A DRAGON’S Den star has appeared at a school to advise pupils on being a successful businesswoman.
Sarah Willingham took a break from TV and big business to tell pupils at Roedean School about attaining success and sexism she experienced.
The Brighton-based entrepreneur, who spent her twenties expanding Pizza Express and Planet Hollywood before setting up Indian chain Bombay Bicycle Club, told girls at Roedean School that there were still battles for women trying to get to the top.
She recalled the start of a meeting in which she was about to buy a company when the lawyer present greeted her arrival with a "sigh of relief and a request for a black coffee".
She told the pupils: “He died a slow painful death over the next hour as the deal was being done. I wish I could say this sort of episode is a thing of the past but sexism is still around, I’m afraid."
The 48-year-old explained how she regarded success as achieving not only her business but also her life goals - to have a partner and children and the time to spend with them.
Ms Willingham added: “I was living the life, flying all over the world, but I realized in my late twenties that I wanted a family.
"So, I worked out that I would have to be my own boss in order to be able to decide where I would be on a Monday morning and a Friday night."
Asked by pupils what other challenges she had overcome, she said that imposter syndrome had affected her for parts of her career.
She said: “I would love to tell my younger self not to worry about having imposter syndrome.
"I made it into my superpower, emboldening me to try things out of my comfort zone until they were inside my comfort zone.
“Don’t be the person whose story was that they had a great idea for a business but did nothing about it. It’s better to try and fail five times and then succeed than to never try at all.
"Apart from your pride and some time, what have you got to lose?”
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