I just interviewed one of my dream guests, Jo Malone!

·50 min·5 clips

Jo Malone was given nine months to live after a breast cancer diagnosis that changed her life and career.

The episode begins with host Doone Roisin introducing Jo Malone as a guest and sharing a personal anecdote about listening to Jo's interview while stranded in London during the pandemic. Jo discusses her current life in Dubai, emphasizing creativity and opportunity. She reflects on her personality, describing herself as creative, a loner, and happily married for 38 years to her business partner Gary. Jo talks about her conservation project in South Africa with rescued elephants. The conversation shifts to entrepreneurship, with Jo advising not to fear mistakes and sharing Nelson Mandela's quote: 'I either win or I learn.' She explains her lack of formal education and how it didn't hinder her success. Jo details her BBC Maestro course, which offers alternative business strategies without traditional charts or graphs. She describes a unique hiring test involving white objects to assess creativity. Jo reveals her dyslexia and anxiety, relating it to her creative thinking. She recounts her breast cancer diagnosis, given nine months to live, and how it affected her sense of smell and led to leaving Jo Malone London. Jo explains the birth of Jo Loves, named by her son, and her love for fragrance as a 'best friend.' She discusses her framework for creativity as storytelling and being a 'gatekeeper to scent memories.' Jo shares advice for her younger self, including enjoying the moment and holding onto equity. She introduces the 'pizza boardroom' concept for low-cost business advice and emphasizes including younger generations in decision-making. The episode concludes with mutual appreciation and an invitation to Australia.

As heard by us

Jo Malone turns business structure into something personal, practical, and revealing.

Female Startup Club shapes the Jo Malone interview around ideas that are easy to follow without losing their edge. Malone says she called her company Birthday Cake because signing contracts should feel fun rather than dull, and that preference carries through her comments on…

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Why you'd press play

If you think a company called Birthday Cake is already more interesting than most pitch decks.

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