Following in the footsteps of Anne
Hi, I’m Francesca and a very new co-owner of Style My Kid.
My Mother, Anne Miles was a co investor along with Julie and Dan Harriss. I worked alongside Anne for many years as Head of PR and Manager of Intellectual Properties for a family owned business called Abbey Home Entertainment. We specialised in programming for children and were the leaders in the pre-school market. Anne was keen to expand into other areas and felt that Style My Kid was a fantastic opportunity. I refer to Anne in the past tense because she sadly died in April of this year, leaving her share of Style My Kid to me. Anne was a massive supporter of many children's charities including Children in Need and NSPCC - we hope that her legacy will live on in those she helped.
So my link is bittersweet. The joy of being involved in an exciting business, tinged with enormous sadness of losing the most incredible lady. But as Anne would say to me - onwards and upwards - and that is exactly what I will do.
Family, Dogs and Yoga!
I have been married for 23 years, I live in South West London and have two children (well young adults!) a son who will be 21 this year and a daughter who is 18. I enjoy exercising, I regularly do HIIT and yoga classes. I try to ‘be present on the mat’, a phrase that always makes me giggle and empty my mind of everything bar my yoga move, sometimes successfully, other times not!
We have 2 Portuguese Water Dogs called Matilda and Orlando (yes, really!) If you are wondering what they look like, picture a labradoodle as most people think that’s what they are. They are fantastic and are both therapy dogs. Matilda regularly visits the adolescent mental health unit at the Chelsea & Westminster Hospital and Orlando visits Royal Trinity Hospice. It’s incredible to see the positive impact the two of them have on both the patients, staff and patients family and it’s something I adore doing with them.
I love cooking and co-own a cookery school called Secret Ingredient. My business partner and I run cookery courses for children from the ages of 9 to university age. We teach small groups of up to 10 at any one time, specialising in Duke of Edinburgh Cookery Skills courses for Bronze, Silver and Gold Awards.
I’m incredibly lucky to have been able to stay at home and bring up my kids and find something that I enjoy doing and can fit in around my families life. I’m definitely ahead of the game from Amy and Julie as far as bringing up kids is concerned and like Julie I hope to bring you stories of things I have learnt from being a mum over the past 21 years. I definitely don’t always get it right but if my families antics and what I have learnt in both business and life make you laugh or help in any way, then that's good enough for me!
With love,
Francesca
Co owner SMK
