Jacqueline Gold

Desert Island Discs

BBC

Society & Culture, Music Commentary, Music, Personal Journals

4.4 • 13.7K Ratings

🗓️ 28 October 2018

⏱️ 38 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Jacqueline Gold is the CEO of the retail brands Ann Summers and Knickerbox. She joined the business at the age of 19 for work experience, and faced resistance because her father, David Gold, was the owner. By the time she was 21, she had persuaded the largely sceptical all-male board to invest in her radical idea: to re-invent the Ann Summers brand by selling lingerie and sex toys at women-only parties held in their homes. Along with the parties, there are now over 100 high street shops, with a multi-million pound turnover. Jacqueline’s childhood was difficult after her parents divorced when she was 12. Although she was a shy child, she worked throughout her teens which brought her a degree of financial independence and resilience. Today she’s a strong advocate of female empowerment, supports women in business and has set up the WOW incentive on Twitter. Jacqueline was awarded a CBE in 2016 and was ranked as the 16th wealthiest female entrepreneur by The Sunday Times in 2017. Happily married for the second time, she and her husband Dan underwent several courses of IVF treatment, and she eventually conceived twins. One of the children, Alfie, only survived for eight months. Their daughter, Scarlett is now aged nine. CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: Wishin' On A Star - Rose Royce BOOK CHOICE: The Secret by Rhonda Byrne LUXURY ITEM: Her own feather pillow Presenter: Lauren Laverne Producer: Cathy Drysdale

Transcript

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0:00.0	BBC Sounds Music Radio Podcasts
0:04.9	Hello, I'm Lauren LeVern and this is the Desert Island Disks Podcast.
0:08.6	Every week I ask my guests to choose the 8 tracks, book and luxury they'd want to take
0:13.3	with them if they were cast away to a desert island.
0:16.6	For right reasons, the music is shorter than the original broadcast.
0:20.7	I hope you enjoy listening.
0:30.0	Music Radio Music
0:42.4	My cast away this week is Jacqueline Gold.
0:45.0	You could be forgiven for associating her with another woman's name before her own.
0:49.3	Back in the early 70s and summers was a small chain of shops her father picked up for a song.
0:55.1	Back then they sold top shelf magazines and sex toys to an almost exclusively male clientele.
1:01.2	Jacqueline describes as the raincoat brigade.
1:04.2	Her idea to focus the business on women only at home sales parties turned it into a nationally
1:10.4	successful brand.
1:12.1	She insists that her way of doing business empowers women in the boardroom and the bedroom,
1:17.4	describing her company as a female institution.
1:20.9	Her shops are a familiar presence on British high streets and are holding fast in a time of uncertainty for retailers.
1:27.9	As she puts it, sex sells even in recession.
1:31.2	But if you think she's had a charmed life, the personal story that accompanies her professional success might come as a surprise.
1:38.1	She faced traumatic teenage years, ominous threats from opponents to her business,
1:42.6	the loss of a child in infancy and a cancer diagnosis.
1:46.5	Success, she says, is about confidence, but first comes courage.
	...

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