Photo by Colleen Duffley.
One of the biggest reasons I wanted to start a blog was for community. I grew up traveling around the world and quickly discovered that there are people I can relate to and have amazing friendships with anywhere and everywhere. So, blogging to me is as much about finding like-minded people that love what they do as much as it is about sharing my life with you. With that being said, when I had the chance to meet India Hicks at my little beach town during an event she was putting on for her beautiful collection, I was over the moon excited.
I was able to ask her a few questions about her company, herself, and her vision. You can read all about it below and make sure to check out her website and collections at indiahicks.com.
Hi India! Let’s first get to know you. Can you tell us about yourself and your company?
I created this company so that other women could join me and run it as their own business, on their own terms, in their own time. After years creating collections with other companies, it was time to start my own venture. I am branding the collections under my own name, which means I am held responsible! The collections are filled with stories from my British heritage and the blessed life I live with my family on a tiny Bahamian island.
What was the journey behind the design of your first product?
My collections are very much inspired by my own life, my British heritage and what I call my runaway island story. I knew I wanted to start with beauty because it was a world that I really understood. I worked for nine years with Crabtree & Evelyn and it was a fantastic education.
If you could only pick three accessories from your collection– one for a beachside getaway, one for a work trip in the city, and one for or a relaxed weekend in the country, which would you choose and why?
In the same way that I have five kids and asking me to choose which to bring along, this is impossible to answer… I also believe that one of the most unique things about our collections is the versatility of the products. Our Carmen Clutch is as much at home on the island or in the city, I know I have taken her to both, and our Beetle Bag is incredibly useful in transporting your daily essentials, computer cords, underwear, makeup, meds, but not all at once … Our scarves can double as a sarong or beach blanket, look chic tied into a knot for meetings, or occasionally have doubled up as a dog’s lead when I foolishly leave home with out one.
I absolutely love your The Duchess of Windsor bag, what is the inspiration behind it?
Our Duchess is made from a performance fabric, it’s lightweight and durable, and more than that, it’s a functional computer bag that fits a 15-inch screen. Most of the other computer bags that I’d seen out there in the marketplace looked like they’d been designed by boring men, it was impossible to find a good looking computer bag. I love the fact that we named it after the Duchess of Windsor, who in my opinion was one of the most stylish women in the world in the 1940s, she certainly set the world alight with the way that she dressed and lived… I would have liked to have seen her carrying my computer bag. Although once she did come to have lunch with my grandparents and strangely bought a cold chicken as a hostess gift.
Your brand is so well defined throughout your website, blog, and social media outlets. How do you infuse your brand into everything you create?
This is a very personal journey…..I design the collections, (of course with a team beside me), I write all the copy, I art direct the images, and I oversee the bigger creative picture which is always an extension of this crazy life of mine….as long as everything comes from the heart I think the brand will feel very defined.
For all the dreamers and wannabe entrepreneurs out there, what advice would you give them?
Don’t give up. It takes grit and determination and lots of hard work to really create anything meaningful. I have faced lots of bumps in the road including rejection and deflation, I know what it feels like when a project never gets off the ground, even after you may have invested energy time and resources into it, pick yourself up and keep moving on.
What are some ways that blogging enhances your business?
I am not sure blogging does enhance a business, but what I can say from my own experience is that I love to write, (despite my appalling grammar and spelling) so when I do have a moment to myself I am happy to put into words some of the stories that happen along the way.
How do you see your business evolving over the next few years?
Cautiously and carefully, I want to make sure that we are looking after the extraordinary women who have chosen to join me, I would not want to rush into over-expanding too quickly without making sure our foundations are firm. This business carries my name and with that comes a lot of responsibility.
What are the non-negotiables in your life that allow you to be your most successful?
Everything is negotiable! but I do try to make sure I get an hour of exercise in each day, this is like an hour of meditation away from the craziness of the office, the worries of parenting, the hours of decision making.
And lastly, I love reading about a day in someone’s life. What does a typical day in your life look like?
There is nothing too typical in my life but when I am at home on the island, I will be awake before anyone else in the house, I will walk my stout dachshund and potcake (that’s the Bahamian term for mongrel) to the end of our garden as the sun is coming up and before I take my daughter to school on a golf cart the office opens up. Most evenings I work late but some times I will binge on a series of Homeland whilst answering the easier emails.
