What's In The Box
The brand new podcast from BOXTEC. Join us as we invite guests from retail and hospitality to discuss the issues of the day, with one unique twist: uncut, unedited and each episode just fifteen minutes long - because we're busy and we know you are too.
What's In The Box
Fiona Lambert: Reinvention at 60 - From Fashion Executive to Dating Expert
What happens when a fashion industry veteran finds herself single and sixty? Fiona Lambert's transformative journey from retail executive to author and social media sensation reveals the unexpected joys of midlife reinvention.
After decades shaping beloved British fashion brands including Next, George at Asda, and Jaeger at M&S, Lambert found herself facing redundancy just months before her 60th birthday. Rather than seeing this as an ending, she recognized a rare opportunity to redefine herself. "It was an incredible window of opportunity," she shares, "a full-blown French window!" This pivotal moment, coupled with the amicable end of her 31-year marriage, launched her into uncharted territory – from fitness transformation to navigating dating apps for the first time since her twenties.
Lambert's approach to this new chapter embodies her personal philosophy: "Never too late, never too old." When her fitness journey photos appeared in The Times, the overwhelming response revealed a hunger for positive representations of vitality in later life. This led to her first book, "Invincible Not Invisible," followed by "S.A.S. Sixty and Single: Your Survival Guide To Dating," a dating guide born from her own adventures and misadventures – including an encounter with what the Daily Mail dubbed a "Tinder Swindler." With candour and humour, she shares how she's transferred skills from her retail career, such as understanding customer psychology, creative thinking, and brand building, to create content that resonates with audiences navigating similar life transitions.
What's most striking about Lambert's story is her willingness to embrace vulnerability while developing resilience against criticism. "The Power of No, the Joy of Yes" might be her next book title, she suggests – saying no to limitations and yes to unfamiliar opportunities has opened doors to television appearances, social media influence, and climbing Kilimanjaro. Her journey reminds us that reinvention has no age limit, and that our second acts might prove even more fulfilling than our first.
Welcome to what's in the Box, the brand new podcast brought to you by Box Technologies. Powering retail with purpose. Boxtech delivers innovative and market-leading customer engagement solutions that turn business ideas into a performing reality, from design and integration to ongoing support and maintenance. We're with you every step of the way. Now, this podcast is a little different to what you might be used to. It's audio only, totally unscripted, and just 15 minutes each episode. Because we're busy, our guests certainly are, and we're sure you are too, so let's get right into it.
Speaker 1:My guest today is and this is a long list she's an author, a board advisor, managing director, product director, content creator, fitness influencer, tiktok star and, from what she was telling me before we started recording this, soon to be a TV star, but perhaps we'll get into that a little bit later. With a career in fashion, she's responsible for some of our most loved brands, having held senior roles at Next Asda, dunelm and River Island. She was instrumental in launching the George fashion brand and, before becoming an author and fitness influencer, was the MD at Jaeger at M&S. Now, the headlines that she gets today these days give a clue to what she's been doing lately. One of them, according to the Times, was sex red flags and cougar hunters, and another one in the Daily Mail how I fell for a Tinder Swindler in my 60s. She's been called slutty, naive, gullible and simply after something that rhymes with block, with a new book out called SAS 60 and Single your Survival Guide to Dating. Please welcome Fiona Lambert.
Speaker 2:Well, thank you very much, Andrew. I'm not quite sure how to react to that intro, but I think what you might have missed, but it was pretty fulsome.
Speaker 1:Well, I think we could add to that the president is that right of 20 Club President of the 20 Club as well? Yeah, also an ambassador for, of course, that great organization which our friend Chris Brook-Carter runs, the Retail Trust.
Speaker 2:Indeed, indeed. I'm not sure how I have time, but I managed to do all of those things. How do you?
Speaker 1:have time for all that.
Speaker 2:Oh, well, I think. Well, I'm going to obviously be an advocate of good diet, sleep, two liters of water, all those healthy things that give me the energy to do them all, but mostly it's. I think I'm just, I'm like Tigger. I'm one of the most positive people you will meet, so I like to squeeze as much as I can into the day.
Speaker 1:Now I've mentioned. What I wanted to really do was start with winding the clock back a little bit and talking a little bit about your retail career, because, as I said in the intro, you've held senior roles at a number of well-known brands. You're responsible for George I think that's correct most latterly before you started your new career, if I can call it that MD at Jaeger. But tell us a little bit about that journey. And of course, you were also at River Island and they've been in the news very recently and I hope that it's now good news as a result of the High Court ruling. But anyway, just tell us a little about your, your retail career in fashion.
Speaker 2:So I consider myself very lucky that my first role was at Next very early in its existence and the founder, George George Davis, was still there and, while it was still small, worked very, very closely with him and saw his huge passion for product, for people, for customers, more so than running it like an accountant. So it was all about getting the product right and being entrepreneurial. And so I was lucky enough to work with him for four years there, and then, when he left, I did write to him and said you know, if you ever set up anything new, I'd love to work with you again. And that's when I got the call to say I can't tell you who it is, can't tell you what it's for, but would you like to join me in what was at the time it was the George Davis partnership. So I was very lucky to join him as a partner at the forefront of anything you do.
Speaker 1:There can't be many people that we could think of in retail that would be better than to have as well. You've got a mentor or boss or whatever you know. The term is as George Davis and I consider myself very lucky.
Speaker 2:But I then went on to go back to next and work with Simon Wilson who, again you know, fantastic CEO and just clearly in his time you know, made next a fantastic business. So learnt a completely different set of skills from him much more data-led, analytical, very good at weighing up the pros and cons of any new developments less you know, more analytical and less, I suppose, gut instinct but hopefully learnt lots of things from the both that I could juggle going forward.
Speaker 1:And of course that then led us to spell it at Dunelm. But if we keep to the fashion thread, then your most recent role as I say before new sort of career which we'll get on to, I was as MD at Jaeger at M&S.
Speaker 2:Well, I I was, as part of my studying fashion, which I did as my degree. We studied fashion history and I do have a huge passion both for, you know, fashion brands and obviously Jaeger was such an amazing historical British brand, despite it being founded by a German. But it was instigated in Britain and you know I was also very passionate about British manufacturing and, having had a career where, I think when I started, 35% my production was in the UK. So there was something very special about being able to look after Jaeger with all of its amazing history but say, how do you make it current for today and something that's going to last another 135 years. So I was very blessed to use the, I guess, the infrastructure and the stability of the M&S ownership, but to be given a pretty much free reign to do what needed to be done on branding and on the team and on styling.
Speaker 2:And you know, look at the customer profile because that's what I'd done in the previous role successfully and I'm very you know I still walk in I'm very proud of seeing the shop in shop fit that we did, which was a hugely successful. You know the customers going into M&S really liked it. It had a point of difference and obviously hugely successful. You know the customers going into M&S really liked it. It had a point of difference and obviously still you know, continues to be managed within the M&S teams there today. So I'm hoping I set it on a strong footing for it to go ahead, like I said, for another 135 years.
Speaker 1:And I think everybody would agree that the M&S of today built on those foundations and probably when Steve Rowe was there and now obviously Stuart is a completely different proposition to I don't know, certainly 10 years ago.
Speaker 2:Yes, I think I mean it's interesting. One of the biggest changes I saw happen whilst I was there was this move much more to collections which interestingly, actually when George was the first business, actually in the 80s, because George had seen it in Europe where stock was merchandised as collections and I think you know, customers have got used to that inspiration and so I think the move not only to more modern product but also merchandising as collections has been transformative for M&S and continues to grow and grow.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, and just very briefly touching on the challenges you say that River Island have been having, and they've been well documented. Yes, Do you think that that is partly? I mean, we know that Ben Lewis has said some of the reasons, one of them online and obviously the cost of running store estate now but do you think that that is also a symptom of the fact that consumers now, when it comes to fashion, are extremely unpredictable and fickle and micro trends come and go? Is that what you're seeing and kind of? I guess now you're sort of a step removed from it, perhaps and to be able to look, maybe you've got a really good perspective on what's happening in fashion now.
Speaker 2:I think you're right. I just I think you have inevitably, even with a well-established brand, you have to react to external factors, whether it's the growth of new retailers or different online retailers or how people use their store space. I think, and be quite brutal, because you know customers are very discerning and are faced with a lot of choice and maybe some hard decisions weren't made soon enough, but you know people aren't as loyal, you know, to brands as they were. I think there's just so much more choice and you know this reality of social media and obviously I'm part of it now requires such a constant change and such constant newness in order to attract people's attention that you can't ignore. You can't ignore competition, new players in the field, changes that are happening.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely. Now you mentioned social media there, which is a lovely segue into what I also wanted to uh talk to you about, and that was, as I've referred to, new career, and I think that kind of began a couple of years ago. You brought a book out called invincible, not invisible. Tell us first a little bit about that, and I I confess I have seen some of your tiktok videos and so on and so forth, and extremely active, so fascinating to learn. Was there a light bulb moment or what was the process? How did this all come about? Because you are extremely active and we'll go on and talk about your latest book and the coverage that you're getting with that, because it's an amazing story.
Speaker 2:So I was made redundant December I would say 2022, and I was turning 60 in March 2023. And it was an incredible, I suppose, window of opportunity, which I probably didn't realize what a big window was. It's a full-blown French window. But it was a chance for me because I'd had a fantastic time working on Jaeger and I loved transforming brands. But I kind of thought I need to take a pause and go think about really what I want to do next. And I used that time to get fit because I was about to turn 60. And I didn't like the thought of saying that it sounded old and it just didn't agree with me and I thought, well, I need to turn this into a positive. And together with my PT at the time, we decided that I'd get to my absolute fittest as a bit of a two fingers up to both society but also my internal view of what 60 was.
Speaker 2:And so I got super fit and, as it transpired, he worked with a Times journalist who said the Times might be interested in looking at that story. So I had some photographs taken. I never expected on the before photo that I had taken that it'd end up being full scale printed into the Times in my bra and pants, but it was next to an after photo. But the story got so much traction that I think it helped people. I keep using the mantra never too late, never too old. I think it's very easy if you're actually both in a career and in your personal life to think it's too late to change. And I think something resonated and I started to get a few social media followers looking for inspiration and then I got approached by a publisher to write a book and I'd never thought about writing a book before but because I'd started to write commentary on social media posts and I enjoy writing as well.
Speaker 2:So I thought, well, you know why not. You know, possibly my next book's probably going to be called the Power of no, the Joy of yes, because actually saying no to things you don't want to do and joyfully saying yes to things that you never tried doing before is kind of where I'm at. So I've said yes to writing a book and so that's how Invincible Not Invisible came about, because it was saying you don't need to feel invisible or be invisible at 60.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so that then. I mean there was a lot of, as I said, an awful lot of social media activity and so forth. But then what? Just less than a year later, when you brought out yeah, a little bit more, wasn't it, because it was August last year, I think that Invincible, not Invisible, came out.
Speaker 2:So under a year later right.
Speaker 1:So we've got sas 60 and single, your survival guide to dating.
Speaker 2:Tell us about that yes, so my 60th was quite an eventful year because my 31 year marriage came to an amicable end, but we'd been together since I was 23. And I think in reality you change a lot actually and I think we accepted that we both changed a lot. So started dating at 61 and, having never been on a dating app in my life, found it a very quick learning curve of things to do and things not to do and started to document it. Because everybody goes. I've got so many stories I could tell. I thought, but no, it doesn't write a book.
Speaker 2:And I, because I enjoy life coaching and mentoring, I thought well, do you know if I can learn some lessons doing this and be a bit of a human guinea pig or a rogue heroine, you know? That's why the SAS table came about going out and trying these things and experiences and trying to help other people at the end of it. So I documented what I learned about the apps. I worked with a friend of mine who's a matchmaker as well to learn a lot about the psychologies and the sort of characters to look out for and the traits to look out for. I obviously shared an experience I had that was a bit of a dating disaster.
Speaker 2:But I kind of thought that was partly because I thought you think people are going to be quite gullible if they fall for people who are lying to you and I just didn't realize. You know, it was only quite short lived six, I don't know, six to eight weeks or something. But you know, I tend to be someone that trusts someone until you don't trust them and obviously learned a hard lesson from that. So I decided to share it only because I thought, well, it'll help other people realize what you can look out for. And got some dating stories of my own and from friends to to have both horror stories and funny stories and then, obviously, with my background, could include a little bit about what to wear on a date. So I thought it's very, very current because more and more people over 50s marriages are ending and two thirds of those are instigated by women. So I thought there's an audience out there who will hopefully enjoy and benefit from me going through these experiences and sharing what I learned.
Speaker 1:Well, I was listening, watching a podcast that you shared with me earlier that you did with Glynis Glynis Barber, aegis, I think. The podcast is called. Yeah, that was fascinating listening to you on that Kind of expand on some of those experiences and the one thing that struck me, and actually it struck me when you were doing the the tiktok videos was how brave. I don't know whether you felt that you were being brave, but you're you're kind of putting yourself out there and again, as I said in the intro, you you've had plenty of comments back, some good, some not so good, and I guess you're turning over the stone and uncovering what's beneath it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's interesting because the word brave? Because a couple of other people have said that I suppose the brave bit is being a bit vulnerable in more ways than one, because sometimes, you know, I think I was quite courageous in my retail career in that I often, you know, took educated risks and I'd rather you know I worked on the premise that if you don't, particularly in fashion, if you don't try anything new, you're going to spiral downwards because ultimately fashion is about new things, so you can't play it safe all the time. So I had a career where there's an element of you had to be courageous, brave, whatever you call it. It's quite different being brave and put yourself out there. When it's you as a person and, as you say, some of the comments you get it's as if they're not talking to a person. You know they're talking about you as a third person and it could be quite hurtful. It could be hurtful or it could be soul destroying.
Speaker 2:I think both books I wrote with the desire to help other people, so whether it is people who've got to a stage in their life where they think they're too old to transform their fitness journey or to make healthy changes, and the second book was about realizing there's lots of women who probably feel a bit daunted about entering this minefield and I thought I could help them. So the solution has had to be and people have encouraged me to do do this is ignore the people who are critical and develop a thick skin because they don't know you, they don't know why you've done this. You and I have to focus on the fact that I've done this from a good place and I'm trying to help people and I get lots of lovely comments, fortunately who? From people who have felt it's helped them. So, yeah, and I think what's interesting about I do love doing the social media aspect of it, whether it's Instagram or TikTok, because all of the creative ideas I would have had previously and it's from my career in fashion, whether it is, how do you talk to customers?
Speaker 2:What is it they really want to hear? How do you present it? I'm using those skills now in a completely different way and and loving it as well. So and you know a bit like you know, you're doing the podcast and we were talking, you know, prior to starting, about all of the technology you have to use to to do a podcast. I've had to learn all of the technology behind. How do you edit videos, add subtitles, add music, speed up, slow down, read the algorithm, and I've loved learning all of those new things as well.
Speaker 1:Yes, yeah, yeah, we're pretty much out of run over time, but that's fine, so the book is clearly resonating. I think you said you were on Lorraine a week ago and also again tomorrow. Looking forward to it very much. Yes, I'm not sure when this podcast is going to be going out just yet, because this is literally the first recording of the brand-new series. But yeah, I've always thought certainly from my personal experience from moving out of corporate life, if you like that usually one thing leads to another. Is that what you're finding?
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I think that I mentioned about just being, you know, being open and saying yes to things. I think that's my attitude now, you know, I was asked to write a book, so I said yes. I asked a client Kilimanjaro, I did that, you know, guessing asked to appear on tv for to present a fashion segment. It's a big yes for me as well. So I think I think if you're open to things and people you know see that enthusiasm and passion and I guess you know it's a slight vulnerability as well to try new things, you know they invite you and you should say yes, we have a great degree of gusto and who knows what happens next. Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1:So just to finish up, tell us, where can people find the book.
Speaker 2:Both books are available at most good booksellers online. I'm directing lots of people. It's available on Amazon. It's at Waterstones, Blackstones, WH Smith. So all those booksellers.
Speaker 1:Okay, that's absolutely fantastic. So, fiona, thank you so much. That's all we've got time for from what's in the Box for now. New episodes will be dropping every couple of weeks, so please stay tuned, and if you want to find out more about BoxTech, please follow the link in the description. Thank you so much for listening.