"I can't quit" - Olivia Jenkins built a jewellery brand in honour of her mum

"I can't quit" - Olivia Jenkins built a jewellery brand in honour of her mum

From Business Leader by Business Leader

March 31, 2026 · 45 min

About this episode

Olivia Jenkins shares her journey of building a jewellery brand in memory of her mother amidst the challenges of Covid.

At the height of Covid in 2021, Olivia Jenkins felt her life was in "the perfect storm". Foremost in her mind was the loss of her mother, to cancer. It was at this moment that she decided with her partner (and now fiancé) Jack, that they would start a jewellery business, named after her mother. Jewellery was an area she was passionate about and had some retail experience in. She developed stylish and hard-wearing stainless steel products designed to work well with activewear. She was able to tap into the wellness industry boom and by 2026 her annual revenues would be close to £12m. Olivia explains to Sir Richard Harpin how she overcame imposter syndrome to build the business and reveals the lessons she has learnt along the way, covering everything from product development, to trade shows, external investment and marketing spend. Business Leader is a membership community for ambitious CEOs and founders of mid-sized UK companies, designed to help them grow with purpose through strategic support, peer-to-peer learning, expert coaching, and high-impact events. Sign up for our Business Leader newsletter here . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

People in this episode

Host: Sir Richard Harpin

Guest: Olivia Jenkins

Topics covered

  • entrepreneurship
  • jewellery business
  • personal loss
  • imposter syndrome
  • product development
  • marketing

Keywords

  • jewellery
  • business growth
  • Covid
  • imposter syndrome
  • wellness
  • retail experience
  • annual revenues

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Business Leader, Covid, wellness industry

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