International Women's Day Q&A with Bramley Founder, Chloë

As a female-founded and mostly female-run business, International Women’s Day has always held a special place in our hearts as a way to celebrate the women that we are, the women that we work with, and all of the wonderful women who support us, from our customers to our families and everything in between.

This year, we sat down with our founder Chloë, and asked her a few questions about being a woman in business, what inspires her, and what advice she’d give to anyone starting out…

What is your role and how has that evolved over time? 

I am the founder and creative director of Bramley.  I started the business literally at my kitchen table nearly 15 years ago and it has grown very organically since then, so my role has changed slightly as the business needs have.

At the beginning, I did everything from sales and accounts to new product development and marketing, but I’m now lucky enough to have a small team to help me with all of this, so I can concentrate on the bits I enjoy best such as working with retailers and creating new products. 

What are you most proud of at Bramley?

I am very proud of our unique blends of essential oils which not only fragrance the products but have genuine therapeutic benefits too. I like to think that we give people a moment of joy every time they use one of our products! 

How do you support women in the workplace? 

The majority of our team are women and we offer very flexible working structures, such as working from home or working different hours depending on your family life.

We believe that we get the best out of the team by allowing them to work in a way that works for them.  

Who inspires you and why?

I loved Anita Roddick when I was younger, and she was definitely an inspiration for me when I was growing up. I used to spend all my pocket money in The Body Shop on Kiwi Lip Balm and those bath pearls! 

She put sustainability at the forefront of my mind both from a packaging point of view and also in the ingredients that we use. She really was a trailblazer and it’s such a shame to see that The Body Shop has now gone, but her beliefs will always live on in lots of small businesses like ours.

Have you seen a change in the way women are treated in the industry over the years? 

I think there has definitely been a very positive change for women in any industry since I started working over 25 years ago.

Flexible working hours, the ability to work from home, equality with partners and awareness around the menopause has really helped, but we still need more women at the top, and we always need more female founders building amazing brands. 

What advice would you give to a young woman starting out in their career?  

I love that saying ‘Choose a job that you love, and then you will never have to work a day in your life.’  It’s so true, I never get Sunday blues because I just love what I do.