From banker to fashion - Libby London

Libby Hart, founder and owner of clothing line Libby London, launched her first fashion line in 2011, while she was still working in banking. Her career was rocketing fast and she was promoted to a senior directing role at the age of 28. She soon realised a massive gap in the market: good quality dresses that weren’t cheap looking, too expensive or uncomfortable.

“I hated dressing in suits and whenever I found dresses, they were either too mumsy, too boring, too expensive or too booby,” Libby says, explaining how she began to get annoyed by the low selection of quality business wear.

“If I didn’t want to spend a small fortune in a dress, the only options for proper business wear were basically places like Zara, but sometimes those dresses can be a bit inappropriate for a woman who wants to be taken seriously and works in the highest level of the game. They are a bit booby.”

Libby Hart

Tackling the problem first hand

“In my extreme naivety,” she laughs, “I decided that if I can’t find myself dresses, there is a gap in the market and I should try to fill that gap.” And so she did. 

She spent up to 5 years working as a banker by day and fashion retailer by night, until the growth of the business was too much for one woman to handle. Libby had to face the decision of either letting her career in banking, or her business go. We know what she decided to do.

“I really loved my career in banking and I had always been determined that I would be a chairman of Goldman & Sacks one day, but while doing this fashion business on the side, I started to realise that I could be a chairman of my own company and really give it a go.

“During my last year in banking the fashion business really started to take off and I was struggling to find the balance for both. It caught me by surprise,” she says adding that no-one really starts a business thinking that it will be the 'next big thing overnight.'

Positive attitude

Taking the final step of becoming an entrepreneur could feel daunting for some, but not Libby. Her positive attitude is without a doubt the reason she has done so well in everything she has put her mind into.

“I have always been almost stupidly ambitious thinking that everything is achievable for me. Not in an arrogant kind of way, more like thinking that there are always people who will make it as well, not only those who fail. 

“There are people who start and run successful businesses and I truly believed it could be me who can do that.” And she was not wrong.

Libby says that perseverance is the most important thing you need when starting a business and that resourcefulness is a great quality which will keep you going when you think you have hit the wall. 

“You will grow a thick skin over time for sure which is a painful process, but you need perseverance to succeed."

“People will help you in different things, but ultimately, you need to do things yourself and at first every little thing you don’t know is a massive challenge, but you learn along the way,” she assures.

Inspiration from powerful women

During her career Libby has both mentored, and been mentored by powerful women who have in time formed a close network which she often turns to for help and advice. 

“I have had some amazing mentors who have been senior people in the industry with a lot of knowledge and resources. I can’t say who they are, but they have been a tremendous help and an inspiration to me,” she says. Her own mentoring is also important to her:

“It gives me a lot to be able to mentor someone. It makes me appreciate where I started and how far I have come in a very small time.” The very tight network of other business women has helped her many times along the way. 

“Sometimes we share information like factory details, and sometimes I just need someone to talk to about my emotions or about some challenge and they have all been there. They know how it feels like and can support.”

101 for Women in Business

All the channels available today have, however, given the “internet national” generation a possibility to brand, sell and work themselves as a desirable employee purpose-built for their potential employer.

Never under-estimate how important social media is for getting noticed and being visible, but also how damaging it can be if not managed effectively. And remember, your LinkedIn profile might open you the door, but your personality needs to support your online brand.

How to start building your brand

Make a plan and spend a lot of time before your job search making sure you have a clear and specific goal on what you want to accomplish in your career or in the next few years. Think about who you really are, what you stand for, what your values are and what motivates you in life. What are your strong personality characteristics, your talents and strengths?

Make sure YOU know exactly who you are, so you will be able to sell yourself.

“New employers will be looking for authentic confidence, good personal presentation that is appropriate for the role you will be in and for their corporate brand,” said Lesley Everett, the creator and founder of Walking TALL which is a methodology for building original personal brands.

“They want to know about ‘you’ not just what you’ve achieved so far, and to ensure that your communication skills in all forms are of a high standard.“ 

We live in an even faster moving world, where we are forced to make decisions quickly, have limited attention spans and where trust and like-ability are at the fore-front of our sub-conscious minds when we chose to work with, promote, recruit and build relationships with individuals,” Everett said.

The part of social media

You must know by now that each post made on social media sites is a layer added to your personal brand. A certain carefulness is always good to keep in mind. Before posting, ask yourself: ’Would I care if my boss saw this?’

Also, those warnings your mother gave you are worth considering - whatever is added to the internet, could very well stay there even if deleted later.

The first steps in branding should always include taking a closer look on your existing accounts and ‘cleaning’ them up.

“I recently pointed out to a young guy, who has a lot of talent and drive, that his profile picture with his hand gesture as it was, and a certain comment in a post about the police should be changed immediately,” said Lesley Everett.

Her advice on social media use is: “You need a LinkedIn profile with a good, clear and professional head and shoulders photo and a strong summary statement. On Facebook make sure you have your settings so that when you are tagged in a photo you know about it to delete if necessary. 

“Twitter is great for building a presence if you have an area of interest or expertise, and great as a tool for research and following relevant people or companies. Always ask yourself before posting – is this in-line with my personal brand and how I want to be perceived in the professional world? 

“Just remember, that your personal brand is about being who you really are and being the best you can be. Just take time to define it, refine it and project it consistently in all you do,” she said.

Lisa Christensen

Women in business

Women in business can succeed if they remember one simple tip, according to Lisa Christen, the Founder and Managing Director of Christen Consulting. She said: “You have to take the action and control your own destiny. Don’t sit back and wait for others to recognise your work, give you a promotion, hire you for a job or tell you your opinion matters.”

“The best way to get noticed for a job is to network, network, network offline... and then use online to stay recent and relevant in a potential employer’s mind,” Lisa said.

The trick, Lisa explains, in selling your brand forward is to take part in the social media conversation. Weekly, post links to interesting articles or provide insightful and interesting comments on LinkedIn, XING, and other social media platforms. Show initiative and give your brand some coverage and visibility.

In the world of business, women should empower each other and surround themselves with other strong and confident women. Your brand should be one that works as a positive force for others.

In the world of social media and information, there is a great amount of knowledge your future employer can gather even before inviting a candidate into an interview.

Adventure awaits

“I just want to start by saying that sailing is not the best career option” says Hannah White who’s surprisingly an adventurer, sailor and TV presenter talking on the Adventure Travel Show, Kensington. She admits at just 31, she is still “sort of” in her gap year.
  

She is one of many travel and adventure experts who will spread inspiration and give advice based on their own experiences around the world. 

Hannah recently got engaged on top of the Mount Everest base camp during sunrise, but assures that you can have an adventure everyday without having to spend a lot of money. “The world is everywhere for us to discover, we just need to start doing rather than sit at home dreaming about doing it,” she says. Hannah sailed the Atlantic on her own three times, but says the most epic things she has done have been the cheapest things she has done with her friends.

Felicity Aston on her expedition. (Photo from her website)

Get out of the tent

If you think that Hannah’s solo trips were impressive, the next speaker certainly knows what the word ‘alone’ means. In 2012 Felicity Aston became the first woman to have crossed the Antarctica by skiing solo. Her 1084 mile and 60 day adventure truly made her an expert of persistence. 

After watching the plane that dropped her to the Polar region disappear to the horizon, she sat down and cried. Terrified of the adventure ahead, the reality sunk in: “I was supposed to know what I was doing. It was not my first expedition, but after a month or so, I became sure that I could not finish. Every morning I had to keep pushing myself to get out of the tent,” she describes.

She later started to value her stubbornness more than ever before. The motivational message she wants to share with other people is to keep getting out of the tent.

She says:  “it doesn’t matter how fast you are going or for how long, what matters is that you are making progress.”

Let’s talk adventure

Both ladies have created a brand out of themselves and make a living by going on different adventures. However they say that it is a demanding career that involves a lot of determination to succeed.

The travel show introduced several ways to see and learn about the world we live in. The best buzz seemed to be around the Globetrotters stands, where people exchanged travel experiences.

The club has a meeting every month in Covent Garden, and if you are planning a trip, there is a huge chance that someone in the meeting is able to give you excellent advice. The world is full of amazing places and adventures. 

“My favourite is India,” says Sandra Reekie, a travel advisor from the Globetrotters Club in London, who has visited more countries than she can count.

“On the other hand, being married to this lady for 49 years, I can tell you that if you ask the same question again tomorrow, the answer has changed,” says David Reekie jokingly and continues: “Sometimes it is India, Syria the next day, Iran or Afghanistan, often middle east in general, but it changes a lot,” he laughs.

Sandra laughs along, but reasons her choice of the day: “Nowhere else have I seen a naked man walking casually down the street, or an elephant turn over a tuk-tuk on a busy road, but in India that is just the kind of things you see everyday. And it is normal there. It will widen your understanding of the world.”

She continues: “But the nicest people I have ever met have been in Pakistan. The Pakistani people are just so welcoming and amazing you just don’t believe it when you read the papers back home. It is just a phenomenal culture with such hospitality and the people are the highlight.”

“I told you,”  David laughs adding a little nibble of information they learned while in Pakistan last time. “It is the rule of tea. The first time a Pakistani invites you to have tea with them, you are a stranger and a quest. Second time you are a friend. And if they have tea with you the third time - you are family. And by family, I mean that they would take a bullet for you.”

“What we always want to do, is give something back to the community when we visit,” Sandra says. She explains that it is wrong to think travelling only brings fortune to the places where tourism is the main industry.

“You don’t want to take resources away from the people and add to their burden. You want to leave something good behind instead,” Sandra says, hoping that people would think responsibly when visiting a different culture. 

Volunteering or small donations can make a huge difference, or you can even highlight the problems you face after visiting. 

Power-woman behind a theatre company

Power-woman behind a theatre company

“I went to university thinking I wanted to do acting. At that time I thought drama was just acting,” Charlotte Bennett says, sitting in a cafe right around the corner of the theatre where Carole King’s musical Beautiful is playing. That’s where the office of her theatre production company is based. 

“I started to get interested in other things when I realised I was very bad at acting, I couldn’t get into any plays so I just sat at home bored. I thought I’ll just direct a play then, even when I didn’t really know what that meant.”

Charlotte feels she was very lucky going to university knowing what she wanted to do, not trying to figure it out like the rest of us. Poppy Melzack, her room mate from university has an idea on how determined Charlotte is:

"It's so inspiring see someone follow their dream. Watching Charlotte go from sitting in the living room deciding to direct a play at uni to watching her work in the National Theatre is amazing. 

“It's more than just innate skill (which she has), she's the most driven, dedicated and persuasive person I know."

The Forward Theatre

Charlotte’s company, The Forward Theatre project, produced its first play for York Theatre. After that they have done around two productions a year. 

“The transition from assisting director to a director is really hard and I don’t know how I would have done it without starting my own business,” Charlotte says adding that the contacts she made before starting her company helped her to take off. 

Her proudest moment was when the  she directed a play to the National Theatre, a one man’s dialogue show from David Bradley, called ‘On The Harmful Effects of Tobacco/Can Cause Death’.  

“At the time and remembers thinking ‘how on earth have I done this’,” she says.

The play was on for one night only and it was sold out, but for Charlotte, the best part was being able to work with such a prolific actor. Bradley also happens to be known for his performance in the Harry Potter movie series.

“My biggest relief in the first day of rehearsals was, because I was thinking that he is so amazing, how an earth.. you know.. what am I going to do here. 

“But actually, when we worked together, we really found that we got a lot from each other. It felt great.”

Unpaid internships

What Charlotte realised very soon, was that if she wanted to direct for a living, she needed to get as much experience as she could while still on student loan. She did several unpaid internships as an assistant editor, something Charlotte won’t tolerate easily in her own company.

“I had some really good times and some really bad times. I was sometimes paid ten pounds a week, living in London thinking ‘what am I doing, I have a degree’, but I learned from it. 

“Every single one of those jobs was paid of in some way. It either led to other work, or meeting somebody who was really exciting and I could work with, and it was all just really exciting.”

At the moment, Forward Theatre is working on a play called the Bird & Bay, which Charlotte is currently pitching to festivals for next summer. She is dividing her time between her own business and a company called Rush Tash, where she does freelance directing. They are currently working on a radical feminist play for the National Theatre. 

Find out more about The Forward Theatre Project, here.

Find out more about Charlotte:

-  Charlotte talking about the start of her career and how she got into directing:

- The story behind the Forward Theatre project and its future plans:

- Knowing what she knows now, what would Charlotte do differently and why her company will not work with unpaid people:

Find the trailer for 'On The Harmful Effects of Tobacco/Can Cause Death’ here:

Have your say: Is it beneficial to work for free or just free work force for companies to be able to not hire real people? Would you like to learn more about unpaid internships? Leave us a comment and we'll find out for you.

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By: Ida Aari