TV host Rochelle Humes has launched a new business podcast, looking at women who have self-started businesses that have helped them become household names. The idea is that it not only gives inspiration, but also valuable insights along the way. In a recent episode, perfumer and cosmetics Jo Malone talked about her journey from a council house in South East London to launching and then selling a hugely successful and globally recognised perfume brand.
Malone credits some of the career success down to an acute sense of smell and her synesthesia, where her brain registers the smell of what she is looking at, even if it isn’t emitting a smell. She highlights that what makes us different, the qualities we might think sets us back, can actually be a valuable asset.
“Nothing is wasted. Even my dyslexia, even my dyslexia wasn't wasted,” Malone says.
“Don't be frightened as a young person when you're going through university and maybe you're on the spectrum, maybe you have dyspraxia. You think in a different pattern. When you start to change your mindset on thinking differently, that's when the adventure really begins.”
