Why I Chose to Build Olive & Joyce Differently

Last week, I wrote about veganism and how humanising animals changed everything for me. Once I allowed myself to really see animals as individuals, not ingredients or testing tools, I could not unsee it.

What I did not expect was how that same realisation would stretch further, into my work, my values, and the way I chose to build Olive & Joyce.

This week, I want to talk about humanising my business.

Because once you start looking at the world through a more compassionate lens, it becomes very hard to build something cold, faceless, or driven purely by numbers.

 

Where It Truly Began

I remember one night in early January so clearly. The kids were in bed, the house was quiet, and I was sitting alone in the lounge. I had recently become divorced and everything felt really uncertain. I did not have a five year plan or a vision board. I had a notebook, a pen, and a very real need for a job.

But more than that, I needed purpose.

At that point in my life, the only way I knew how to help myself was to give something back to others. I did not want to disappear into work that felt hollow or disconnected. I needed to build something that meant something, even if it was small.

That night, Olive & Joyce did not exist as a brand. It existed as an idea rooted in care, shaped by my childhood, watching my mum make skincare at home, and by my love of vegan and ethical skincare, and household products. It was a quiet promise to myself that if I was going to work hard, it would be for something that felt human.

 

Carrying People With Me

Olive & Joyce is named after my grandmothers, Olive and Joyce. That was never a branding exercise. It was a way of grounding the business in people, in history, and in love. Their names carry warmth, resilience, and familiarity, all the things I wanted this business to hold too.

From the very beginning, I knew I did not want to build something industrial or anonymous. I wanted skincare that was made by hands, not hidden behind machines. That is why I hand mix every batch, slowly and intentionally, rather than outsourcing to factories designed for speed and scale.

It is also why every order comes with a handwritten note. Not because it is efficient, but because it is personal. Someone has chosen Olive & Joyce, and I never want that choice to feel invisible.

These decisions were not made to stand out. They were made to stay connected.

 

Choosing a Different Measure of Success

Over the years, I have had plenty of business advice. Much of it well meaning. Much of it centred around growth, scale, and revenue targets. I have been asked more than once why I would not want to be a multi millionaire, why I would choose to keep things small, why I would resist the pull of industrial skincare.

The truth is simple. I am not interested in building something that costs me the very things I value most.

I do not want to lose touch with the people who buy from me. I do not want to outsource care in the name of efficiency. I do not want to chase numbers if it means stripping the heart out of the work.

Success, for me, looks different. It looks like integrity. It looks like being able to stand behind every product and every decision. It looks like knowing that the business I am building still resembles the woman who sat on that sofa in January, trying to find a way forward.

 

Why This Still Matters

Humanising my business is not about rejecting ambition. It is about redefining it.

Olive & Joyce exists because I chose people over profit, intention over scale, and care over convenience. Those choices show up in every part of the brand, from how the skincare is made to how it is sent out into the world.

In an industry that often celebrates speed, excess, man made ingredients and perfection, I am choosing slowness, honesty and connection, not because it is fashionable, but because it is the only way this business makes sense to me.

Just as humanising animals changed how I see skincare, humanising my business changed how I see success. And once you start building from that place, it becomes very hard to imagine doing it any other way.

If this way of doing things resonates with you, if you are looking for skincare that is hand stirred, vegan, and made using only natural ingredients, then Olive & Joyce might be for you. Every product is made slowly, with care, using ingredients and packaging sourced from other small UK businesses I believe in, because community matters to me as much as what goes into the jar. This is skincare made to love and feed your skin, the way a family gathering does, full of warmth, intention, and care. You can explore the collection in my shop whenever it feels right.