Glaswegians like to have fun. We work really hard but play exceptionally hard too and we can’t wait for the weekend. There’s still a buzz in Glasgow on a Friday that you can’t really get anywhere else.
My tough childhood made me who I am today. There was a lot of sadness, illness and redundancy, somehow always at Christmas. When someone was really struggling, everyone got together. If you spent all your wages you could still go to the pub because someone would always buy you a pint.
I grew up in a one-bedroom flat that I shared with my mum and dad. The kitchen was in the lounge, but I didn’t know any better. It made me utterly determined to be successful.
I didn’t have things, so from then on I realised the only way to get things is to work really hard for them.
My childhood made me want to set up my own business. From an early age I realised my philosophy was that I don’t want to be accountable to someone else. I want to be in charge of my own life.
As children, my friends and I had posters of Duran Duran on our walls, but my pin-ups were also successful business people like the Scottish entrepreneur Tom Hunter.
I am a born entrepreneur. When I was young I had a paper round that started at six o’clock each morning. Soon I was delivering hot rolls with the papers. Then after school I worked in a fruit shop before going home to do my homework. I didn’t want to keep going to my mum because she didn’t have the money to give me. All that work was good discipline and made me really streetwise.
I left school at 15 and worked as a fashion model, although I wasn’t that great! Then I got a job with Labatts beer. I started off as a junior and a couple of years later I was running the whole of the Scotland division. I was made redundant when I was 24, but it was the best thing to have happened to me. The fact that I no longer had a job meant that I had nothing to lose. I think that when anything goes wrong, one door closes, but another one will open.
It took three years to invent the Ultimo bra. A lot of time and money went into it. I got into around £300,000 worth of debt. There was many a time when family and friends told me to give up. I knew absolutely nothing about underwear when I started, but I think if you’re determined you will find out all you need to know. You can have all the degrees and A levels in the world, but if you’ve got no passion and no determination, there’s no point.
I have shared a platform with Mikhail Gorbachev, partied with Rod Stewart and been invited by Prince Charles to become a trustee of one of his charities.
I’m not motivated by money. I’m motivated by someone saying: “You can’t do that.” I love the challenge.
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