I am an entrepreneur and a leading expert in retail customer strategy, data science and product innovation, having worked predominantly in this field for over 20 years. Since 2020 I have also been working in Extended Realities (AR/VR) to help brands engage audiences to consume products in a more sustainable and interactive way.
I co-founded, built and sold two companies: one in fashion; and one in customer insight consultancy, so understand first-hand the challenges involved in running and growing a start-up. I use this experience to mentor SMEs in pragmatic business planning, and am an active Business Fellow for InnovationRCA (the Royal College of Art’s alumni incubator/accelerator). RCA is ranked as the #1 Art and Design university in the world.
My experience spans from working at dunnhumby in the late '90s as part of the ground-breaking team who pioneered Clubcard for Tesco, to co-founding Myla, the international luxury lingerie brand and retailer, in 2000. These two quite different career choices led me to co-found Zinc Retail in 2010. At Zinc we combined analytical methods with our own disruptive tech to provide retailers with a deep insight into their customers – with the ability use this insight systematically to enhance their category and store management. We sold Zinc to Aimia (Nectar card) in 2014. I established Sideways Consulting to continue to freelance in this field on an ad-hoc basis.
Throughout my career, I have worked with many blue-chip retailers such as Tesco, Woolworths SA, BP, Sonae, Sainsbury's, Aeon, Lotte, Ocado, Selfridges, Galeries Lafayette, Chloé and Mulberry as well as tech companies such as Spoon Guru.
At Myla, I won several Business Awards including:
- Top 35 UK entrepreneurs under 35 (Growing Business, 2004)
- Top 100 most influential people in UK fashion (Drapers Record UK, 2004 & 2005)
- Top UK businesswomen (Management Today, 2005)
Work history
AdvisorDigital Fashion Framework
London, United KingdomFreelance
Digital Fashion Framework is a female-led digital studio using Extended Realities (AR/VR) to engage audiences to consume products in a more sustainable and interactive way.
We help brands to instantly and easily immerse their followers in the latest lifestyle trends using our groundbreaking tech, paving the way towards a more sustainable and democratic era in fashion, games and entertainment.
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FounderSideways Consulting
London, United KingdomFreelance
I provide customer insight and analytical product innovation consultancy for a range of partners and clients including Aimia and Mulberry.
This includes developing customer, product and insight strategies for my clients and the underlying roadmaps required for them to deliver them
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Skills
- Strategy Consulting
- Innovation
- Actionable Insights
- Customer Analysis
- Retail
- Fashion
- Product Innovation
- Business Planning
- Startup Development
- Buisness Mentoring