CEO/Founder & Creative Director
Blush London Ltd

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Hi, I’m Jamila.

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I’m the CEO and founder of the SLAPP app or SLAPP,

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as we like to call ourselves. So Slapp is a make up app.

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You take a selfie

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and you’ll instantly match the products that are right for your skin tone.

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The idea is that we wanted to create an inclusive space

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that everyone could shop in and find the perfect products for them.

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I live in West London.

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I think my favourite things about being a CEO running my own

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business is I get to do something different every day.

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I get to meet lots of different people.

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I get to make my own hours, do what I like when I want to, which is really fun.

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I think my least favourite thing about being a CEO or running my own

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business is you’d never really switch off and you don’t really get holidays.

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People talk about bank holidays and you’re like, “what’s a bank holiday?

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I don’t know what that is.”

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I’m one of those freaks that actually loved going to school.

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I was quite arty, but not as arty as some.

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So I was kind of in that weird space

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where I felt like I was a creative, but I couldn’t really draw.

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I couldn’t really sing.

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I was kind of that type of person, so I really enjoyed writing – languages as well.

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I kind of took that into uni and I did classics.

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I think my only regret is I didn’t do something that I really, really loved,

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that I was trying to be too smart about it.

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But it was a fantastic degree and I had a great time.

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After that, I did an MA in fashion journalism,

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so I got to do my like English stuff then, which was really fantastic.

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So after uni, after my MA

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in fashion journalism, I did lots of internships.

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I think my first internship was in a PR agency – a fashion PR agency.

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And I worked for them at Fashion Week and it was just such a great experience.

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Then I did a bit of styling

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and whilst I was doing that, I was doing like writing jobs as well.

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Everything was for free at that time, but it’s a really good idea

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to build your portfolio

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and just get experience, learn to meet people, especially in the creative industries.

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It’s really about who you know, so I would recommend just doing things

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for free starting off if you can,

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even if you’re doing them on the weekends

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just to gain that experience and gain those contacts early on.

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I really decided, like when I was about 16, that I wanted to be in fashion.

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I wanted to be a fashion editor.

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I wanted to be editor of Vogue, but into being an entrepreneur and starting Slapp.

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It was actually working in the industry as a beauty writer and a beauty editor.

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And seeing that the beauty industry had not moved since I was 17

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and it was still not a very inclusive place

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and it was not very concerned with being an inclusive place.

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And I really wanted to do something to change that.

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So that’s why I started Slapp.

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I think to make it work and to actually be good

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or to be a successful entrepreneur, you have to be able to motivate yourself.

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And you have to be able to work on your own

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and actually stick to timelines and deadlines and be focused.

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When you’re an entrepreneur

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you do need to have a real variety and range of skills.

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So it’s actually really great if you are good at lots of different

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things or you know about doing lots of different things as well.

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I think my one piece of advice is to not give up

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and also to do something you genuinely enjoy.

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It’s kind of important to be doing something you really enjoy,

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otherwise you won’t want to be doing it every day.