This Friday Underlines chats to Leanne Cahill, CEO of Bravissimo. Alongside her engrossing ‘day’ job, she is also Chancellor of the University of Sunderland and through that, she helps support others to fulfil their potential and promote social mobility and access to higher education. Two roles that intriguingly have much in common – supporting people on a very personal level and in the broader walk of life. And Leanne is passionate about both.
Life before Bravissimo?
I am from Sunderland, in the North East. I was born into a family of strong women, in fact there were five living generations of us! My background taught me how to work hard, and that most things can be achieved if you have the ambition and the confidence to go for it.
I stayed at home and studied at the University of Sunderland, and my career started with a year long management training placement in stores with M&S.
After a couple of years in stores I moved into their offices and specialised in finance. I went on to work in a wide range of commercial, operational, programme and transformation roles in financial services and other retailers, progressing to director level before joining Bravissimo initally as Finance Director, then becoming Managing Director and now CEO.
Why intimate apparel/specialist retailing?
I came to Bravissimo first and foremost as a customer. I was so happy to discover the amazing experience and choice offered after I had my first baby, and really excited by the opportunity to be part of something that has such a positive impact on so many women.
When I applied for the role and began to understand more about how the business worked, I was blown away by how purpose driven Bravissimo is. We are here to inspire women who are D cup and up feel confident and uplifted. Everything we do centres around this, creating amazing experiences towards this outcome, on such a scale takes a huge amount of deep understanding and focus.
I was blown away by how purpose driven Bravissimo is…
We are rewarded by the most incredible customer feedback, thousands get in touch to let us know how they feel after shopping with us and many say it is life changing. It’s unlike anything I’ve seen in other retailers, and a pretty cool reason to get out of bed every morning!
What is the best thing about your job?
I am lucky to love my job, there are so many things I could mention here! I’ll pick out just a couple of examples. Firstly, I get to work with the best team, we all bring something different. I love the diversity of thinking and skills we have, and that we challenge and support each other to be our best every day.
And secondly, there is something incredibly special about spending time with customers and in fitting rooms. Those one to one interactions are happening all around us, customers sharing stories, telling us about themselves, the joy when they feel amazing in their new bras and like what they see when they look in the mirror. It’s the sounds of women supporting women and it’s hard to beat.
What is different about working in this sector?
Retail has always been a fast paced, challenging sector. Lingerie retail is a whole new level! The technical product and fitting knowledge and skills go way beyond just good products and great customer service. The range of sizes and the breadth of fits, shapes and styles we offer is huge and having all that available in all our locations is the most challenging merchandising job I know. And they are just the functional elements of this sector – the fact that we are helping individuals in a more emotional, personal way adds another, deeper layer.
Lingerie retail is not the easiest business to run, there are many reasons why there aren’t many lingerie multiples on the high street. Finding ways to do everything we do whilst making sure Bravissimo is a financially secure and sustainable business that will be here for the long term is a challenge. It’s demanding, but it’s worth it!
Lingerie retail is not the easiest business to run…
Whom do you admire in the underwear industry?
We have over 500 bra fitters working at Bravissimo, in our shop and customer services teams everyone is a bra fitter. They are all motivated to help customers and to deliver our purpose, they are amazing at what they do and they are so inspiring to me!
Our bra fitters have such an impressive range of skills and are so knowledgeable about the products and all the different ways they fit and meet the needs of customers who all have individual shapes, sizes and tastes. But beyond that, the way they interact with our customers, always with the aim for each one to leave feeling better about herself than when she walked through the door. They know our customers better than anyone else and I learn from them every day.
If you were not working in this industry, what do you think you would be doing instead?
Hmm, good question! I love retail and I love lingerie retail, but if I think outside of that and think about why I love my role, there are some things that are very important to me in my work. The culture I work within, the motivations of the people I work with and having big challenges to apply myself to are all key in me enjoying what I do. So to some extent, I think the content of the role and what we are designing, manufacturing and selling is secondary to being in an organisation where you can thrive and reach your potential.
Any other ambitions?
Always! I love to spot opportunities to grow organisations and people, and those opportunities are endless so there is always a lot to keep me busy and striving for.
I’m very aware that Bravissimo is still relatively small in the grand scheme of things, there are millions and millions more women out there who need us, so we have plenty to aim for and achieve.
Alongside my day job, I am Chancellor of the University of Sunderland and through that, I aim to support others to fulfil their potential, and promote social mobility and access to higher education. I’m so grateful to the people who saw potential in me and gave me opportunities before I’d proven myself. I find it very rewarding to do the same for others and am always trying to find time to do more.
Life outside of work?
I am married to Jon and we have two brilliant kids, Jonny is 15 and Bella is 13. We have a motorhome and love to go camping and walking all over the UK and often to France or Italy for summer holidays. We all lead busy lives and I love us to get out and about in the fresh air and away from screens as often as we can.
Your greatest challenge?
I was born with one hand and people tend to assume that my limb difference would be my biggest challenge. In fact, I’ve found that in some organisations or certain groups of people, coming from a working class background and having a regional accent (as I proudly do) has been more of a barrier!
Diversity in leadership is still sadly lacking and social mobility and removing barriers to people reaching their full potential is something I feel strongly about and try to contribute to whenever I can.
Proudest moment to date?
I think lots of people, women in particular, are a bit too modest when it comes to sharing their achievements. I know that hearing what others have achieved inspires me to aim higher, so I am not shy in sharing things I’m proud of!
I’m proud of my career and where I’ve come from and got to. It was a huge moment when Sarah Tremellen, the amazing founder of Bravissimo, asked me to step up to lead the company – wow, what an honour!
I embarked on what I knew would be a huge learning curve and it’s been amazing to take Bravissimo forward, continue to deliver our purpose whilst developing our profitability, and to successfully go through the sale transaction to our new owners Wacoal Europe last year.
Worst move so far?
I’m a big believer in being bold and having a go. I love to ‘feel the fear and do it anyway’. All this means mistakes will be made, and often! But I’m more than fine with that – in my view if you’re not making mistakes, you’re not growing. Life’s too short to live it in the comfort zone.
Life’s too short to live it in the comfort zone.
What do you think you will be doing in 10 years’ time?
I love what I do and would like to think that in ten years I will still be learning, achieving and enjoying it, but who knows exactly what that will look like by then. I’m not a big visualiser and don’t have a fixed view, I prefer to keep an open mind.
The one product you can’t live without?
It depends when you ask me! My favourite bra changes all the time, the product I need is the product that I feel great in and that does a great job for me, and that can be different from one day or activity to the next. Right now I’m a huge fan of the Matilda by Elomi which has the most supportive, smooth and comfy back, and the Niya smoothing bra by Bravissimo which is a game changing combination of a cut and sew construction with a smoothing t shirt bra look.
I’m also wear testing a new style at the moment which I’m hugely excited about, but you’ll have to wait for that to launch before I can tell you more!
