Latest news with #Service95
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Dua Lipa has tried to make literature sexy – and it's working
Dua Lipa is many things. A pop star with seven Brit Awards and three Grammys; an actress in blockbusters like Barbie; a fashion designer who launched a range with Donatella Versace. To which she can justifiably add: one of Britain's foremost literary tastemakers. Her social media feeds are chock-full of pictures of Lipa posing with high-brow books, she has given a speech at the Booker Prize ceremony and, for the past two years, Lipa has run the Service95 Book Club, which sees her pick a new tome each month and interview its author. Guests have included the likes of Booker-winner Douglas Stuart (recorded live at the Hay Festival, no less), the legendary Patti Smith and Patrick Radden Keefe, author of Say Nothing. Spotify has just snapped up Lipa's podcast, a big bet that her literary credentials are only going to grow. 'For me, one of the best things about reading is getting to chat with my friends about the book that's just blown my mind,' Lipa said when announcing the Spotify deal. 'But surely the ultimate fantasy would be to have the author in the room there with us, answering all our questions about the incredible world they've created. Well, I get to live out my fantasy with the Service95 Book Club podcast… as someone who really is obsessed with books, it's a dream come true.' For an author to have their work endorsed by Lipa is the real dream come true, and it is hard to overstate how much of a boost publishers get if she recommends their book to her huge fanbase. For instance, in 2020, Lipa posed in a bikini with a copy of A Little Life, Hanya Yanagihara's graphic tale of sexual abuse and self-harm that had originally been published in 2015. For the next month, sales were four times as high as usual. 'Most of the time in publishing, you can't really see the impact of things… there's a whole bunch of different things happening. But when it's late in a book's life you can actually see the impact of one thing,' says Ravi Mirchandani, who published A Little Life in the UK when he ran Picador. 'It was a five-year-old book that was selling very, very strongly, [and] the sales bump was entirely attributable to Dua Lipa. There was no ambiguity about it.' The publishing industry – especially the literary end – will take all the help it can get, with bestseller lists dominated by celebrity authors like Richard Osman or the romantasy titles that are popular with Gen Z on TikTok. Mirchandani adds: 'Precisely because Dua Lipa's constituency is young and not particularly book-focused – because they come to her for her music – even if it's a relatively small percentage of her very enormous fanbase who go out and buy the books, that makes an awful lot of difference to the relatively small business that is books.' Gaby Wood, the chief executive of the Booker Prize Foundation, approached Lipa when she saw that she was posting about the books she enjoyed reading online and noticed that she had 'really good taste'. Wood invited Lipa to give a speech at the Booker Prize ceremony in October 2022, a decision that, she admits, triggered a 'slight sceptical eyebrow raise' from some in the industry. Lipa took the invitation so seriously that she read all seven of the shortlisted titles, and what she said on stage did much to banish any scepticism. 'Touring commitments take me all over the globe and life is often hectic,' she told the great and the good of the publishing world at London's Roundhouse. 'Sometimes, just to survive, I need to adopt a tough exterior. And at these times, it is books that soften me.' She enthused about interviewing authors on her podcast ('They make incredible guests because they are so in tune with human emotion: it's honestly better than any therapy session I've ever been to!') and how important literature is to her ('Good writing has the power to make people feel seen and heard, to tell stories that the world has ignored. We all just want to love and be loved and find our place in the world, and authors really help us to do that.') Wood says: 'As soon as she stood up and gave that speech she convinced [the doubters].' A cynic might suggest that Lipa is using her professed love of books to boost her personal brand. And there is a strain of earnestness in her literary likes: she recently revealed in a Vogue interview that she got together with her now-fiancé, Master of the Air actor Callum Turner, after she realised 'we both just happened to be reading the same book' (Hernan Diaz's Trust, which was later featured in the book club). As a listener, it can feel jarring when, for instance, the singer of One Kiss asks Keefe about Gerry Adams and 'his journey from alleged cold-blooded terrorist to smiling peacemaker', or how Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's characters 'intentionally mirror loss of hope in a newly-independent Nigeria'. But her interviewing technique works, and Lipa has an uncanny ability to get under the skin of her guests. The book world, which is not always the most welcoming to interlopers, especially famous ones, has embraced Lipa with open arms. The writer Blake Lefray hailed her as the world's best literary interviewer – one who doesn't ask the obvious questions – in a video that went viral on YouTube this year. 'I've had a great response,' she said in a 2023 interview. 'People say that their kids started reading because I posted about books. Everything is so bite size now, but reading takes you from that. It's cool to encourage younger generations to read, which maybe isn't so instilled in them because of social media. I know reading has been on a decline, but I read everywhere.' Lipa has often talked about how she has always curated lists – of books, of restaurants, of tourist experiences – that she shares with her friends and family. She turned that into a weekly lifestyle newsletter, Service95, which she launched after the coronavirus pandemic to try and 'find order in the chaos'. In contrast with Gwyneth Paltrow's Goop or Kourtney Kardashian's Poosh, the name is easily explained, as Lipa has said: 'I was born in '95, and I have always seen myself as someone who is of service to my fans and followers.' 'She just loves to inform and draw attention to things she thinks are amazing and you should be aware of,' says a source close to the star. Unlike other celebrities with book clubs – such as Reese Witherspoon, who often also buys film rights for her selections – Lipa does not appear to be in it for the money. 'It's a labour of love. It's very authentically something that she loves to do,' the source adds. 'She's always talked about books and reading, and does these things and interviews these authors because she genuinely is interested and excited about them and what they've done.' That is borne out by her other literary-adjacent endeavours, such as visiting the women-only HMP Downview in London with Wood to talk with an inmates' book group. 'She was really wonderful at the prison, with the group of women, very sensitive and very direct and honest,' Wood remembers. 'That was incredibly impressive. And she gave so much of her time to that which she didn't have to do at all.' Lipa is not what you would call a prolific pop star – she has put out only three studio albums since 2017 – but she is phenomenally successful. She headlined Glastonbury last year and became the first artist in history to have five songs with more than 2 billion streams each, while she is set to play a pair of sold-out homecoming shows at Wembley Stadium this week and has amassed a £115 million fortune, according to the Sunday Times Rich List, making her one of the wealthiest under-30s in the UK. She is also renowned by those in the industry for having a Stakhanovite work ethic and highly-organised nature, which lets her embark on a gruelling multi-hyphenate career – and read a lot. Lipa revealed last year that she plans everything in her life, including when to shower and watch TV, 'down to the minute'. 'I need to plan things in order for me to be able to do work and take care of me,' she told the American talkshow host Jimmy Kimmel. 'I like to plan things and that way I can feel like I can do it all.' It is a habit she picked up in childhood. Sources say that Lipa makes all of the selections for her book club, as well as doing all of the research (reading newspaper articles and listening to other podcasts) about her upcoming guests. Her interviewing style is accomplished. Lipa clearly reads the books she talks about closely and has the ability to quickly build a rapport with someone on the other end of a video call. 'She is beguilingly frank, and that's not true of most high profile people who want to expand into another dimension: they don't really talk about what touches their hearts,' says Wood. 'That is where this comes from. I know that sounds soppy, but that is what makes it effective.' Every aspect of the book club appears to be well-thought-out than. Rather than send would-be readers to the high street-killing Amazon to buy her recommendations, Lipa provides links to bricks-and-mortar chains (Waterstones in the UK and Barnes & Noble in the US) and the indie-friendly website. Speak to anybody in the literary industry about Lipa and they do not have a bad word to say about her. 'What she's done for books is astonishing,' says Wood. 'She has transformed the landscape of readership because people follow her and respect her; she brings her music audience with her. The literary world really massively respects her, quite rightly… I hear people talking all the time about how good she is and from all corners. That's a remarkably quick rise in this world.' Mirchandani felt so grateful to Lipa for interviewing two of his novelists – Stuart and Yanagihara – that he went out and bought one of her CDs. 'I thought it was the least I could do to thank her for my rather pleasing bonuses at the end of relevant financial years,' he says. 'One would have to be a phenomenal snob not to be grateful to her. I don't think I know anybody in publishing who's quite that degree of a snob. I think the word 'gratitude' is the main one. The books that she was focusing on were books that did not strike everybody as ones for the mainstream. She's on the side of the angels.' Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Telegraph
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
Dua Lipa has tried to make literature sexy – and it's working
Dua Lipa is many things. A pop star with seven Brit Awards and three Grammys; an actress in blockbusters like Barbie; a fashion designer who launched a range with Donatella Versace. To which she can justifiably add: one of Britain's foremost literary tastemakers. Her social media feeds are chock-full of pictures of Lipa posing with high-brow books, she has given a speech at the Booker Prize ceremony and, for the past two years, Lipa has run the Service95 Book Club, which sees her pick a new tome each month and interview its author. Guests have included the likes of Booker-winner Douglas Stuart (recorded live at the Hay Festival, no less), the legendary Patti Smith and Patrick Radden Keefe, author of Say Nothing. Spotify has just snapped up Lipa's podcast, a big bet that her literary credentials are only going to grow. 'For me, one of the best things about reading is getting to chat with my friends about the book that's just blown my mind,' Lipa said when announcing the Spotify deal. 'But surely the ultimate fantasy would be to have the author in the room there with us, answering all our questions about the incredible world they've created. Well, I get to live out my fantasy with the Service95 Book Club podcast… as someone who really is obsessed with books, it's a dream come true.' For an author to have their work endorsed by Lipa is the real dream come true, and it is hard to overstate how much of a boost publishers get if she recommends their book to her huge fanbase. For instance, in 2020, Lipa posed in a bikini with a copy of A Little Life, Hanya Yanagihara's graphic tale of sexual abuse and self-harm that had originally been published in 2015. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Spotify UK & Ireland (@spotifyuk) For the next month, sales were four times as high as usual. 'Most of the time in publishing, you can't really see the impact of things… there's a whole bunch of different things happening. But when it's late in a book's life you can actually see the impact of one thing,' says Ravi Mirchandani, who published A Little Life in the UK when he ran Picador. 'It was a five-year-old book that was selling very, very strongly, [and] the sales bump was entirely attributable to Dua Lipa. There was no ambiguity about it.' The publishing industry – especially the literary end – will take all the help it can get, with bestseller lists dominated by celebrity authors like Richard Osman or the romantasy titles that are popular with Gen Z on TikTok. Mirchandani adds: 'Precisely because Dua Lipa's constituency is young and not particularly book-focused – because they come to her for her music – even if it's a relatively small percentage of her very enormous fanbase who go out and buy the books, that makes an awful lot of difference to the relatively small business that is books.' Gaby Wood, the chief executive of the Booker Prize Foundation, approached Lipa when she saw that she was posting about the books she enjoyed reading online and noticed that she had 'really good taste'. Wood invited Lipa to give a speech at the Booker Prize ceremony in October 2022, a decision that, she admits, triggered a 'slight sceptical eyebrow raise' from some in the industry. Lipa took the invitation so seriously that she read all seven of the shortlisted titles, and what she said on stage did much to banish any scepticism. 'Touring commitments take me all over the globe and life is often hectic,' she told the great and the good of the publishing world at London's Roundhouse. 'Sometimes, just to survive, I need to adopt a tough exterior. And at these times, it is books that soften me.' She enthused about interviewing authors on her podcast ('They make incredible guests because they are so in tune with human emotion: it's honestly better than any therapy session I've ever been to!') and how important literature is to her ('Good writing has the power to make people feel seen and heard, to tell stories that the world has ignored. We all just want to love and be loved and find our place in the world, and authors really help us to do that.') Wood says: 'As soon as she stood up and gave that speech she convinced [the doubters].' A cynic might suggest that Lipa is using her professed love of books to boost her personal brand. And there is a strain of earnestness in her literary likes: she recently revealed in a Vogue interview that she got together with her now-fiancé, Master of the Air actor Callum Turner, after she realised 'we both just happened to be reading the same book' (Hernan Diaz's Trust, which was later featured in the book club). As a listener, it can feel jarring when, for instance, the singer of One Kiss asks Keefe about Gerry Adams and 'his journey from alleged cold-blooded terrorist to smiling peacemaker', or how Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's characters 'intentionally mirror loss of hope in a newly-independent Nigeria'. But her interviewing technique works, and Lipa has an uncanny ability to get under the skin of her guests. The book world, which is not always the most welcoming to interlopers, especially famous ones, has embraced Lipa with open arms. The writer Blake Lefray hailed her as the world's best literary interviewer – one who doesn't ask the obvious questions – in a video that went viral on YouTube this year. 'I've had a great response,' she said in a 2023 interview. 'People say that their kids started reading because I posted about books. Everything is so bite size now, but reading takes you from that. It's cool to encourage younger generations to read, which maybe isn't so instilled in them because of social media. I know reading has been on a decline, but I read everywhere.' Lipa has often talked about how she has always curated lists – of books, of restaurants, of tourist experiences – that she shares with her friends and family. She turned that into a weekly lifestyle newsletter, Service95, which she launched after the coronavirus pandemic to try and 'find order in the chaos'. In contrast with Gwyneth Paltrow's Goop or Kourtney Kardashian's Poosh, the name is easily explained, as Lipa has said: 'I was born in '95, and I have always seen myself as someone who is of service to my fans and followers.' 'She just loves to inform and draw attention to things she thinks are amazing and you should be aware of,' says a source close to the star. Unlike other celebrities with book clubs – such as Reese Witherspoon, who often also buys film rights for her selections – Lipa does not appear to be in it for the money. 'It's a labour of love. It's very authentically something that she loves to do,' the source adds. 'She's always talked about books and reading, and does these things and interviews these authors because she genuinely is interested and excited about them and what they've done.' That is borne out by her other literary-adjacent endeavours, such as visiting the women-only HMP Downview in London with Wood to talk with an inmates' book group. 'She was really wonderful at the prison, with the group of women, very sensitive and very direct and honest,' Wood remembers. 'That was incredibly impressive. And she gave so much of her time to that which she didn't have to do at all.' Lipa is not what you would call a prolific pop star – she has put out only three studio albums since 2017 – but she is phenomenally successful. She headlined Glastonbury last year and became the first artist in history to have five songs with more than 2 billion streams each, while she is set to play a pair of sold-out homecoming shows at Wembley Stadium this week and has amassed a £115 million fortune, according to the Sunday Times Rich List, making her one of the wealthiest under-30s in the UK. She is also renowned by those in the industry for having a Stakhanovite work ethic and highly-organised nature, which lets her embark on a gruelling multi-hyphenate career – and read a lot. Lipa revealed last year that she plans everything in her life, including when to shower and watch TV, 'down to the minute'. 'I need to plan things in order for me to be able to do work and take care of me,' she told the American talkshow host Jimmy Kimmel. 'I like to plan things and that way I can feel like I can do it all.' It is a habit she picked up in childhood. Sources say that Lipa makes all of the selections for her book club, as well as doing all of the research (reading newspaper articles and listening to other podcasts) about her upcoming guests. Her interviewing style is accomplished. Lipa clearly reads the books she talks about closely and has the ability to quickly build a rapport with someone on the other end of a video call. 'She is beguilingly frank, and that's not true of most high profile people who want to expand into another dimension: they don't really talk about what touches their hearts,' says Wood. 'That is where this comes from. I know that sounds soppy, but that is what makes it effective.' View this post on Instagram A post shared by SERVICE95 (@service95) Every aspect of the book club appears to be well-thought-out than. Rather than send would-be readers to the high street-killing Amazon to buy her recommendations, Lipa provides links to bricks-and-mortar chains (Waterstones in the UK and Barnes & Noble in the US) and the indie-friendly website. Speak to anybody in the literary industry about Lipa and they do not have a bad word to say about her. 'What she's done for books is astonishing,' says Wood. 'She has transformed the landscape of readership because people follow her and respect her; she brings her music audience with her. The literary world really massively respects her, quite rightly… I hear people talking all the time about how good she is and from all corners. That's a remarkably quick rise in this world.' Mirchandani felt so grateful to Lipa for interviewing two of his novelists – Stuart and Yanagihara – that he went out and bought one of her CDs. 'I thought it was the least I could do to thank her for my rather pleasing bonuses at the end of relevant financial years,' he says. 'One would have to be a phenomenal snob not to be grateful to her. I don't think I know anybody in publishing who's quite that degree of a snob. I think the word 'gratitude' is the main one. The books that she was focusing on were books that did not strike everybody as ones for the mainstream. She's on the side of the angels.'
The Independent
12-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Independent
Dua Lipa confirms long-speculated engagement to actor Callum Turner
Dua Lipa has confirmed her engagement to the English actor Callum Turner, months after speculation began. She went on the record about the engagement in a cover story for British Vogue 's July issue, published Thursday, calling it 'very exciting.' The 29-year-old said she was obsessed with the ring Turner had made for her. 'It's so me. It's nice to know the person that you're going to spend the rest of your life with knows you very well,' she told the magazine. Fans had theorized the ring Lipa began sporting in photos at the end of December signaled an engagement, but the pair did not publicly confirm the rumor for months, even after appearing together at last month's Met Gala. Lipa says they haven't set wedding plans yet — she's still on tour and Turner is filming, 'so we're just enjoying this period,' she told British Vogue, adding that they try not to spend more than 2 ½ weeks apart. Images of Lipa and Turner, 35, together began surfacing in January 2024. She told British Vogue that they had initially met at a London restaurant, before reconnecting during a dinner in L.A., where they learned they were both reading the same book: Hernan Diaz's 'Trust,' a Pulitzer Prize winner. (Lipa runs the influential Service95 Book Club.) The London-born, British Albanian powerhouse is credited with revitalizing a kind of energetic disco-pop sound in the mainstream, beginning with the release of her 2017 self-titled album and carrying throughout 2020's 'Future Nostalgia' and 2024's 'Radical Optimism.' 'Dance music has such a long history of creating such a safe space. And I just want to embody that,' she told The Associated Press last year. Across her career, Lipa has won three Grammys and boasts five top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100: 2017's 'New Rules,' 2019's 'Don't Start Now,' 2020's 'Levitating,' 2021's 'Cold Heart (PNAU Remix)' with Elton John, and 2023's 'Dance the Night,' from the star-studded 'Barbie' soundtrack. Turner is known for his roles in the 'Fantastic Beasts' movies as well as the George Clooney-directed 'The Boys in the Boat' and World War ll drama series 'Masters of the Air' on Apple TV+.
Daily Mirror
06-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
From Timothee Chalamet to Dua Lipa - books are the hottest new accessory
Reading isn't just for nerds as a new wave of celebrities launch book-clubs and are photographed by the paparazzi holding the hottest books. This age-old hobby is making a mainstream comeback Bookworms unite: reading is finally cool again. With everyone from Timothee Chalamet to Bella Hadid getting papped with paperbacks in their hand, it seems having your head in a book is the new hottest look. A recent Reddit thread showcasing famous figures reading books has gained over 5K upvotes, showcasing the hobby's surge in popularity. It's impossible to ignore the recent rise in celebrity book-clubs, like Reese Witherspoon's Reese's Book Club, which launched in 2017 and has now gained over 2.9 million followers on Instagram. Pop-icon Dua Lipa is another famous example, as she launched Service95's book-club in June 2023, which was created with the aim of telling diverse stories around the globe. But why is this centuries-old pastime that (let's face it) has been viewed as kind of nerdy making a mainstream comeback? After all, a lot of us can remember when books were associated with being geeky and introverted. Plus, less of us are reading now, as according to a YouGov poll, 40% of Brits haven't picked up a book in the past year. However, when pictures of the classically handsome Timothee Chalamet reading Dune by Frank Herbert on the New York Subway began to be circulated online, it acted as a cultural reset. There was something undeniably avant garde chic about being caught pouring over a novel on public transport. Recently, Hollywood heartthrob Jacob Elordi was also snapped reading The Art of Cinema by Jean Jocteau on holiday. As was high fashion model Bella Hadid, when she was seen sporting The Outsider by Stephen King, with the book providing a very on-trend pop of red against her grey suit. But it's more than just aesthetics – some celebrities have even used them to make political statements. It's hard to forget when Canadian musician Grimes stepped out in front of the paparazzi in 2021 with a copy of The Communist Manifesto front and centre in her hands as way to "troll" the media. Of course, reading is also attractive. Perhaps no better example of this is superstar US athlete LeBron James, who regularly posts half-dressed pics of himself glued to a novel on Instagram – including the dystopian bestseller The Hunger Games. It also ties in with a growing cultural appreciation for sensitive, romantic men, aka 'men who yearn'. The hashtag 'yearning' has over 60K posts on TikTok, and features clips of Jane Austen characters eloquently expressing emotions. Actors like Cillian Murphy, who are known for their thoughtful public personas, also make a frequent appearance. As does Pedro Pascal, who has publicly stated his support of LGBTQ and trans rights. The Last Of Us actor has been snapped reading Rosewater by Liv Little, a queer love story. There is something about reading a book, especially a good book, that imbues the reader with a certain je ne sais quoi. Perhaps it's the timelessness of the activity, which has been shared by the progenitors of the romantic era: eighteenth century poets longing for love. Or maybe it's the aura of mystery that a book contains. It's harder to interrupt someone who is reading a book versus someone who is on their phone. There is generally a shared understanding that the reader is enveloped in their own world, that their thoughts, at least for the moment, are their own. Is it shallow? Maybe – but if shirtless pictures of celebrity athletes and pap shots of supermodels with books in their hands are what it takes to get people reading again, then maybe it's not wholly a bad thing.
Yahoo
15-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
'I want Rollr to be the last deodorant you ever buy'
Milo Pinckney figures that he has paid himself an average wage of £4 per hour to get his four-year passion project off the ground. "I've been working on this full-time and haven't had a second job,' says the founder of Rollr, a refillable roll-on deodorant. His perseverance has paid off after launching the product earlier this year, with the brand on track to overfund pre-seed of £400,000. There are also some heavyweight investors underpinning Pinckney's commitment to disrupt what he deems as a stale deodorant category. 'I really believe that Rollr has a chance of changing it from something which has been incredibly dull to a new ritual that is interesting for people,' says Pinckney. 'We want to upgrade everything about deodorant.' Read More: 'I couldn't find a babysitter so I set up a £10m childcare business' He was given an early PR win after Dua Lipa's Service95 newsletter unexpectedly recommended Rollr as one of the best buys of 2025. 'That was one of the coolest moments so far,' admits Pinckney, whose own PR move is to highlight Rollr as 'the deodorant designed for pleasure and planet'. The entrepreneur first conceived the idea after returning from a trip to New Zealand, a bond with nature laying the foundations of creating a unisex product which could make a difference. As a DIY enthusiast, Pinckney has built anything fom Scalextric tracks to constructing a pub in his parent's garden during COVID called Come On Inn. Yet, Rollr has proved his ultimate challenge to date. As he lifts up the sleek roll-on product, which features a gemstone, he then shows me the refillable powder sachet, which offers 90% less packaging than competitors. 'It's been incredibly challenging and a reason why no-one else has done it,' he says. Read More: Meet Wild, the UK's leading refillable deodorant brand 'Naivety was definitely important. At the beginning I was like, 'If we want to do a refillable deodorant and want to be sustainable then let's take the water out, you just evaporate it.' But if you are trying to do something that hasn't been done before there is a lot of trial and error. 'I always wanted to find the most sustainable way to refill deodorant. We tried liquid, tablets and crystals and it would have been easier to send a can with pre-made refillable liquid. "But if we can make refilling with a powder [by adding water] part of a value proposition for people to enjoy, the impact we can have on other brands could be limitless.' Pinckney is on version two after he spent a year perfecting his product which now features patented technology and a lifetime bottle for the consumer. 'The brand was missing the mark, nothing really stood out about the uniqueness of the product,' he said of the first iteration. Rather than an antiperspirant, Pinckney says Rollr is a 'de-perspirant', which effectively tightens the pores to reduce sweat without blocking them. 'It is the most naturally effective way to stop odour and reduce sweat which is why it has taken so long,' adds Pinckney. 'And there's a nice added wellness bonus with the product as it helps with lymphatic drainage. 'Most of us use deodorant and most of us see it as a chore. Our formulation is more effective, more sustainable and brings some excitement to a market which has been left behind by innovation in beauty and personal care for decades.' Pinckney has stayed lean in his bid to see his vision through, investing £500 of his own cash coupled with a £500 loan from his parents for product prototypes. 'I haven't put a huge amount of cash in but there's been a lot of determination to get to this stage,' he says. 'I've been able to see this survive as my parents live in London and I've been able to stay in their house. Without them it wouldn't have been impossible.' Read More: How Jeff Dewing went from bankruptcy to £70m fortune He can also call several investors as friends when he had to overcome several product problems. He has also partnered with creative agency Mother while Pippa Dunn, EE's former CMO, is on the Rollr team. Other investors and advisors include Vinay Solanki, head of Channel 4 ventures, and Aditi Kibe-Heal, a former Unilever marketing director. 'We've had to overcome lots of challenges, but there is a reason why this is original and we want Rollr to be the last deodorant you ever buy,' says Pinckney. Read more: 'My sofa took six months to arrive — so I built a £20m business' 'Dragons' Den failure sparked my alcohol-free brand's rise' 'Want to grow an iconic brand? CEOs have to value CMOs as servant leaders'Sign in to access your portfolio
