CEO/Founder & Creative Director
Blush London Ltd
00:00:06:22 – 00:00:08:06
Hi, I’m Jamila.
00:00:08:06 – 00:00:11:17
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.
“To be a successful entrepreneur, you have to be able to motivate yourself. And you have to be able to work on your own and actually stick to timelines and deadlines and be focused.”
Jamila is the founder of Slapp, a make-up app that matches consumers with products that are right for their skin tone. She always felt she was creative, but wasn’t very good at art or music. After a degree in classics, and a MA in fashion journalism, she found her focus in writing. A variety of internships to build her experience followed, with Jamila later becoming a beauty writer and editor. Realising the industry was not very inclusive, she decided to make a change and create Slapp.
More information about Chief executives and senior officials
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- Analyses economic, social, legal and other data, and plans, formulates and directs at strategic level the operation of a company or organisation;
- Consults with subordinates to formulate, implement and review company/organisation policy, authorises funding for policy implementation programmes and institutes reporting, auditing and control systems;
- Prepares, or arranges for the preparation of, reports, budgets, forecasts or other information;
- Plans and controls the allocation of resources and the selection of senior staff;
- Evaluates government/local authority departmental activities, discusses problems with government/local authority officials and administrators and formulates departmental policy;
- Negotiates and monitors contracted out services provided to the local authority by the private sector;
- Studies and acts upon any legislation that may affect the local authority;
- Stimulates public interest by providing publicity, giving lectures and interviews and organising appeals for a variety of causes;
- Directs or undertakes the preparation, publication and dissemination of reports and other information of interest to members and other interested parties.
- Analyses economic, social, legal and other data, and plans, formulates and directs at strategic level the operation of a company or organisation;
- Consults with subordinates to formulate, implement and review company/organisation policy, authorises funding for policy implementation programmes and institutes reporting, auditing and control systems;
- Prepares, or arranges for the preparation of, reports, budgets, forecasts or other information;
- Plans and controls the allocation of resources and the selection of senior staff;
- Evaluates government/local authority departmental activities, discusses problems with government/local authority officials and administrators and formulates departmental policy;
- Negotiates and monitors contracted out services provided to the local authority by the private sector;
- Studies and acts upon any legislation that may affect the local authority;
- Stimulates public interest by providing publicity, giving lectures and interviews and organising appeals for a variety of causes;
- Directs or undertakes the preparation, publication and dissemination of reports and other information of interest to members and other interested parties.
- Analyses economic, social, legal and other data, and plans, formulates and directs at strategic level the operation of a company or organisation;
- Consults with subordinates to formulate, implement and review company/organisation policy, authorises funding for policy implementation programmes and institutes reporting, auditing and control systems;
- Prepares, or arranges for the preparation of, reports, budgets, forecasts or other information;
- Plans and controls the allocation of resources and the selection of senior staff;
- Evaluates government/local authority departmental activities, discusses problems with government/local authority officials and administrators and formulates departmental policy;
- Negotiates and monitors contracted out services provided to the local authority by the private sector;
- Studies and acts upon any legislation that may affect the local authority;
- Stimulates public interest by providing publicity, giving lectures and interviews and organising appeals for a variety of causes;
- Directs or undertakes the preparation, publication and dissemination of reports and other information of interest to members and other interested parties.
