ‘superstar’ – talented and bright and that if I worked hard I could achieve anything. I followed his model – I believed that hard work was necessary for success; and that when you got there it was massively rewarding .

I saw however that lots of people around me didn’t take that view – they settled for mediocre in what they delivered and the standards they held themselves to and as a result what they achieved.

I was always driven, like my dad, to do my best, and I found a reward not just in the outcome but in knowing that I had done the best I could.

I was bright and hard working and known as a high-flyer. That brought with it positives and negatives . My parents instilled in me the confidence to stand out, to speak up, to set the standard , to go against the norm , and to be better. But at the same time , I became a perfectionist who was hard on herself if things didn’t go perfectly and who struggled to achieve work life balance . The formula of hard work=success was so ingrained in me that even if I didn’t need to work so hard to achieve something I still did it just in case.

It also brought with it low self-esteem at times -  which for me manifested in how I felt about my body – I was always the clever one and not the sporty one and didn’t like my body or think it was good enough. I stopped doing sport and felt overweight, unattractive and despite being super confident in my ability in education , work , public speaking and social settings I lacked confidence in my attractiveness and my body.

My high flying continued in my career  - with 10 years in banking, where I scaled the ladder in record time and ended up running large parts of the organisation, large budgets and large teams of people twice my age at a young age.

I loved my time there – I learned to understand and love business -  I developed a passion for it, and I was thrown into such a variety of roles, that I developed a passion for ‘running the whole thing’ and a realisation I knew how to set the standard and motivate others to achieve it . I also learned that I could adapt  - I could be thrown in , work out the problem , find the solution , set the standard for excellence and work out how to take people with me to deliver that – and that empathy and being human was better than being didactic.

As I became more senior though what I  also learned from banking was business is sometimes about screwing people to make money , a lot of people pay lip service to ‘customer service’ and hard sell as opposed to selling with empathy and genuinely trying to do the right thing for the customer is common . My dad had been a leading HR director, and instilled in me the importance of putting people first and leading with empathy and after 10 years, I became jaded by being in an industry that felt the opposite.  I was also burned out by the lack of work life balance, and  had a taste for wanting to do something broader – to run my own thing. I had learned my instincts were right and that my standard was the one to follow.

With the encouragement of my husband who I first met when he was my boss , I left the banking world and together we set up our own business – in the lingerie world.

Why lingerie? It wasn’t driven by a  passion for the product at that point. We both were trying to find a business where we could make money by doing something good for our customers; by delivering genuinely  amazing service and creating sales through empathy and giving customers  what they really need – a win win.

Around this time I had an expert bra fitting – and I was blown away. For the first time in my life I felt good about my body -  the fitter told me that my back was slimmer than I thought and my boobs were bigger – what’s not to like ?! That one simple act transformed the way I felt about myself and the penny dropped – this was the win  win we were looking for.

At the time lingerie was an industry where you could get good products , but only in central London, and not coupled with expert fitting or good service – or you could get good service , but you had to seek it out and the products you were offered were lacklustre.

My bra fitting experience went downhill when I saw the products presented to me – as a 30 year old woman who  actually now felt good about her body I wanted something sexy and was presented with a ‘mumsy’ bra.

That was the lightbulb moment – my purpose is to set the standard for what a lingerie business should be – to offer good service and expert fitting and the exciting products that people like me want – all in  a place where lots of people shop and can find easily.

Pudding was born – our mission, to make lingerie shopping a treat.

In Pudding’s 8 years as a retailer we went from self-funded start up to one of the biggest accounts in the UK for some of the world’s most prestigious lingerie, swimwear and nightwear brands. We delivered sales and profits at 3 times the level of our peers. Our instincts of applying the disciplines of big business with the customer centricity and adaptability of  small business paid off. 

We proved the win win formula: superior service & superior systems = superior satisfaction & superior sales. We transformed the lives and body confidence of so many women and we set the standard for how to operate a top performing lingerie retailer. But I was never a small time shopkeeper – I had proved the concept and wanted more.

We were at the point of expanding – and then my husband and I split.

I met a new partner and immediately got pregnant and , being 40 didn’t waste time in having 2 children in quick succession. I knew if I wanted to enjoy being a mum , I couldn’t continue to make my career in retail – what to do?

I decided once and for all that now was the time to find the work life balance I’d never had  – but that I still wanted to pursue my career ambitions and I still wanted to see women benefit from the transformative effect of a well fitting bra .

I decided to move into a role that would work around my family and be based on what I love and am best at – not just running a top performing lingerie business but setting the standard for top performing lingerie businesses – and in doing so, giving body confidence to women just like me. And with my degree in French and Spanish and love  of languages – that didn’t have to be limited to the UK.

That was when Pudding the Lingerie Business Consultancy was born.