Make the world a fairer place so her spirit lives on
12:42pm Thursday 26th June 2008
Dame Anita Roddick, who died nine months ago, is remembered as one of Britain's most colourful - and controversial - characters. Vida Zandnia, who has paid for a lasting memorial to the cosmetics entrepreneur, charts their close friendship. And she explains why she believes Dame Anita deserves the admiration of a city with a plaque on the wall at 22 Kensington Gardens, Brighton, where she started The Body Shop chain in 1976.
It was 1988, after a hard day's work in New York City working on our launch of The Body Shop in the United States.
Anita Roddick invited me to dinner at the famous Windows on the World restaurant, atop the World Trade Center on the southern tip of Manhattan.
We were ragged and hungry from our day and I was still wearing denim jeans.
The head waiter would not allow me in without a skirt. I was mortified. Anita was never one to go in for rules and regulations, especially those that served only to keep people divided.
She made some excuses, asked for an exception to be made, all for naught.
Then the Anita who never saw a pretension that couldn't be sabotaged, glanced around the lobby and spotted a table with a paper tablecloth across the top.
"I've found you a skirt!" she cried, delighted by her subterfuge.
With the help of a few paperclips dug out of my briefcase, she fashioned a pleated knee-length "skirt" for me, as dumbfounded staff and a crowd of customers looked on.
The head waiter, giving in to our adherence to the letter of the rule, finally seated us to everyone's delight.
We laughed through the entire dinner, along with our fellow diners and staff. That was Anita's gift and one of the millions of reasons I was lucky to spend several decades as Anita's employee and close personal friend - her ability to make every minute of every day a joyous adventure.
I first met Anita in 1973 through a mutual friend and we bonded immediately. A few years later, she invited me to the opening of her first shop in Brighton.
I was thrilled at the invitation and we strengthened our bond that day. I was born and raised in Iran and Anita was always curious about other cultures and customs: we exchanged ideas on Middle Eastern products and traditions.
We parted when I returned to Iran for more than a year, but on my return I applied to run a Body Shop franchise in California.
Anita and Gordon (her husband) promised that the franchise was mine as soon as the company was licensed to do business in the United States.
While I waited, Anita asked me to manage the Kensington Gardens shop for two weeks while she was abroad.
I did and that was the start of the biggest challenge in my life.
I loved the products, the concept, and I could hardly leave the shop because I was bursting with new ideas to try.
I changed the shop around, rearranged the window display, and gathered some of the products into gift baskets.
I wondered what Anita would think of me meddling in her shop this way, but when she returned, she was far from angry - she was impressed and delighted with the changes.
This was a woman and a company that allowed me to put my crazy ideas into practice.
I continued to work at The Body Shop and with Anita from then on.
I reflect on those days at the Kensington Gardens shop as a special moment among many happy memories in my career and as the beginning of my exciting and successful journey.
Working with Anita was like going to university, having the most committed lecturer and getting paid for it.
I was fascinated by her energy, drive and sense of humour.
Work with Anita was a glorious adventure. But make no mistake, Anita was quite demanding and had high expectations.
In return she provided an opportunity of a lifetime.
A year and a half after I managed the Brighton shop for Anita, I was appointed an area manager. In the years that followed I rose through the ranks, from merchandising manager, to UK retail manager, and finally international retail manager advising franchisees on the development of their businesses.
In that last role, I had the good fortune to visit 460 shops from Australia to the Bahamas.
In 1991, I finally opened my four franchised Body Shops in Los Angeles and Orange County, California. Ten years later I returned to the UK. Our friendship got closer as time passed.
Anita was my hero and mentor.
I feel privileged to have known her, work with her and learn from her both professionally and personally.
As a boss she gave me the opportunity of a lifetime and helped to encourage me to achieve all that I was able - far more than I had imagined.
But I am most endlessly grateful for her friendship, kindness and support: a truer, more genuine friend has never existed.
Her departure leaves an inexpressible hole in my being, beyond anything I have ever experienced.
I am honoured to be able to provide for the blue heritage plaque which will be placed at 22 Kensington Gardens which is a permanent reminder of a woman who inspired us all while passionately caring for the environment and tirelessly campaigning for human rights.
But it is not an ending.
Anita's work shall continue.
What brought her life and work so much meaning, and meaning and purpose to the lives of everyone she touched, was the activism and the campaigning.
We owe it to her to carry on in her spirit. So each time you pass the blue plaque, think of Anita, and pledge to do something, anything, that makes the world a little bit better, fairer, greener, or more just.
She would have wanted that.