Grace Beverley: How To Build A Multi-Million Pound Empire At 24 | E69

One of the reasons I stepped back from social media was because I (dramatic music) ... if something can manifest so physically that you're having a fucking seizure-

Mm.

... then you probably need to take this more seriously. And that was, you know, like, that was, that was tough. (dramatic music) And that, for me, is my happiness.

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Grace Beverley, CEO and founder of two multi-million dollar companies. One's a fashion empire that's focused on sustainability, and one's a fitness empire comprising a mobile app, a supplements business, and gym equipment. She did all of that while studying and graduating from Oxford University, while growing her online channels to millions and millions of followers, while writing a book, and while dealing with all of the things that every other Gen Z person has to deal with at the age of 23. 23. And on the surface, it's easy to understand while looking in, someone might love to have Grace's life. But as you start to peel back the layers as we do in this conversation, you begin to understand her obsessive attention to detail, the weight of her workload, and the personal cost of her accomplishments. And you see the impact that those things have had on all parts of her life, and it makes you reconsider. Despite all of this, she's persisted. She's stayed true to her values. She's doubled down on the things she loves the most, and she's cut out some of the things that no longer serve her. She's learnt. She's learnt lessons that most of us would take a lifetime to learn, and she's 23. It blows my mind. Without further ado, I'm Steven Bartlett, and this is the Diary of a CEO. I hope nobody's listening, but if you are, then please keep this to yourself.

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Grace, I started my business at 18 years old as well. You, um, you faced a different set of challenges. Not only have you started your business at an incredibly young age, or you, or at least you got into business at an incredibly young age, you faced a set of challenges that are even alien to me in the sense that you are a woman in business, um, you are taking on various industries that don't want to be taken on and that really are sort of incumbent monopolies in the space of fast fashion and, and fitness and those things. I guess my first question is, why did you choose business, and what gave you the, what gave you the confidence to pursue a career that's filled with so much uncertainty at such a, a young age?

I think, I think people often assume that the first part of it always has to be a kind of, "I'm gonna start this. I'm gonna do this," and I think that mine absolutely wasn't that at all. And I think that that's what often makes me kind of question, you know, the amount of things that have had to fall into place for this to happen. And, of course, you know, there's hard work in that, but there's also so many other things that have had to go right. Um, so for me, you know, as I kind of said, when I was 18 and working, doing an internship at IBM, that's kind of when I started, and I just started doing some, I essentially started monetizing something that should be monetized. So, it was content I was giving away for free, and then I was gonna do lots more of that, and so I decided to monetize it via an e-book. Um, and then, you know, the next year, I did more of that, and then that's, you know, then it started picking up momentum. I started doing different products, and I think that that's, I guess, often not seen in the way that business is represented. It's kind of seen as, like, a eureka moment, then you go and do it, then you put it into action, then you fail once or twice, and then you get it.