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Conversations of Inspiration

The overnight success that took over a decade to build, with Marisa Hordern, founder of Missoma

Conversations of Inspiration

Holly Tucker MBE

Education, Society & Culture, Entrepreneurship, Self-improvement, Business, Personal Journals

5.01.3K Ratings

🗓️ 31 October 2022

⏱️ 69 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

This week Holly speaks with Marisa Hordern, founder of London based jewellery brand, Missoma.

Born at the kitchen table, Missoma started as a side hustle. Now, after over a decade of incredible hard work and grit, Missoma is an iconic jewellery brand beloved by millennials and A listers alike.

Often referred to as an overnight success, Marisa sheds light on this misconception, and the first seven years she battled through to get her business off the ground, where at her lowest point, she considered terminating Missoma all together. 

However, with love, passion and determination, Marisa recognised that ‘going through the trenches, makes you appreciate things more’, and looking back shares what decisions she made to turn the tables in order to be where she is today. 

Talking about the pivotal moments on her journey, from creating a new niche for demi-fine jewellery in the industry, to changing her business model from largely wholesale business to an online retailer, which really changed the game. 

Marisa also shares with Holly her top pieces of advice from her business journey so far – from building a loyal team, to the importance of digital marketing in our modern age, and sharing her expertise on sustainability and being honest with your customers. 

It’s a conversation that speaks to the bravery and passion in all of us, of what might just be possible if we are prepared to trust our gut, challenge the status quo and most importantly, be confident in ourselves and our dreams.



If you enjoyed this episode, head on over to Holly’s conversations with Sahar Hashemi, founder of Coffee Republic, which we think you’ll love too. 

Plus for more unfiltered insight, subscribe to Holly’s weekly newsletters on our website, where she shares small business inspiration of all kinds, exclusive nuggets of wisdom from her and her guests, plus offers, creative ideas and topical, 'ungoogleable' business advice. 

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

anyone that knows me knows I'm a complete dual holic. And so it was my utter pleasure and

0:05.7

honor to speak with Marisa, founder of Missima this week. Marisa's journey is one that really

0:13.3

resonates with me and we feel like peas in a pod. We have so many shared experiences and shared

0:19.9

knowledge of what it takes to grow a business. So many experiences that really truly have to find

0:27.4

us as human beings. And hearing her brand journey I think will resonate with so many of you

0:35.5

that it takes true grit that you have to visualize your journey. You don't always have to have it

0:42.0

written down, not that Marisa wants to do that ever again. And also would love you to listen out

0:47.6

to the part where she screams out to her friends, be it faster because it's our support groups

0:54.3

and our networks and our family and our friends that help founders really truly build their dreams.

1:10.8

I'm Holly Tucker and welcome to Conversations of Inspiration. Back in 2006 I founded not on the

1:18.0

high street from my kitchen table and since then I've gone on to launch Holly and Co. I'm the UK

1:24.3

ambassador of creative small businesses and I believe that having a business doing what you love

1:30.0

is the key to a happy fulfilled life. My dream is to help everybody start theirs. I'm here to offer

1:37.2

advice, inspiration, wisdom and encouragement and in my view the best way to do this is by sharing

1:45.3

stories. So I've reached out to my favorite small businesses, entrepreneurs and those who simply inspire

1:52.3

me and ask them to share theirs. With thanks to Adobe who've helped bring this podcast to life.

1:59.6

Here are my Conversations of Inspiration.

2:06.3

Marisa what a pleasure it is to be speaking to you today because I know we had a little chat

2:11.6

in lockdown through SMESOS so thank you so much for that. Yes we did. And the last time you and I

2:17.6

met we were at the Brits where we had lots of fun and we kept on promising each other we've got

2:23.2

to meet up again but because we both run companies it just so happens that we don't.

2:28.4

Well I'm so thrilled to be here thank you for having me and finally a company we get to catch up

...

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