Beautiful Misfits

FOR a long time, the world of beauty was stuck in the old ways of perfume counter selling, excess packaging – and those giveaway foundation samples in magazines that only ever came in some shade of peach.

As a teenager of Nigerian heritage, Simi Lindgren felt invisible when she opened up those samples.

But last year she founded online beauty marketplace Yuty that has radical inclusivity at its heart. 

It uses AI to take into account everything from a shopper’s skin type to facial formation to make truly personal recommendations.

Every product on the site also meets strict standards on ethics, cruelty and sustainability. 

With investor and consumer interest growing in sustainable - and in particular beauty - brands, Yuty has just secured £500,000 in pre-seed funding.

Join Mary as she chats with Simi about tech, representation and pushing boundaries in the beauty industry.

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Ella’s Kitchen is a lot more than a baby and toddler food company.

Its core mission is to improve children’s lives by developing healthy relationships with food. 

But it’s also a B Corps - which means it takes its responsibilities to people and the planet very seriously. It lobbies on company tax rules. It donated over 900,000 food pouches during the pandemic. 

Ella’s Kitchen faces challenges, however – not least the fact that their products are packaged in single-use plastic. There’s also, as we know, the constant debate about just how healthy food pouches are. 

Join Mary as she talks to CEO Mark Cuddigan about his vision for the company – and his work to ensure that all businesses put people and the planet alongside profit.

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More than three billion people watched the last World Cup final. The reach–and potential impact–of sport is almost limitless. But while social issues are increasingly creating a stir in sport, the environment isn’t yet making quite such an impact.

Michael Doughty wants to change all that. A former professional footballer, he’s co-founder of Hylo athletics–renewable, carbon-negative and recyclable trainers–and is on a mission to put considerations for the planet at the heart of the conversation around sport.

But does Michael think football–and the love of consumerism that still often drives it-will ever really fully embrace the environmental message? And how does a start-up put ideas and values into practice in the early days of business?

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Food is under increasing scrutiny and meat is high on the agenda.

Everyone - from the authors of the UK’s national food strategy to the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

– are telling us to eat less of it.

But Glen Burrows, co-founder of the Ethical Butcher, argues that meat isn’t the problem. It’s industrial farming methods that are at fault.

So how does that work? And, given that our love affair with meat may be slowing down but doesn’t look as if it’s going to end any time soon, what should we as consumers be doing to buy better?

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Frieda Gormley and her husband Javvy M Royle dreamed up the idea for their interior brand at the kitchen table. Ten years on, House of Hackney is one of the most influential – and aspirational - British interiors brands.

Best known for its use of colour, pattern and craftsmanship, House of Hackney also takes its wider responsibilities very seriously. It’s a B Corps, which means it meets the highest standards of social and environmental performance – in everything from its materials to supply chains. And it was founded on three guiding principles: creativity, compassion and consciousness.

With our homes more important now than ever post-pandemic, how can we ensure that they are kinder – both to us living inside them, and also the people and planet surrounding them? Join Mary as she chats to Frieda about home, inspirations and using an ancient Celtic calendar to root their business in the natural world.

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In the UK last year, if you were a woman, just 2.9 per cent of

venture capital went to you.

If you were a black business founder you saw just 0.2 per cent of

all investment capital.

And if you were a black woman, it was a mere 0.02 per cent.

"Those numbers mean there are a lot of individuals who are not

being funded who have great ideas, and that some who don’t

have such great ideas are getting funded, so that’s the issue,” says Eric Collins, CEO of Impact X, a venture capital fund that’s putting its money into backing under-represented entrepreneurs.

Also on the programme, we announce our first two Portas Reports, available to purchase here and featuring:

Purchase your copy now

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John Schoolcraft’s LinkedIn profile lists everything from dishwashing to shop assistant, DJ to Alice Cooper’s security guard among his previous jobs.

But there’s one that he will forever be synonymous with: global chief creative officer at Oatly. Along with CEO Toni Petersson, John has transformed the unknown Swedish alt-milk brand into a global superstar with sales of $421 million in 2020.

At the core of this challenger brand however are three values Oatly remains razor-focused on: nutritional health, sustainability and transparency. But how, in a world so packed with products and messaging, did John create the kind of global impact that Oatly has achieved? And now that it’s got so huge, how

does Oatly protect itself from accusations of selling out? Can big really be kind? Mary finds out.

Mary's new book, Rebuild: how to thrive in the new Kindness Economy is available to buy now.

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Richard Walker has taken his father’s business in a new direction since taking the helm. A passionate believer in the good that all businesses can do, and the critical importance of their role in combatting environmental damage, he’s committed to initiatives including banning palm oil in own-brand products to waging war on plastic.

It’s created a lot of kickback and Richard has been on the end of some pretty stringent attacks. But he’s got broad shoulders. Join him and Mary as they talk business doing better and how supermarkets can contribute to lasting change.

Mary's new book, Rebuild: how to thrive in the new Kindness Economy is available to buy now.

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We’re doing our bit, we’re buying green energy right? Not always. In fact, a third of the energy that’s marketed as renewable is in fact greenwashed by companies using loopholes in legislation. Juliet Davenport set up Good Energy in 1999, the UK’s first 100% renewable electricity supplier.

Today the company produces its own electricity, generated in Britain from sun, wind, water and bioenergy, on their own solar and wind farms – as well as a network of 1600 renewable generators. In this episode, Mary talks to Juliet about how she started her own energy company, really buying green and how we as consumers can wisely choose who we buy from. 

Mary's new book, Rebuild: how to thrive in the new Kindness Economy is available to buy now.

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Anna Blackburn is the first non-family member to run the jeweller Beaverbrooks. She’s also its first female managing director. And she’s more than doubled profits since she took the helm of the business.

Anna has done this by building on a foundation already in place at Beaverbrooks which has always invested in its people. But taking this ethos a step further has allowed her to prove that The Kindness Economy betters the bottom line. As one of the few non-owner interviewees that Mary has had on the podcast, it’s a great insight into the change someone can create in a business they didn’t start themselves.

Mary's new book, Rebuild: how to thrive in the new Kindness Economy is available to buy now.

To get in touch with team Portas, email us at: [email protected]

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