December 16, 2020 • 29 mins
By the time she was seventeen, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley went from a farm in rural England to debuting on the catwalk alongside Naomi Campbell. She’s well-known as a Victoria’s Secret model and the face of high-profile beauty campaigns—and now she’s an entrepreneur with numerous ventures, including her own beauty-based digital platform, Rose Inc. This week, Rosie joins Bobbi to talk about rising up in the modeling industry, what she’s learned over her multi-industry career, and what life is like with her husband, actor Jason Statham, and their three-year-old son, Jack.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Beyond the Beauty is a production of I Heart Radio.
I'm your host, Bobby Brown. Throughout my career, I have
worked with so many models before there was a term supermodels,
and the models of my early days taught me a lot.
(00:23):
I used to watch them fix the makeup I did,
and I learned a lot about what to do and
what not to do. And modeling is such an interesting career.
I'm not going to say it's a career choice, because
you can't just decide to become a model. You are
a model or you're not a model. But what I
think is really interesting about talking to Rosie Huntington's is
(00:48):
that she had the utmost of success being a model,
from her days on the catwalk to Victoria's Secret, to
so many beauty and fashion campaigns, and now she's a
beauty entrepreneur aligning with many different brands. And not only that,
this sweet, smart, beautiful girl is also married to the
(01:10):
handsome actor Jason Stayed them and they have a three
year old son. Honestly, couldn't get any better. I'm so
excited to talk to Rosie Huntington's to hear her story.
Good morning, Rosie, Bobby Here, Hi, Bobby how are you.
I'm good, How are you? Pretty good? Thank you? So, Rosie,
it's so nice to meet you. Bobby. It's an honor
(01:32):
to meet you. And you know, having worked for so
many years now, seventeen years I've been in this industry
and being aware of Bobby Brown the makeup brand and
you as an artist and everything that you've accomplished through
your career. Well, it's kind of a bummer that I
never got to work with you because I guess seventeen
years ago, I was, you know, in business meeting after
(01:52):
business meeting when you started modeling. So yeah, I mean
I've been I've been aware of you. I've been aware
of you know, you as a model and now you
as this like emerging businesswoman media you know, Empire. But
you're You're the first model that I've talked to on
this podcast. So you know, I just tell me what
(02:13):
it must be like being a model and walking into
a room and every single person, every day of your
life turns around to look at you. What what not? Honestly,
come on what? I generally think anyone's ever really asked
me that question. I mean, there are days when it
feels incredibly powerful. Of course, when you walk into a
room and eyes are on you, and then there are
(02:35):
days when you feel an immense amount of pressure when
you have that as well. And I think that I
wouldn't describe myself as being an extrovert, and I wouldn't
describe myself as being an introvert. But I definitely I
love my job, I love people, and I love being
out and about. But I also really value the time
UM in my personal life and the time at home,
(02:58):
and I really get my I guess I rejuvenate in
that way by spending time alone and being behind closed doors.
It's really important to me to have that balance. And
I also have always felt like I leave my work
at work. I'm not somebody that really takes it home
with me. I have. I see my life as two
very different um well, many different ways. We're all multifaceted,
(03:20):
aren't we, especially women, But particularly when it comes to
my personal life and my work life, I feel that,
you know, there is a divide. I leave my work
at the studio or in the office, and I come
home and you know, I'm rose in a different way.
And I think that's that's that's important to me, and
that's just how it's always been. It's not something I
try to do. It's just something I suppose I've really
realized and come to terms with over the years. How
(03:42):
did you get started in modeling and then the beauty industry? Yeah, okay,
so I'll take you way back to the very very beginning.
Ever since I can really remember, always loved fashion and
beauty and women's magazines and clothes and makeup. That was.
That was teenage girl that I was. And my mother
(04:03):
and I would, you know, bond over reading magazines. Every birthday,
I would ask for a subscription to Vogue magazine or
l magazine. That was, you know, what I would ask for.
And I just always was intrigued by what went into
creating these images that we saw in the magazine. And
(04:25):
if I went to the theater or I went to
see the ballet, I was fascinated, of course by this production,
but I wanted to sort of scratch the surface and
know what was going on behind the scenes. So it
was I was always sort of fascinated by what the
creative process was, from making clothing to making these images
to theater. And back then, I mean I was, you know,
(04:46):
in my teens. I started modeling in two thousand and three,
so we're going back a little bit before that. You know,
there was no Internet, there was no you know, the
the fashion industry, and that was shrouded. It was very mysterious.
It was you know, what you saw were these polished images.
There wasn't really any more information on it. So I
sort of hoped that I was going to be able
to get a place at the London College of Fashion.
(05:08):
And again I had no contact, no idea what I
really wanted to do within the fashion industry or even
what jobs were available. I grew up on a farm,
very very rural England. Nobody I knew was going into
anything this kind of always interested in anything creative in
this way. And so when we were sixteen at school,
(05:29):
everybody had to go and do a week of work experience,
get an internship essentially. So most kids went off and
worked at the doctor's offices or within the local hospital,
or at the local mechanics and things like that. And
I wanted to go to London. I just knew that
I wanted to go to London and I wanted to
work in fashion. So I picked up the Yellow Pages,
(05:52):
the big book that we used to get by our phone,
that's how I got my started. And beauty are so
which is very fun, okay, and we're so we're not
the same age. So I picked up the Yellow Pages
and I looked up all of the information of the
brands where I would buy my clothes from, so top Shop,
Marks and Spencer, missed Selfridge, and I wrote to their
(06:12):
headquarters and anything I could find, you know, in the
back of magazines. They have the sort of directory in
the back of the magazines with sort of addresses for
local companies or agencies and things like that. And I
just wrote, handwrote probably thirty forty letters and sent them
in the post. And a few days later I came
back from school and my mother said, oh, we've got
(06:34):
a phone call today from one of the places that
you'd written off to, and it was this little modeling
agency in the West End of London and they said
they'd love to have you up for a week of
work experience. I was elated. I was just so excited
and thrilled I was going to London. This was a
huge deal. That was the most exciting opportunity to travel
(06:55):
out of the countryside, to go up to London and
be working in this world and so I got to
London of few weeks later, turned up in this tiny,
weeny room of an agency. What I think I was
hoping was again I had no idea really what a
modeling agency was. I knew it was an agency that
looked after models, but what do they do? And of
(07:15):
course it's a bunch of bookers. It was five bookers
sat rounded round table, smoking cigarettes, picking up the phone,
screaming down the phone, copious amounts of glass of wine
and cups of coffee and teeth throughout the day, faxes
and new name it. And so I spent the week
making you know, photocopies, running errands, refilling coffee cups, emptying ashways.
(07:38):
And you were sixteen, correct, You're sixteen at the time.
And I remember being a bit frustrated because I thought, oh,
I thought I was going to get to go on
you know, on a shoot or go into a just
you know, see something more creative than this. Anyway, So
that was it. I wrapped a really exciting week. It
was exciting, nonetheless, and then I went back to school,
finished my exams for that year, and then decided to
(08:00):
go back up to London that summer with a friend
and my mom had said, you know, listen, if you
want to, you know, finish school and you want to
go into the fashion industry, it's not what you know,
it's who you know in the fashion industry. And you've
got to contacts. You don't have any, so you better
keep your contacts at this agency. So I went in
and there was a new booker and she said, listen, well,
(08:20):
I think we're gonna need a little bit of a
re hole. You know, with your your skins really bad,
You're gonna have to grow back your eyebrows, We'll have
to fix your hair. But would you be open to
going out on you know, would you be open if
I took some polaroids and you know, maybe sent you
out on a couple of ghosts and castings and we'll
take it from there. But don't get excited. We don't
know where this could go. And that was it. So
(08:41):
I I leapt at the chance because I thought, here's
my opportunity to see the creative side of the industry.
And within a few days I was on my first
test shoot. And then within a few months I was
on my first shoot, and a few months after that
I was traveling to the States, and you know, I've
been on one plane for that. When I started started
(09:02):
working pretty rapidly and I had no ego, no career
sort of strategy. It was just say yes to the job,
do the work. And that's really how it was for
for for many years. I just was very excited to
be in that sort of world and to be traveling,
you know, super young, and my parents had no kind
(09:25):
of insight or advice to really give accept go for it.
You know, this is the opportunity of a lifetime. I
have one question, though, because I know your first catwalk
was you were seventeen years old and you walked along
Naomi Campbell, which must have been terrifying. I mean, tell
me what it was like arriving and realizing, oh my god. Well,
(09:45):
this is a funny story because actually I think when
I did my first fashion show, I didn't even know
that she was in the show until after the show,
or until I then consequently read it sometime later. And
I have no idea why I didn't know that she
was in the show because it's Nami Campbell, but I
assumed she sort of came in last minute, Nami style
(10:09):
and walked the runway. And then let's so that was
unbeknounced to me. But I mean I definitely remember being
young just being in awe of of these glamazons and
just feeling like a bit of a fish out of water,
out of water for and in many ways I still do.
But yeah, I think it was very exciting and I
loved it. But for those of you guys that don't
(10:30):
know this, and many people do know you from the
Victoria's Secret world where you literally, you know, were there
when it became like this big, like bigger than anything
that ever happened in the fashion industry. So how many
years did you do Victoria's Secret and what was that like?
So it wasn't long after I started working. I think
it was two thousand, two thousand and six, so when
(10:52):
I was about nineteen, and I worked with them for
five years until I decided to step away from working
with them. And again, that was just the most truly
exciting experience. I mean, I think for me, I had
heard of Victoria's Secret, but I hadn't really thought much
of it. And it wasn't until I had a boyfriend
that was American and he said, the true iconic supermodels
(11:16):
all do Victoria's Secret and that's sort of my was
my first introduction. And then I think at the time
when I was starting out, the look that was in
fashion at the time was I don't think my look
sort of fitted in in with It was sort of
the early two thousands, so a lot of the models
were coming out of Eastern Europe and it was very
very slender figures, and I just didn't really fit into that.
(11:40):
I was always a bit shorter and considered to be covacious,
and I hope that we were a bit shorter. How
how tall are you? I'm actually five ft nine, so
you'll know that that's not on the toll side for
a model. It's you know, you're just skimming there. You're
basically like at the bottom end of the height requirement. Really,
(12:00):
and whoever called you cravacious, I don't remember her individually
called me cavacious, but it was the resounding feedback that
I would get when I did and book a job
was Rosie's great. She's just very wholesome looking and she's
to her personalities to stand out. So it was a
(12:24):
case of I suppose I had this had a bright personality,
and so for me actually finding my home then within
Victoria's Secret where they celebrated you know, women with personalities
and and and and vivacious nous with women and wholesomeness.
I think at the time I felt that I really
found my home and it was a great experience and
traveled the world with them some amazing trips. It was
(12:47):
you know that that period of time was really when
VS was in its heyday, and you know, all the
supermodels were there, and there was just so much potential
and opportunity to build off working with them. That's how
I always saw was it was a stepping stone to
too many opportunities beyond them. I think you're one of
(13:22):
the first models, certainly the first supermodels that said, you
know what, I love this modeling thing, but I want
to do some other things. You know. So what was
the first thought in your head and how did you
transition to being an entrepreneur. I was always very aware
of the shelf life that modeling could potentially have, and
(13:43):
I think for me, I've always felt that and I
still do that it can all go away tomorrow. And
I you know, I had modeling agent at the time
who said to me, you know, you've you've got to
save your money Rosie because most girls career that done
by the time their twenties five twenty six, So save
your money and be smart, um. And I just remember thinking, well,
(14:08):
that totally makes sense, and so I saved my money
and I was sensible in that way. But I just
also remember being slightly panicked because I had left school
so young. I had left really left full time education
at seventeen, and I remember thinking, well, if it finishes
for me in another, you know, a few years, what
am I going to do? And I really need to
pivot this into something else. And I'm actually doing what
(14:29):
I really love. I love that I'm in the industry
I always dreamt off, so I've got to be smart
about this. There was one model to me who always
really stood out, and she's, you know, a little bit
older than I am, but she always stood out to
me as a businesswoman with integrity, and she had really
pivoted her modeling career and her I think her general
(14:50):
sort of aesthetic and her um personality into business in
a way that I just really it really related with me.
And that was al McPherson, Els in her fifties. But
I just always looked up to her and saw what
she did with her career, and took a lot of
inspiration from that. In general, other than Victory's Secret, I
had done a lot of lingerie modeling, and so I
(15:12):
knew that there was this perception of me, or this
idea that I was this lingerie girl, and so I
felt that it would make sense for me to sort
of go into looking at what having a lingerie line
was like, and so I launched a lingerie line with
a retailer in the UK called Marks and Spencer about
nine years ago. I think really one of the things
(15:33):
that I have always felt really uncomfortable with, particularly in
the early days of my career, was this idea of
and I don't know whether you experienced this as an artist,
but you're so often waiting for the phone to ring.
You're waiting for your agent to tell you that somebody
else's wants you to work with them. And having had
many years and many periods where the phone didn't ring,
(15:56):
and I felt the stress of is this over or
what's going to happen? And when I'm you know, also
just the stress of being bored. I love to work.
I never felt comfortable with that idea of waiting for
somebody else to decide whether I work or not. And
so alongside that part of my career, I've always wanted
to be quite proactive in other areas because I you know,
(16:17):
I like to work and I'm fulfilled by what I do.
It's amazing when I read your bio on how many
projects and how many things you've done. It's it's quite impressive,
you know, and you and you are just the beginning
of this journey which you don't even realize. But your
your editorial side, rose Ink. First of all, why is
it that rosy? Ink? I'd love to get your perspective
(16:38):
on this as well. But I just never really wanted
to call it after my name. I felt that for me,
it was about building a community and it was about
highlighting other individuals in the industry. Um and I felt
that if I called it after my own name, it
became about about me. And I think that it was
(17:00):
for me. It was an important decision to say, hey,
this is my business and I want to do this
and I can't wait to share more with you. But
this isn't just about me, and so I wanted the
name to have a nod to me and a nod
to who I am. Everybody calls me Rose. And then
I liked the idea of the ink. I thought it
brought the sort of incorporated nature of business into something
(17:22):
that was inherently feminine. And I think that that's, you know,
partly who I am in many ways, is you know,
on one hand, I'm deeply feminine and a true sort
of girl's girl and a woman's woman. But there is
this sort of side me that's, you know, no nonsense
and loves to get shipped done well. I think it's
amazing and I love all of your interviews. So, Rosie,
(17:44):
what other things have you been involved with? So I
talked to you a little bit about UM launching a
lingerie line here within the in the UK with Marks
and Spencer, and then I think it was two thousand
sixteen we launched Fragrance and Beauty, which I developed with
them and their product developers in house at M and S.
(18:05):
And that was an amazing opportunity. Absolutely loved it. I
feel like I really cut my teeth on that experience.
It was a wonderful, very exciting time in my life
to launch these products and have them sold at a
national retailer within the UK, and for them to touch
so many women's lives and then um I signed with
(18:26):
our Glass last year out of us having been one
of my favorite makeup brands for you know, seven or
eight years. Just always loved the brand as a as
a consumer first really and had bought the products myself
had been introduced to them, like most of the products
I get introduced to viral makeup artists, literally went out
(18:47):
the next day and brought myself some products, and then
as you know, over the years, I just naturally talk
about them and launched Rosinc. I talked about products I
was using in my tutorials, so I got connected with
the brand and it just was a very natural thing.
We did a few projects together on Rose Inc. And
then it evolved into them asking me to become their
first face of the brand. So that was very exciting.
(19:09):
And I've had been very very lucky to have so
many partnerships over the years. And and I think since
becoming a mother, I will say now when I looked
partner with a brand or aligne with a brand, that
authenticity needs to be there for me. I think before
you know, it's a different time, you could get away
with things more. And I think it was different being
(19:30):
in your twenties, but you know, as you sort of
get older and you become more discerning in your choices.
And then, of course my partnership with Poppette, I'd love
to hear about that, especially being a working mother. Um,
your your your baby is three? Correct? My son is three. Jack.
He's good fun right now. Okay, So this is you know,
(19:51):
this is a really interesting story because you know, I'm
a new mom and I think like most new parents
when you know, particularly mothers when they're pregnant, they start
to do all the research and looking at products and
what they should buy. It it's so overwhelming, at least
it was for me. I didn't know. I've never been
around a baby before, so it was just a really
overwhelming nerve racking time. And I gave birth to Jack,
(20:13):
and you know, you find your way. And it was
about once Jack was about eighteen months old, Perpette or
the team at Amorous, which is the team behind Perpette,
got in touch with me and they sent me through
this deck called the Longest Shortest, which was essentially all
of their research, market research, and information on this product
(20:34):
line which had not hit the market yet. And I
was just really blown away by the level of integrity
that had gone into creating this brand. You know, they
wanted to open up conversation about bringing me on board
as a spokeswoman, as and as a partner. And I felt,
you know, pretty sure that this was going to be
(20:55):
something special. But I also felt that this was one
that I really needed to make or I felt very
comfortable in promoting or talking about because this now is
not just a beauty product or a shirt or a
pair of jeans. This is about a product that you're
recommending to a mother to use on her baby. So
I decided that, you know, I wanted to go up
(21:15):
to their to their headquarters in San Francisco and learn more.
And they walked me through the laboratory and they shared
more information with me about how they create these products,
and they're clean mission that you know, I hopefully we're
going to really disrupt the market for new parents, particularly
millennial parents, who I think have just become so much
(21:37):
more conscious in their purchasing. I was just really really
impressed by the by the products, and so that's really
how it all started. And and the brand's just over
a year old now and it's gone from strength to strength,
and I know it's touching a lot of people's lives
and really making a difference. And I think for me
as a mom and as a consumer, first, I finally
(22:00):
felt like I found a brand that I really felt
comfortable using on my son, felt really comfortable using on myself.
They're non toxic, they're clean, They're going to make a
difference in our lives without really having to think about
it too much. Well, I can't worry to check it out,
but I also have to ask you. Talk to me
a little bit about your husband, like what what a
(22:22):
what a couple, what a family? What a team? Tell
me about meeting him. Jason and I have been together
now for we've known each other for about eleven years.
It is it's a team. It's a real team, and
you've become real family unit when you have a kid.
So we obviously spent many years together just the two
of us, and I feel just really lucky to be
(22:45):
able to experience this journey with him. And he's such
a strong, stoic character in my life who's just always
got my back, and it's you know, even on those
days where you want to ring each other's X, he
really is my you know, my number one fan and
my number one champion, champion, and it goes both ways.
(23:06):
And you know, he's a fantastic dad, and we're just
both absolutely adore being Jack's parents and very very invested
in in that, and so it's a lot of fun.
It's a lot of fun. I mean at jocal is time,
because you know, Jack's a three year old and Jason's
this light energy eyes, a bunny who from the moment
he wakes up is they both exhaust me. I'm just
(23:28):
exhausted all the time by the pair of them. But
they just wear each other out. Now, so I'm like, you,
guys just wear each other out. But it's fantastic to
watch them both together. It's so interesting and funny because
I would never in a million years think that we
would have any similarities, any comparisons, and listening to your
story is so parallel. Besides, I'm five foot tall and
(23:51):
not a supermodel, but the mother of three boys and
being an entrepreneur and just learning from other people that
I've worked with and then bringing it in and doing
it my self, and I just you know, my last
question is what do you think you've learned from all
the different things that you've been involved with that. You know,
people that are listening could take in what they're doing.
(24:13):
There's so many things I think I've learned. I would
have a hard time to sort of define one specific thing.
But I think the thing I've learned the most over
my career is you've got to be prepared to work
from the bottom to the top before you get there,
and you've got to work hard. And I've always had
a hard time saying as a model that I've worked
(24:35):
hard because of the I guess, the pluses and the
pros that come along with being a model, and the
paychecks and the travel, and it's so glamorous. So I've
had a hard time saying that I work hard because
I look at somebody like a nurse who is really
really working hard, in my opinion. But I've always been focused,
and I've always been strategic and realistic about my capabilities,
(24:59):
and I think that that it's really important to an
entrepreneur or for somebody who wants a career. I think
you have to throw entitlement out the window. And I
feel that that's something I see more and more of now,
is there's a lot of entitlement with people when they
come into the step into the workforce. So you have
those moments where you know, I was sent home from jobs,
(25:22):
I was you know, canceled from shows in the middle
of line up. I was told I was this, I
was told I was there. You know, I've had projects
pulled from me last minute. But I've never sort of
allowed those things to to define me. But I've allowed
them to shape me and learn from them and move forward,
I think. And I think the other thing I've learned
(25:44):
is that your reputation really serves you. And I think
it takes really a lifetime to build a reputation. And
I'm sure you would agree with that, having a good
work ethic, being somebody that people enjoy working with and
being around. And that doesn't mean that you aren't still
be firm. It doesn't mean you can't get your point across.
And I think often times it's really hard for women
(26:06):
to be firm or to be assertive because we're regarded
in a way of them being flying off the handle,
you know, just difficult. So I always try and really
think about the way that I'm asserting my power with firmness,
but with fairness. Now, those are those are all very good, Uh,
you know, takeaways that people you know don't realize how
hard it is to be successful, how hard it is,
(26:29):
how much you have to work, you know, over time
and hard, and you know when you learn each time.
I mean, I am very much looking forward to seeing
what your next steps are because I don't I think
you've just scratched the surface. And honestly, Rosa, you are
an even more beautiful person on the inside than outside,
which is saying a lot, because you are quite beautiful.
(26:52):
Thank you. Probably that's really kind. Thank you. So here
is the speed ground I ask everyone. And the first
(27:13):
question is what does beauty mean to you? Beauty is
a feeling. I believe it's a feeling that you have
on the inside about yourself, and it is a feeling
that you leave the people who you surround yourself with
or the people that you interact with, and I think
inherently it's a good feeling. What is your daily makeup routine?
(27:34):
Your quick makeup routine. Quick makeup routine would be, you know,
skincare routine obviously, and then um, conceila brow bronze, blush
colored eyelashes if it's really quick, and then I would
say like a little bit of lip bomb or lip
(27:55):
liner and lip bomb that's like super super quick day
to day. And how about your favorite cocktail? Favorite cocktail.
I love a Moscow Mule, I love Margarita, I love
just a straight to killer on the rocks. I love
all cocktails. Basically, I've never met one I didn't like.
(28:17):
And are you a cupcake or Crisp Lover Crisp Chris favor? Yeah,
all day long? Alright, one last question, what is the
craziest thing you've ever done? Just for fun? I danced
down stage with floor Rider. I'm trying to think of
something lots. I mean, I'm trying to think of things
that I probably could repeat on this podcast. First of all,
(28:40):
but it sounds like you need to have a little
more fun roads. No, I A thousand percent need to
have more fun, but thousand have more one And I'm like,
this year it's done. I'm done. I need to go
and have some fun. Yeah, this gives you permission. So
could you tell everyone where we could hear more and
find and and find you? Well, anybody who wants to
(29:02):
find me, here's my home address and my my bone number. Yeah. Now,
I'm I'm Rosie h W on Instagram. Rose Inc. Dot com.
If you'd like to find out more about Popette, it's
you know, popete dot com. Definitely recommend any new mothers
or parents to check out those products, and really that's
how you can find me, I think, other than probably
(29:24):
bombarding my PR company. It was such a joy talking
to you, and I'm really grateful that you came on
the podcast and I look forward to meeting you in
person one day. Yeah, me too, Bobby. Thank you such
an icon to me, bigcause. For more podcasts from I
Heart Radio, visit the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcast,
(29:45):
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Beyond the Beauty is a production of I Heart Radio.
I'm your host, Bobby Brown. Throughout my career, I have
worked with so many models before there was a term supermodels,
and the models of my early days taught me a lot.
(00:23):
I used to watch them fix the makeup I did,
and I learned a lot about what to do and
what not to do. And modeling is such an interesting career.
I'm not going to say it's a career choice, because
you can't just decide to become a model. You are
a model or you're not a model. But what I
think is really interesting about talking to Rosie Huntington's is
(00:48):
that she had the utmost of success being a model,
from her days on the catwalk to Victoria's Secret, to
so many beauty and fashion campaigns, and now she's a
beauty entrepreneur aligning with many different brands. And not only that,
this sweet, smart, beautiful girl is also married to the
(01:10):
handsome actor Jason Stayed them and they have a three
year old son. Honestly, couldn't get any better. I'm so
excited to talk to Rosie Huntington's to hear her story.
Good morning, Rosie, Bobby Here, Hi, Bobby how are you.
I'm good, How are you? Pretty good? Thank you? So, Rosie,
it's so nice to meet you. Bobby. It's an honor
(01:32):
to meet you. And you know, having worked for so
many years now, seventeen years I've been in this industry
and being aware of Bobby Brown the makeup brand and
you as an artist and everything that you've accomplished through
your career. Well, it's kind of a bummer that I
never got to work with you because I guess seventeen
years ago, I was, you know, in business meeting after
(01:52):
business meeting when you started modeling. So yeah, I mean
I've been I've been aware of you. I've been aware
of you know, you as a model and now you
as this like emerging businesswoman media you know, Empire. But
you're You're the first model that I've talked to on
this podcast. So you know, I just tell me what
(02:13):
it must be like being a model and walking into
a room and every single person, every day of your
life turns around to look at you. What what not? Honestly,
come on what? I generally think anyone's ever really asked
me that question. I mean, there are days when it
feels incredibly powerful. Of course, when you walk into a
room and eyes are on you, and then there are
(02:35):
days when you feel an immense amount of pressure when
you have that as well. And I think that I
wouldn't describe myself as being an extrovert, and I wouldn't
describe myself as being an introvert. But I definitely I
love my job, I love people, and I love being
out and about. But I also really value the time
UM in my personal life and the time at home,
(02:58):
and I really get my I guess I rejuvenate in
that way by spending time alone and being behind closed doors.
It's really important to me to have that balance. And
I also have always felt like I leave my work
at work. I'm not somebody that really takes it home
with me. I have. I see my life as two
very different um well, many different ways. We're all multifaceted,
(03:20):
aren't we, especially women, But particularly when it comes to
my personal life and my work life, I feel that,
you know, there is a divide. I leave my work
at the studio or in the office, and I come
home and you know, I'm rose in a different way.
And I think that's that's that's important to me, and
that's just how it's always been. It's not something I
try to do. It's just something I suppose I've really
realized and come to terms with over the years. How
(03:42):
did you get started in modeling and then the beauty industry? Yeah, okay,
so I'll take you way back to the very very beginning.
Ever since I can really remember, always loved fashion and
beauty and women's magazines and clothes and makeup. That was.
That was teenage girl that I was. And my mother
(04:03):
and I would, you know, bond over reading magazines. Every birthday,
I would ask for a subscription to Vogue magazine or
l magazine. That was, you know, what I would ask for.
And I just always was intrigued by what went into
creating these images that we saw in the magazine. And
(04:25):
if I went to the theater or I went to
see the ballet, I was fascinated, of course by this production,
but I wanted to sort of scratch the surface and
know what was going on behind the scenes. So it
was I was always sort of fascinated by what the
creative process was, from making clothing to making these images
to theater. And back then, I mean I was, you know,
(04:46):
in my teens. I started modeling in two thousand and three,
so we're going back a little bit before that. You know,
there was no Internet, there was no you know, the
the fashion industry, and that was shrouded. It was very mysterious.
It was you know, what you saw were these polished images.
There wasn't really any more information on it. So I
sort of hoped that I was going to be able
to get a place at the London College of Fashion.
(05:08):
And again I had no contact, no idea what I
really wanted to do within the fashion industry or even
what jobs were available. I grew up on a farm,
very very rural England. Nobody I knew was going into
anything this kind of always interested in anything creative in
this way. And so when we were sixteen at school,
(05:29):
everybody had to go and do a week of work experience,
get an internship essentially. So most kids went off and
worked at the doctor's offices or within the local hospital,
or at the local mechanics and things like that. And
I wanted to go to London. I just knew that
I wanted to go to London and I wanted to
work in fashion. So I picked up the Yellow Pages,
(05:52):
the big book that we used to get by our phone,
that's how I got my started. And beauty are so
which is very fun, okay, and we're so we're not
the same age. So I picked up the Yellow Pages
and I looked up all of the information of the
brands where I would buy my clothes from, so top Shop,
Marks and Spencer, missed Selfridge, and I wrote to their
(06:12):
headquarters and anything I could find, you know, in the
back of magazines. They have the sort of directory in
the back of the magazines with sort of addresses for
local companies or agencies and things like that. And I
just wrote, handwrote probably thirty forty letters and sent them
in the post. And a few days later I came
back from school and my mother said, oh, we've got
(06:34):
a phone call today from one of the places that
you'd written off to, and it was this little modeling
agency in the West End of London and they said
they'd love to have you up for a week of
work experience. I was elated. I was just so excited
and thrilled I was going to London. This was a
huge deal. That was the most exciting opportunity to travel
(06:55):
out of the countryside, to go up to London and
be working in this world and so I got to
London of few weeks later, turned up in this tiny,
weeny room of an agency. What I think I was
hoping was again I had no idea really what a
modeling agency was. I knew it was an agency that
looked after models, but what do they do? And of
(07:15):
course it's a bunch of bookers. It was five bookers
sat rounded round table, smoking cigarettes, picking up the phone,
screaming down the phone, copious amounts of glass of wine
and cups of coffee and teeth throughout the day, faxes
and new name it. And so I spent the week
making you know, photocopies, running errands, refilling coffee cups, emptying ashways.
(07:38):
And you were sixteen, correct, You're sixteen at the time.
And I remember being a bit frustrated because I thought, oh,
I thought I was going to get to go on
you know, on a shoot or go into a just
you know, see something more creative than this. Anyway, So
that was it. I wrapped a really exciting week. It
was exciting, nonetheless, and then I went back to school,
finished my exams for that year, and then decided to
(08:00):
go back up to London that summer with a friend
and my mom had said, you know, listen, if you
want to, you know, finish school and you want to
go into the fashion industry, it's not what you know,
it's who you know in the fashion industry. And you've
got to contacts. You don't have any, so you better
keep your contacts at this agency. So I went in
and there was a new booker and she said, listen, well,
(08:20):
I think we're gonna need a little bit of a
re hole. You know, with your your skins really bad,
You're gonna have to grow back your eyebrows, We'll have
to fix your hair. But would you be open to
going out on you know, would you be open if
I took some polaroids and you know, maybe sent you
out on a couple of ghosts and castings and we'll
take it from there. But don't get excited. We don't
know where this could go. And that was it. So
(08:41):
I I leapt at the chance because I thought, here's
my opportunity to see the creative side of the industry.
And within a few days I was on my first
test shoot. And then within a few months I was
on my first shoot, and a few months after that
I was traveling to the States, and you know, I've
been on one plane for that. When I started started
(09:02):
working pretty rapidly and I had no ego, no career
sort of strategy. It was just say yes to the job,
do the work. And that's really how it was for
for for many years. I just was very excited to
be in that sort of world and to be traveling,
you know, super young, and my parents had no kind
(09:25):
of insight or advice to really give accept go for it.
You know, this is the opportunity of a lifetime. I
have one question, though, because I know your first catwalk
was you were seventeen years old and you walked along
Naomi Campbell, which must have been terrifying. I mean, tell
me what it was like arriving and realizing, oh my god. Well,
(09:45):
this is a funny story because actually I think when
I did my first fashion show, I didn't even know
that she was in the show until after the show,
or until I then consequently read it sometime later. And
I have no idea why I didn't know that she
was in the show because it's Nami Campbell, but I
assumed she sort of came in last minute, Nami style
(10:09):
and walked the runway. And then let's so that was
unbeknounced to me. But I mean I definitely remember being
young just being in awe of of these glamazons and
just feeling like a bit of a fish out of water,
out of water for and in many ways I still do.
But yeah, I think it was very exciting and I
loved it. But for those of you guys that don't
(10:30):
know this, and many people do know you from the
Victoria's Secret world where you literally, you know, were there
when it became like this big, like bigger than anything
that ever happened in the fashion industry. So how many
years did you do Victoria's Secret and what was that like?
So it wasn't long after I started working. I think
it was two thousand, two thousand and six, so when
(10:52):
I was about nineteen, and I worked with them for
five years until I decided to step away from working
with them. And again, that was just the most truly
exciting experience. I mean, I think for me, I had
heard of Victoria's Secret, but I hadn't really thought much
of it. And it wasn't until I had a boyfriend
that was American and he said, the true iconic supermodels
(11:16):
all do Victoria's Secret and that's sort of my was
my first introduction. And then I think at the time
when I was starting out, the look that was in
fashion at the time was I don't think my look
sort of fitted in in with It was sort of
the early two thousands, so a lot of the models
were coming out of Eastern Europe and it was very
very slender figures, and I just didn't really fit into that.
(11:40):
I was always a bit shorter and considered to be covacious,
and I hope that we were a bit shorter. How
how tall are you? I'm actually five ft nine, so
you'll know that that's not on the toll side for
a model. It's you know, you're just skimming there. You're
basically like at the bottom end of the height requirement. Really,
(12:00):
and whoever called you cravacious, I don't remember her individually
called me cavacious, but it was the resounding feedback that
I would get when I did and book a job
was Rosie's great. She's just very wholesome looking and she's
to her personalities to stand out. So it was a
(12:24):
case of I suppose I had this had a bright personality,
and so for me actually finding my home then within
Victoria's Secret where they celebrated you know, women with personalities
and and and and vivacious nous with women and wholesomeness.
I think at the time I felt that I really
found my home and it was a great experience and
traveled the world with them some amazing trips. It was
(12:47):
you know that that period of time was really when
VS was in its heyday, and you know, all the
supermodels were there, and there was just so much potential
and opportunity to build off working with them. That's how
I always saw was it was a stepping stone to
too many opportunities beyond them. I think you're one of
(13:22):
the first models, certainly the first supermodels that said, you
know what, I love this modeling thing, but I want
to do some other things. You know. So what was
the first thought in your head and how did you
transition to being an entrepreneur. I was always very aware
of the shelf life that modeling could potentially have, and
(13:43):
I think for me, I've always felt that and I
still do that it can all go away tomorrow. And
I you know, I had modeling agent at the time
who said to me, you know, you've you've got to
save your money Rosie because most girls career that done
by the time their twenties five twenty six, So save
your money and be smart, um. And I just remember thinking, well,
(14:08):
that totally makes sense, and so I saved my money
and I was sensible in that way. But I just
also remember being slightly panicked because I had left school
so young. I had left really left full time education
at seventeen, and I remember thinking, well, if it finishes
for me in another, you know, a few years, what
am I going to do? And I really need to
pivot this into something else. And I'm actually doing what
(14:29):
I really love. I love that I'm in the industry
I always dreamt off, so I've got to be smart
about this. There was one model to me who always
really stood out, and she's, you know, a little bit
older than I am, but she always stood out to
me as a businesswoman with integrity, and she had really
pivoted her modeling career and her I think her general
(14:50):
sort of aesthetic and her um personality into business in
a way that I just really it really related with me.
And that was al McPherson, Els in her fifties. But
I just always looked up to her and saw what
she did with her career, and took a lot of
inspiration from that. In general, other than Victory's Secret, I
had done a lot of lingerie modeling, and so I
(15:12):
knew that there was this perception of me, or this
idea that I was this lingerie girl, and so I
felt that it would make sense for me to sort
of go into looking at what having a lingerie line
was like, and so I launched a lingerie line with
a retailer in the UK called Marks and Spencer about
nine years ago. I think really one of the things
(15:33):
that I have always felt really uncomfortable with, particularly in
the early days of my career, was this idea of
and I don't know whether you experienced this as an artist,
but you're so often waiting for the phone to ring.
You're waiting for your agent to tell you that somebody
else's wants you to work with them. And having had
many years and many periods where the phone didn't ring,
(15:56):
and I felt the stress of is this over or
what's going to happen? And when I'm you know, also
just the stress of being bored. I love to work.
I never felt comfortable with that idea of waiting for
somebody else to decide whether I work or not. And
so alongside that part of my career, I've always wanted
to be quite proactive in other areas because I you know,
(16:17):
I like to work and I'm fulfilled by what I do.
It's amazing when I read your bio on how many
projects and how many things you've done. It's it's quite impressive,
you know, and you and you are just the beginning
of this journey which you don't even realize. But your
your editorial side, rose Ink. First of all, why is
it that rosy? Ink? I'd love to get your perspective
(16:38):
on this as well. But I just never really wanted
to call it after my name. I felt that for me,
it was about building a community and it was about
highlighting other individuals in the industry. Um and I felt
that if I called it after my own name, it
became about about me. And I think that it was
(17:00):
for me. It was an important decision to say, hey,
this is my business and I want to do this
and I can't wait to share more with you. But
this isn't just about me, and so I wanted the
name to have a nod to me and a nod
to who I am. Everybody calls me Rose. And then
I liked the idea of the ink. I thought it
brought the sort of incorporated nature of business into something
(17:22):
that was inherently feminine. And I think that that's, you know,
partly who I am in many ways, is you know,
on one hand, I'm deeply feminine and a true sort
of girl's girl and a woman's woman. But there is
this sort of side me that's, you know, no nonsense
and loves to get shipped done well. I think it's
amazing and I love all of your interviews. So, Rosie,
(17:44):
what other things have you been involved with? So I
talked to you a little bit about UM launching a
lingerie line here within the in the UK with Marks
and Spencer, and then I think it was two thousand
sixteen we launched Fragrance and Beauty, which I developed with
them and their product developers in house at M and S.
(18:05):
And that was an amazing opportunity. Absolutely loved it. I
feel like I really cut my teeth on that experience.
It was a wonderful, very exciting time in my life
to launch these products and have them sold at a
national retailer within the UK, and for them to touch
so many women's lives and then um I signed with
(18:26):
our Glass last year out of us having been one
of my favorite makeup brands for you know, seven or
eight years. Just always loved the brand as a as
a consumer first really and had bought the products myself
had been introduced to them, like most of the products
I get introduced to viral makeup artists, literally went out
(18:47):
the next day and brought myself some products, and then
as you know, over the years, I just naturally talk
about them and launched Rosinc. I talked about products I
was using in my tutorials, so I got connected with
the brand and it just was a very natural thing.
We did a few projects together on Rose Inc. And
then it evolved into them asking me to become their
first face of the brand. So that was very exciting.
(19:09):
And I've had been very very lucky to have so
many partnerships over the years. And and I think since
becoming a mother, I will say now when I looked
partner with a brand or aligne with a brand, that
authenticity needs to be there for me. I think before
you know, it's a different time, you could get away
with things more. And I think it was different being
(19:30):
in your twenties, but you know, as you sort of
get older and you become more discerning in your choices.
And then, of course my partnership with Poppette, I'd love
to hear about that, especially being a working mother. Um,
your your your baby is three? Correct? My son is three. Jack.
He's good fun right now. Okay, So this is you know,
(19:51):
this is a really interesting story because you know, I'm
a new mom and I think like most new parents
when you know, particularly mothers when they're pregnant, they start
to do all the research and looking at products and
what they should buy. It it's so overwhelming, at least
it was for me. I didn't know. I've never been
around a baby before, so it was just a really
overwhelming nerve racking time. And I gave birth to Jack,
(20:13):
and you know, you find your way. And it was
about once Jack was about eighteen months old, Perpette or
the team at Amorous, which is the team behind Perpette,
got in touch with me and they sent me through
this deck called the Longest Shortest, which was essentially all
of their research, market research, and information on this product
(20:34):
line which had not hit the market yet. And I
was just really blown away by the level of integrity
that had gone into creating this brand. You know, they
wanted to open up conversation about bringing me on board
as a spokeswoman, as and as a partner. And I felt,
you know, pretty sure that this was going to be
(20:55):
something special. But I also felt that this was one
that I really needed to make or I felt very
comfortable in promoting or talking about because this now is
not just a beauty product or a shirt or a
pair of jeans. This is about a product that you're
recommending to a mother to use on her baby. So
I decided that, you know, I wanted to go up
(21:15):
to their to their headquarters in San Francisco and learn more.
And they walked me through the laboratory and they shared
more information with me about how they create these products,
and they're clean mission that you know, I hopefully we're
going to really disrupt the market for new parents, particularly
millennial parents, who I think have just become so much
(21:37):
more conscious in their purchasing. I was just really really
impressed by the by the products, and so that's really
how it all started. And and the brand's just over
a year old now and it's gone from strength to strength,
and I know it's touching a lot of people's lives
and really making a difference. And I think for me
as a mom and as a consumer, first, I finally
(22:00):
felt like I found a brand that I really felt
comfortable using on my son, felt really comfortable using on myself.
They're non toxic, they're clean, They're going to make a
difference in our lives without really having to think about
it too much. Well, I can't worry to check it out,
but I also have to ask you. Talk to me
a little bit about your husband, like what what a
(22:22):
what a couple, what a family? What a team? Tell
me about meeting him. Jason and I have been together
now for we've known each other for about eleven years.
It is it's a team. It's a real team, and
you've become real family unit when you have a kid.
So we obviously spent many years together just the two
of us, and I feel just really lucky to be
(22:45):
able to experience this journey with him. And he's such
a strong, stoic character in my life who's just always
got my back, and it's you know, even on those
days where you want to ring each other's X, he
really is my you know, my number one fan and
my number one champion, champion, and it goes both ways.
(23:06):
And you know, he's a fantastic dad, and we're just
both absolutely adore being Jack's parents and very very invested
in in that, and so it's a lot of fun.
It's a lot of fun. I mean at jocal is time,
because you know, Jack's a three year old and Jason's
this light energy eyes, a bunny who from the moment
he wakes up is they both exhaust me. I'm just
(23:28):
exhausted all the time by the pair of them. But
they just wear each other out. Now, so I'm like, you,
guys just wear each other out. But it's fantastic to
watch them both together. It's so interesting and funny because
I would never in a million years think that we
would have any similarities, any comparisons, and listening to your
story is so parallel. Besides, I'm five foot tall and
(23:51):
not a supermodel, but the mother of three boys and
being an entrepreneur and just learning from other people that
I've worked with and then bringing it in and doing
it my self, and I just you know, my last
question is what do you think you've learned from all
the different things that you've been involved with that. You know,
people that are listening could take in what they're doing.
(24:13):
There's so many things I think I've learned. I would
have a hard time to sort of define one specific thing.
But I think the thing I've learned the most over
my career is you've got to be prepared to work
from the bottom to the top before you get there,
and you've got to work hard. And I've always had
a hard time saying as a model that I've worked
(24:35):
hard because of the I guess, the pluses and the
pros that come along with being a model, and the
paychecks and the travel, and it's so glamorous. So I've
had a hard time saying that I work hard because
I look at somebody like a nurse who is really
really working hard, in my opinion. But I've always been focused,
and I've always been strategic and realistic about my capabilities,
(24:59):
and I think that that it's really important to an
entrepreneur or for somebody who wants a career. I think
you have to throw entitlement out the window. And I
feel that that's something I see more and more of now,
is there's a lot of entitlement with people when they
come into the step into the workforce. So you have
those moments where you know, I was sent home from jobs,
(25:22):
I was you know, canceled from shows in the middle
of line up. I was told I was this, I
was told I was there. You know, I've had projects
pulled from me last minute. But I've never sort of
allowed those things to to define me. But I've allowed
them to shape me and learn from them and move forward,
I think. And I think the other thing I've learned
(25:44):
is that your reputation really serves you. And I think
it takes really a lifetime to build a reputation. And
I'm sure you would agree with that, having a good
work ethic, being somebody that people enjoy working with and
being around. And that doesn't mean that you aren't still
be firm. It doesn't mean you can't get your point across.
And I think often times it's really hard for women
(26:06):
to be firm or to be assertive because we're regarded
in a way of them being flying off the handle,
you know, just difficult. So I always try and really
think about the way that I'm asserting my power with firmness,
but with fairness. Now, those are those are all very good, Uh,
you know, takeaways that people you know don't realize how
hard it is to be successful, how hard it is,
(26:29):
how much you have to work, you know, over time
and hard, and you know when you learn each time.
I mean, I am very much looking forward to seeing
what your next steps are because I don't I think
you've just scratched the surface. And honestly, Rosa, you are
an even more beautiful person on the inside than outside,
which is saying a lot, because you are quite beautiful.
(26:52):
Thank you. Probably that's really kind. Thank you. So here
is the speed ground I ask everyone. And the first
(27:13):
question is what does beauty mean to you? Beauty is
a feeling. I believe it's a feeling that you have
on the inside about yourself, and it is a feeling
that you leave the people who you surround yourself with
or the people that you interact with, and I think
inherently it's a good feeling. What is your daily makeup routine?
(27:34):
Your quick makeup routine. Quick makeup routine would be, you know,
skincare routine obviously, and then um, conceila brow bronze, blush
colored eyelashes if it's really quick, and then I would
say like a little bit of lip bomb or lip
(27:55):
liner and lip bomb that's like super super quick day
to day. And how about your favorite cocktail? Favorite cocktail.
I love a Moscow Mule, I love Margarita, I love
just a straight to killer on the rocks. I love
all cocktails. Basically, I've never met one I didn't like.
(28:17):
And are you a cupcake or Crisp Lover Crisp Chris favor? Yeah,
all day long? Alright, one last question, what is the
craziest thing you've ever done? Just for fun? I danced
down stage with floor Rider. I'm trying to think of
something lots. I mean, I'm trying to think of things
that I probably could repeat on this podcast. First of all,
(28:40):
but it sounds like you need to have a little
more fun roads. No, I A thousand percent need to
have more fun, but thousand have more one And I'm like,
this year it's done. I'm done. I need to go
and have some fun. Yeah, this gives you permission. So
could you tell everyone where we could hear more and
find and and find you? Well, anybody who wants to
(29:02):
find me, here's my home address and my my bone number. Yeah. Now,
I'm I'm Rosie h W on Instagram. Rose Inc. Dot com.
If you'd like to find out more about Popette, it's
you know, popete dot com. Definitely recommend any new mothers
or parents to check out those products, and really that's
how you can find me, I think, other than probably
(29:24):
bombarding my PR company. It was such a joy talking
to you, and I'm really grateful that you came on
the podcast and I look forward to meeting you in
person one day. Yeah, me too, Bobby. Thank you such
an icon to me, bigcause. For more podcasts from I
Heart Radio, visit the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcast,
(29:45):
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
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