HEALTH & BEAUTY • INTERVIEW hubbub is Queen Bee Liz, a sea of calm, flawless skin framing delicate features and bright, softly lined eyes. For many, the Liz Earle name will be synonymous with the iconic skincare brand whose Hot Cloth Cleanser become a cult favourite of the nation’s beauty lovers. With its focus on naturally active ingredients and botanicals, Liz was arguably ahead of the curve when she founded the brand with friend Kim Buckland back in 1995. “I was very lucky when we started the company my business partner and I were at the same stage of life, we both had young children so understood each other,” Liz recalls. “I often say to young women who are thinking of going into business with a partner, make sure you each understand where you are in your particular stage of life.” After 15 prosperous years, which saw the brand go from strength to strength, the company was snapped up by beauty conglomerate Avon in 2010 and is now owned by Walgreens Boots Alliance. Fast-forward to 2017, and with an MBE and 35 best-selling books under her belt, this mother of five is again entering a new stage of life, leaving her eponymous brand behind and setting her sights on the big bad world of wellness. Fresh from filming in Europe for ITV’s This Morning, Liz’s natural warmth and eloquence make her a natural in front of the camera. “It’s been like coming home,” she says with a smile. “I started working on This Morning when I was 25 and then spent four years with Richard and Judy. I was thrown in at the deep end, doing live TV, phone-ins and outside broadcasts. You get real authenticity with live TV, it’s a very genuine way of communicating.” Invigorated by her return to the small screen, her new mini-series addresses the complexities of an ageing population, specifically the question of how we can live younger for longer. “It’s not just about the number of years on your life but the quality in your years,” she explains. “When I was filming in Greece and Italy there were all these 80 and
PANCETT AND ROOT VEG GRATIN - CREDIT LIZ EARLE WELLBEING YEARBOOK VOLUME 2
90-year olds and none of them wore glasses, had hearing aids or false teeth. But I think, overwhelmingly, there was this sense of community.” In many ways, Liz Earle is a delightful contradiction. She’s an author, TV presenter and old-school journalist with over 30 years experience writing about health and wellbeing. She was talking about kale long before Deliciously Ella was born. Yet she is entering the Millennial world of wellness, armed with a YouTube channel, podcast, website and glossy print magazine. How does she reconcile the two? “I’ve written about this area for 30 years and I haven’t changed my story. That’s what I’m pleased about. I was looking at a book I wrote 25 years ago called Eat Yourself Beautiful and in it I was talking about this strange things called ‘spelt’, a grain no one had heard of, and how almond milk is really hard to get hold of. Now you go into any garage forecourt and they’re selling it,” she says with a laugh. “But the great thing about being online is that there’s an amazing opportunity to have broader horizons, and at a flick
“I’ve written about this area for 30 years and I haven’t changed my story”
LIZ'S WELLBEING TEAM PHOTO BY GEORGIA GLYNN
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