Ladies Who Launch

Sedge Beswick was ASOS's first ever social media hire back when social wasn't a career. What followed was an accidental leap into agency life that became SEEN Connects, a powerhouse she built, scaled, and sold for £24 million.

But, this is more than an exit story. Sedge gets radically honest about the parts that don't make the highlight reel, founder loneliness, cashflow problems, navigating private equity while pregnant, and why breaking hustle culture was one of her best business decisions.

In this episode, we cover:
How Sedge became ASOS's first social media hire before social was a career
Landing big clients fast and managing the growth that followed
Investment, cashflow, and the realities of founder finance
Motherhood, setting boundaries as a founder, and breaking hustle culture
What the £24M exit really felt like
Owning and creating balance as a successful woman in business
Redefining success, freedom, and what comes after selling

This is a masterclass in building with intention, exiting with clarity, and redefining success on your own terms.

We Are Ladies Who Launch!

CHAPTERS
00:00 Meet Sedge Beswick
01:23 Working In Social Before It Was A Career
06:17 ASOS First Social Hire
14:02 Social Media Becomes Marketing
16:17 Accidental Agency Leap
20:46 Landing Big Clients Fast
23:43 Investment And Managing Cashflow
30:06 Lonely Founder Rollercoaster
33:20 Boundaries In Motherhood
37:51 Breaking Hustle Culture
41:20 Scaling Through Sales
43:18 Lessons In Hiring
46:03 Leadership vs Being Liked
48:47 Private Equity and US Expansion
51:01 Pregnancy Changes the Deal
56:59 Selling The Business and Resetting
01:00:32 Redefining Success and Freedom
01:10:22 Final Advice and Wrap

🔔 New episodes every Wednesday — subscribe so you never miss a launch.

FOLLOW SEDGE
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sedgebeswick/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@SedgeBeswick
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sedge-beswick/

FOLLOW US
Instagram: www.instagram.com/weareladieswholaunch/
TikTok: www.tiktok.com/@weareladieswholaunch
YouTube: www.youtube.com/@Weareladieswholaunch
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Josephine Philips is the founder of SOJO, the UK's first on-demand clothing alterations and repairs app. She started SOJO by manually cycling garments across London to validate the idea before raising £1.8M in pre-seed funding (backed by Depop's own founder), landed Forbes 30 Under 30, and opened a permanent concession in Selfridges.
In this episode, Josephine gets brutally honest about the real journey: finding a tech co-founder early on,, the hiring mistakes that slowed her down, a six-week fundraising sprint that changed everything, and what it actually means to build with the end in mind.

This is a masterclass in doing more with less, moving fast without breaking your team, and why representation in VC funding is still one of the most urgent conversations in entrepreneurship.

What we cover:
Finding a tech co-founder as a non-technical founder
Navigating the fashion space outside of fast fashion
Finding a niche in a typically crowded space
The timings and strategy of raising investment
The stats around investment for Black Women
Hiring and growing a team for your business, not following the status quo
How to build a B2B strategy without losing focus
How to SOJO x Selfridges Partnership happened
The honest truth about representation in VC

If you're building something new or struggling to articulate why your idea matters, this one's for you.

We Are Ladies Who Launch!

CHAPTERS
00:00 Meet Josephine, Sojo Founder
03:17 The Tailoring Niche
07:48 The Problem with Fast Fashion
13:52 Validating The Business Idea
16:59 Finding A Tech Co-Founder
22:24 Launch Traction And Press
23:40 Funding And Getting Investment
29:48 Hiring Growing Pains
33:01 Corporate vs Startup Hiring
34:19 The Right Time For Funding
35:24 More Team Slower Progress
37:09 Focussing On Your B2B Strategy
38:11 Where Is Sojo Today?
39:16 Hiring for Complementary Skills
41:36 Testing Agility in Interviews
43:43 Representation in VC Funding
47:53 6-Week Fundraising Sprint
50:57 Selfridges Partnership Breakdown
54:49 Global Expansion Plans
01:00:33 Build With the End in Mind

🔔 New episodes every Wednesday — subscribe so you never miss a launch.

FOLLOW SOJO
SOJO Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sojo.uk/
Josephine Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/josephine__philips/

FOLLOW US
Instagram: www.instagram.com/weareladieswholaunch/
TikTok: www.tiktok.com/@weareladieswholaunch
YouTube: www.youtube.com/@Weareladieswholaunch
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of Ladies Who Launch, we sit down with Georgie Coleridge Cole, Founder & CEO of SheerLuxe, the e-commerce and lifestyle powerhouse that redefined how women discover fashion, beauty, and culture online.

Georgie opens up about the formative experiences that shaped her entrepreneurial mindset, how she stumbled into the world of e-commerce before it was cool, and the raw reality of building an incredible team from scratch while the industry was still figuring out what digital media even meant.

What we cover:
The honest story of building SheerLuxe and becoming an entrepreneur
Discovering and navigating the world of e-commerce
Business investment and financing. Why access to capital looks very different for women in business
How to structure a strong team early and build a culture that scales
Juggling life, business, and motherhood. The real, unfiltered version

If you're a female founder navigating the chaos of building something bold, this one's for you.

We Are Ladies Who Launch!

CHAPTERS
00:00 Introducing Georgie and SheerLuxe
01:14 The SheerLuxe Mission and Platform Evolution
09:16 Navigating Career Detours
14:55 The Start of Building SheerLuxe
21:56 Raising VC and Keeping Equity
28:23 The Hardest Part of Leadership
31:30 The SheerLuxe Team as the Brand
41:52 Staying Relevant Through Change
45:56 Editorial First, Monetise Later
46:47 The £40M Sell
53:09 Equity And Industry Stigma
55:17 The Work and Motherhood Reality
01:03:41 Life After the Acquisition
01:07:19 Rocket Round
01:15:22 Best Piece of Advice

🔔 New episodes every Wednesday — subscribe so you never miss a launch.

FOLLOW GEORGIE
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gcoleridgecole/
SheerLuxe Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sheerluxe/
SheerLuxe TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@sheerluxe

FOLLOW US
Instagram: www.instagram.com/weareladieswholaunch/
TikTok: www.tiktok.com/@weareladieswholaunch
YouTube: www.youtube.com/@Weareladieswholaunch
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of Ladies Who Launch, Rochelle sits down with Bernicia Boateng, makeup artists to the stars to go behind the scenes of her incredible journey, from the makeup chair to founding Enoléh, the hair brand redefining what it means for Black women to feel seen, celebrated, and authentic in the beauty space.

In this episode, we cover:
The mission behind Bernicia's work and why authentic representation in skincare and makeup matters more now than ever before
What self-belief actually looks like in practice
The beauty and power of women wearing wigs and hair extensions, and why it's so much more than aesthetics
The behind-the-scenes of building Enoléh, the team, the challenges, and the dream

Whether you're a founder, a dreamer, or someone who's been holding back, this one is for you.

We Are Ladies Who Launch!

CHAPTERS
00:00 Introduction to Bernicia
02:05 From makeup to wider mission
06:22 Gaining confidence
11:25 Building repeat customers and loyalty
13:56 Why wigs matter
20:45 Building a fashion forward brand
25:42 Launching with a business partner
31:51 The ‘Just Do It’ mission
40:13 Smart category strategy
41:22 Quality over ego
43:30 Bernicia’s 2 year vision
45:58 Dream retail partners
47:23 Business non-negotiables
49:30 Quickfire habits & lessons

🔔 New episodes every Wednesday — subscribe so you never miss a launch.

FOLLOW BERNICIA
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/berniciaboateng/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@realberniciaboateng
Enoléh: https://www.instagram.com/enoleh/

FOLLOW US
Instagram: www.instagram.com/weareladieswholaunch/
TikTok: www.tiktok.com/@weareladieswholaunch
YouTube: www.youtube.com/@Weareladieswholaunch

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of Ladies Who Launch, I’m pulling back the curtain on building my new skincare brand. This week, we dive deeper into product development; from formulation and testing to MOQs and what it really takes to get products onto retail shelves.

I’m sharing the real journey with you: what I’m learning as I go, how I’m building the brand from the ground up, and the challenges that are keeping me up at night.

Plus, I’m giving you a behind-the-scenes look at our next Ladies Who Launch live event. After how incredible and inspiring our last one was, I cannot wait to share another amazing lineup with you.

In this episode, I cover:
Where the products are right now. Development, testing, and what the process has been along the way
The decisions around formulation that no one prepares you for
How I’m thinking about quantities and what that means for the brand at this stage
Selling into retailers and what it actually takes to get a brand onto shelves
The next Ladies Who Launch line up

Whether you're launching your first product or scaling an existing beauty business, this conversation is here to share and support.

🔔 New episodes every Wednesday — subscribe so you never miss a launch.

FOLLOW US
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/weareladieswholaunch/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@weareladieswholaunch
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Weareladieswholaunch
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.