INSPIRING WOMAN
Mary Queen of Shops
Find out how one woman is making a world of difference by Abbey Bamford
M
ary Portas is perhaps best known as the straight-talking retail consultant who made British high street businesses take stock and shape up in her TV series Mary Queen of Shops, What Britain Bought and Mary Portas: Secret Shopper. She is a self-made woman whose career in retail started by chance at John Lewis when she had to start work to support herself and her younger brother. In her early life, Mary made many sacrifices and even turned down a place at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, but it was not in vain. John Lewis was a springboard to Harrods and later Topshop where she made her mark as a much admired and sought-after display manager. Her big break came when she got the coveted role as the creative director at Harvey Nichols. As a mother of three children, she knows what sacrifices women must make to have a career they want and deserve. This is brilliantly put
in her book Work Like a Woman: A Manifesto for Change. Mary is a woman with vision and the determination to bring it to life. She was chosen to lead David Cameron’s Government’s review into the future of the British high streets. She has launched a successful chain of Save the Children charity shops called Mary’s Living & Giving Shops, runs a creative agency Portas and is also the brains behind the concept of the Kindness Economy.
Q. What is the Kindness Economy? A. “Effectively it means that we need to think and be generous and kind in the way that we approach business so that we create an economy that puts people and the planet before profit. “We come from a highly consumerist society where we don’t think about the impact read more at darlingmagazine.co.uk spring 22
5
