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Ladies Who Launch

Ladies Who Launch

"Turning Down Victoria Beckham Was One Of My Biggest Fails": Millie Kendall OBE | Ladies Who Launch

Oct 14, 2026 · 1h 5m

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About this episode

Millie Kendall OBE has spent more than 30 years shaping the British beauty industry. She launched Shu Uemura and Aveda in the UK, co-founded the iconic makeup brand Ruby & Millie with Ruby Hammer, and now leads the British Beauty Council as its founding CEO. In this episode of Ladies Who Launch, she shares the wisdom, mistakes and reinventions behind a career that has spanned the early days of modern beauty brands. Millie tells Rochelle why she helped launch brands that sold for hundreds of millions without ever owning a stake, why she turned down Victoria Beckham, how Boots backed Ruby & Millie with £7 million to launch the brand, and what it really felt like to walk away from a business…