A former shop assistant who launched a fashion website that turns over £40M ($52,324M) a year, which is loved by celebrities, has revealed how she juggles looking after her young twins with running a business empire.
Emma Watkinson, 32, from London, co-founded women's clothing retailer SilkFred in 2011 and the business has enjoyed meteoric success, scooping countless awards.
The site, which sells clothing from 600 independent brands, is hugely popular with celebrities and influencers, including Made in Chelsea and Love Island stars.
Louise Thompson, Ashley James and Binky Felstead have all been spotted in SilkFred brands, as well as Love Island celebrities like Cara De La Hoyde.
Born in Liverpool to entrepreneurial parents, Emma studied English at university but always dreamed of running her own shop like her mother.
A career in fashion ensued, until a chance meeting in Spain helped Emma to finally realise her dream.
She began her career working part-time on the shop floor at Whistles in 2005 whilst studying at university and then went on to work on fashion magazines and with various retailers.
In 2011, at the age of 24, she met Stephen Jackson, a financial trader, while she was working for a company that had a luxury boutique in Marbella.
And when they returned to London, he asked her to meet him in a fast food chain to talk over a business idea.
His friend had invested in an independent handbag brand, and Stephen asked Emma's advice on how to help the fashion business grow.
The pair quickly realised there was a real opportunity to help all the independent brands get out to market, and that the high street customers were ready for something new and exciting.
They co-founded SilkFred alongside Stephen's sister Kate.
The trio managed to secure investment from three investors, who Emma calls her 'angels', allowing them to build the technology, begin signing up brands and start selling fashionable clothes
After some time, they started crowdfunding for the business and ended up raising £145,000.
Emma admits: 'We had to work hard to keep the business funded, especially when we didn't have as much traction. Even when we started to grow quickly, it was still a struggle.'
'The traditional VCs didn't see our potential, we weren't the next Facebook as far as they were concerned.'
'Our angel investors from the beginning and the new ones we found along the way believed in us and backed us as we continued to bring them better and better results.'
But Emma recalls the early days of business as 'exciting, tough, lonely, scary and fun all at the same time.'
'The first challenge was getting people to buy into our dream.
'No one had heard of the brands we wanted to work with, no one had heard of us. I didn't have a reputation in the industry. I had very few contacts.'
The entrepreneur admits that the brand struggled to find their audience at first, and that the company had to figure out how to sell online.
But after a steep learning curve, the brand were able to navigate the logistics and get the business up and running.
SilkFred are always seeking new brands to stock, although Emma says it's no longer part of her role as CEO.
'We have a team of brand scouts who go to trade shows, markets and events. They always have their fingers on the pulse and always researching new brands on social media.'
Emma, who is now a married mother of 10-month-old twins, also believes her struggles in business have made her 'a stronger, more resilient person'.
Her typical day involves waking up at around 6am to feed her daughters, before sharing a coffee with husband Victor and heading off to the office.
She then has a morning of meetings with various team members, brands and investors.
She revealed: 'I try to keep a few hours back in the afternoon to catch up on emails or work on plans and strategy for the future.'
But the mother of two says she tries to make the time to get home in time for bath and bed with the girls at 7pm.
Later in the evening, she takes phone calls and ties up any loose ends from the day, before one last scroll through her emails and bed.
She admits she struggles to switch off, because thoughts about the brand are 'free flowing', and says she enjoys 'thinking through how to solve problems or come up with new ideas to make life better for brands and customers.'
SilkFred has been nominated for two Retail Week Awards awards - best fashion retailer 2019 and best emerging retail at this years Retail Week Awards.
This article has been adapted from its original source.
