The Best Things I've Learned: Georgie Cleeve, founder of Oskia

From hiring people smarter than you to being proud of smile lines, skincare founder Georgie Cleeve shares her life lessons

Georgie Cleeve has had a busy career, starting out as a food journalist before making the switch to skincare and starting her own brand, OSKIA. A results-driven brand that's based on a nutritional approach to better skin, the true hero of the range is the beauty mineral MSM (a natural form of organic sulphur). Georgie's father introduced the mineral into the market as a joint supplement for race horses, only to find that when it was given to Georgie to repair damage to the cartilage in her knees from a skiing accident, it had phenomenal beauty benefits too.

The rest is history, as Georgie went on to create MSM-rich formulations together with a team of nutritionists, doctors and dermatologists - and the hard work has paid off, with the young brand winning over 50 prestigious awards already. But as a mother of two, with one on the way and a high-flying career to boot, what has Georgie's success taught her along the way? We found out what she's learned about everything from ageing to confidence...

The best things I've learned about...

Failure

We all fail. Laugh about it, learn from it and get on with it.

Switching off

Vital! Life is not all about work. I’ve only really realised this as I get older.

Ageing

Unfortunately we can’t do anything about it, so relish your knowledge and make each day count. Mentally, I love where I am now - nudging 40. On the physical side, I would love to be the same as I was when I was 20, but I’m proud of my smile lines (I smile a lot) and I know my tummy will never be the same again, but I don’t care - I have 2 (nearly 3!) beautiful children to show for it. No one really expects a 40-year-old to have the figure of a 20-year-old, so there is no point beating yourself up about it.

Money

Only people who have money say money doesn’t matter, but it does if you don’t have it!

People

Treat people how you would like to be treated. It’s so easy to be nice. Bad manners are unacceptable. My husband is one of the kindest people I’ve ever met. He has so much empathy that I think he’s from a different planet.

Hiring staff

When you are starting out, hire people better than you! Confidence, character & kindness count.

Confidence at work

Believe in your strengths, everyone has many, but accept your weaknesses - delegate those!

A working wardrobe

Culottes, a good Tucker blouse & boots.

The digital age

Try and keep up, which I find almost impossible.

Office politics

A mine field - but if you employ kind people, you’ll have a lovely office.

Check out Georgie's brand OSKIA on their website