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Yo! I am Jo

After a decade of working in advertising & marketing in the UK and co-founding a successful start-up in NL, it suddenly dawned on me that I didn’t believe in what I was ‘selling’ anymore.

I felt that I had a responsibility to use my time and expertise to make a difference to the people and planet we live on.

So, I quit my job, and I set out to build & coach mission-led brands.

The full story

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Born in Bristol, I have lived in Oxford, Loughborough, London, Kent & Scotland. I now call Haarlem in the Netherlands home. I studied English and Politics at university and on a quest to keep writing, I found my first job at a advertising agency, where I learnt everything in the marketing mix as well as how to deal with difficult clients!

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I met my partner in crime via a travel magazine and when his work gave us the chance to move to the Netherlands 15 years ago we jumped at it. Determined to learn the language and get back to work, I went to college and started volunteering – from cycling dementia patients to working at a world music festival but finding work in a foreign country was a challenge.

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Then one night at a party, things changed, I met Tim who was starting his own pharmaceutical business with his two brothers. I joined Tim and within 2 years we’d built the business to become the Financial Times no. 1 fastest growing start-up in NL. However, whilst I loved building the business I wasn't in love with what we were selling.

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So I left and decided to use my time and expertise more wisely. To build brands and businesses that had a mission to make a positive impact to people and planet first both in the Netherlands and the UK. The rest is history! 

 

I have worked for great missions tackling waste, polluted waters, plastic, circularity, social enterprises addressing inclusivity in the workplace and technologies to improve medical, environmental and deep-tech innovation. 

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My Vision and Mission

I believe that business as usual is (or should be) over.

Businesses should not just be about making a profit. 

We need businesses that contribute to fixing the problems of people and planet too.

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Don’t get me wrong. 

Money isn’t a dirty word. 

You need money to make a positive impact. 

But money shouldn't be the end goal.

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I’m on a mission to make it all about the mission. 

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Brands that a mission-driven do better. They attract the best talent, appeal to customers and even investors. 

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They are also the brands which are hard to build & maintain. It requires more than just clarity on what you stand for an what makes you unique.

 

The successful mission-led businesses are united to live and breathe the mission everyday and make money doing it too !

What I value

Values are important, they are what connect us but also what drive us apart. They are also fundamental to any brand and business culture. This is how I rock both at home and at work.

Choose experiences over stuff,

Connect with people, go places, try new things.

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Nature is our friend,

We’re stuffed without it. Love plants, birds and bees. 

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Be kind,

Life is too short not to be. It makes you and others feel better. 

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Honesty is the best policy,

We can solve problems much quicker if we just say what

we see what we and think.

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There is nothing worse than doing nothing,

Have courage to make the next step. That's the way to grow and learn.

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