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CLAIRE SIGNE ALVAREZ ØLLGAARD / PHIE FRIIS
THE NEW FACE OF THE DANISH BUSINESS WORLD
ENGLISH BUSINESS WOMAN CLAIRE ROSS-BROWN HAS DONE IT ALL, ACTING, BUSINESS CONSULTANCY, MUSIC AND IS EVEN A WELL-KNOWN VOICE OVER ARTIST. SHE SHARES WITH US HER PASSION FOR FAMILY, HELPING OTHERS IN NEED AND DOING BUSINESS IN A COUNTRY SHE IS PROUD TO CALL HOME. PHOTOGRAPHS SIGNE ALVAREZ / STEEN EVALD / SIGNE MØRKEBERG SJØSTRØM / SIGNE ALLVAREZ ØLLGAARD MAKE-UP AND HAIR PHIE FRIIS / LINA MAAROUF TEXT DAVID NOTHLING -DEMMER
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“I REALLY HAVE a lot of different blood inside me,” this is what Claire Ross-Brown tells me as she explains that while she is from Chelsea in London, her grandmother is Scottish, father is English and mother is of Italian and Malaysian ancestry. Now, she has raised a family of Danes while balancing a career in entertainment with a finesse for finance. Claire describes her own upbringing as privileged, yet very dysfunctional, “an odd combination and yet one that made me grow up knowing exactly what type of family I wanted to create for myself,” she says. She married a Dane, made the move to Denmark and then found a husband she was “meant to be with”. In the process, her three children, Scarlett 17, William 20 and Frederikke 22 have been raised the way she always envisioned, as one big, happy family. “I always say I’m proud to be British, as I love my own language and some of our English ways – but I absolutely consider Denmark my home.” Claire says this is because she now has a family she always dreamt about as a young girl; “I have an amazing husband and three wonderful children who are all so kind and talented in their own special ways.” Danish men are wonderful dads she adds, “it’s one of their best qualities, and I love to see how ‘hands
JULY 2018 - WWW.THE-INTL.COM
on’ they are with their kids. I think English men could learn a bit from them,” she smiles. “I loved Denmark from the minute I arrived – I always knew that I didn’t want to live in London, so for me Denmark was not a hard transition. The weather is not that different, and neither are the people,” Claire says as she explains that her experiences with Danes have been of really open, friendly and good people.
MULTI-TALENTED Although many years ago now, she describes moving to Denmark as a decision that made sense. “I love the way children grow up here – the freedom they have.” Her own upbringing saw her begin a career in acting at an early age – just 14 years old. Even from young she wanted to be a ballerina, and started with ballet classes which took a natural progression into the “arts” world. “I loved to act, sing and dance, and really pushed my mother to go a school where I could do this. I attended the Corona Academy of Performing Arts, and started with some small parts in amongst other things; East Enders and a film by Ken Russell called The Rainbow.” Realising the importance of education, she