It is the end of the another month which can only mean one thing...
...I get to introduce you to another *amazing* Kent Mum in business!!
This time, however, I wanted to do something a little different.
Whilst my other blog posts have focussed on local Mums who make their own products or offer their own services, this month I wanted to share a slightly different perspective...
...because you don't have to design, create or sell something you have made yourself to be an absolutely fabulous Mum in business...
This is the wonderful Kate Spanier.
I have known this lovely lady for around 10 years now (we met at NCT classes many, many years ago!) and in early 2021 Kate launched Spanier's Lotions & Potions as an independent consultant for The Body Shop.
I can honestly say that it has been a pleasure to watch Kate grow and develop her business...not only because it is clear how passionate she is about what she does, but because it has been *so* beautiful to see her confidence grow stronger and stronger with each passing day (because she is bl**dy brilliant and now she is finally starting to see that too!)
I spent a lovely morning with Kate. We caught up over a cuppa (or three!) I got to see her in action doing what she loves and she told me why this business is so important to her:
I have always loved skincare and products.
As a teenager I couldn't get enough of the Boots Natural Collection as cruelty free, natural beauty products were important to me. I thought that Anita Roddick was a pioneering goddess and I used to beg my Dad to take me to Canterbury (a good hour each way) just so that I could spend all my money there.
I was vaguely aware of The Body Shop at Home offer a few years ago but I really wasn't convinced by the 'party plan' side of it, then in lockdown a friend in the village became a consultant and I guess I saw a different side of it.
I have a few friends who have amazing skills for making things or coming up with great ideas to promote themselves and I felt like I wanted something like that for me, so I decided to become a consultant.
The products are so much more impressive than I thought that they would be and they really pack a punch and hold their own against some of the more niche (and expensive) brands that I have used in the past.
I love learning about the products, what the ingredients can do and who they don't work for.
Nothing gives me more joy than recommending a product/s to someone and seeing them really love them too. I like to think that I listen to what a customer wants from a skincare product - they are the thing that I like to work with the most!
Helping a customer improve their skin, seeing the confidence it gives them or even just helping them see that they are fine as they are and lines on the face are signs of a good life - laughter, smiles, happiness, that means the world to me.
We live in a world that is so filtered and doctored that helping someone realise that they don't need to hide behind a layer of makeup is so magical.
We have lost sight somehow of our uniqueness, it is as though we are trying to filter that out, cover it up, that is wrong and a message that I don't want to send to my Son.
I really never thought that being a Body Shop at Home Consultant would change my world but it has.
I am off to Sicily on a trip that I won (26 out of 35 managers across the whole UK business, eek), I have a small team that I now lead, I have more confidence than I had a year ago.
It has helped so much with my self confidence and self worth.
It is very easy to just be a wife or a mum. You forget that you went through school, college, university too. Suddenly you are apologising for having an opinion and wanting to have a voice.
Please give Kate your love and support by visiting her website here and be sure to follow her on social media:
Claire xx