Jo Fairley

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Jo Fairley is a serial entrepreneur, best known for co-founding the luxury chocolate brand Green & Black’s. Leaving school with just six O Levels, Jo became the UK’s youngest-ever magazine editor at Look Now.

Today, Jo continues to make influential contributions to Green & Black’s, as well as to the wider industry. She has founded several businesses across industries, but always themed around the senses.

Jo is a highly sought-after speaker, sharing her experiences, invaluable expertise, and advice for fellow entrepreneurs. Jo was once awarded the World Aware Award for her influential entrepreneurship, a testament to her dedication to ensuring all she works on is environmentally friendly.

For more details on how Jo can add value to your event, contact us on 0044 (0)1753 439289

Entrepreneur

Jo Fairley co-founded Green & Black’s in 1991 alongside her husband. Over thirty years later, the chocolate brand is worth over £100 million and has been named the UK’s Coolest Food Brand by Coolbrands Survey an impressive 11 years in a row.

Passionate about sustainability and the environment, Green & Black’s only use ethically sourced cocoa, ensures their cocoa farmers are paid a fair wage, and that working conditions are safe and healthy.

Jo sold the company to Cadbury in 2005.

The success of Green & Black’s has seen Jo become a serial entrepreneur, founding Judges Bakery, and organic food store; The Wellington Centre, a centre that emphasises the importance of natural health; and the perfume subscription service The Perfume Society. She is also the founder of beauty news outlet Beauty Bible.

She spent eight years chairing the Soil Association’s Health Products Standards Committee, setting the stands for natural and organic body care in the UK. she is also a #matron’ of the Women’s Environmental Network, sits on the Human Rights Watch Film Festival Committee, and runs makeovers for women at Centrepoint.

Awards

– Soil Association Awards

– WorldAware Award

– Shackleton Medal for Leadership an Citizenship by the Scottish Royal Geographical Society

– Fragrance Foundation’s Jasmine Award (3 times)

– 100 UK Leading Environmentalists by Forbes

– Honorary Doctorate in Business Studies from Kingston University

Writer

Jo is a regular contributor to a range of publications, including The Times, Red, Elle, National Geographic, Natural Health, Harpers & Queen, The Mail on Sunday’s YOU Magazine, Waitrose Food, Waitrose Weekend, and The Telegraph.

She is also the author of over 20 books across her business industries, including Sweet Dreams: The Story of Green & Black’s (2008), The Perfume Bible (2014), The Anti-Ageing Beauty Bible (2012), The Ultimate Natural Beauty Bible (2014), Feel Fabulous Forever (1998), The Ultimate Natural Beauty Book (2004), and Beauty Fixes (2002).

Corporate

Alongside her business work, Jo works as a consultant for a wide range of companies, from start-ups to global names, sharing her business and branding insights on sales, product, and marketing.

Speaker

Jo is one of the UK’s leading motivational speakers, sharing her inspirational entrepreneurial story. Over the years, she has spoken to universities, FTSE 100 companies, and financial institutions across the world.

Her commitment to sustainability and ethical production has made her a revered and passionate sustainability advocate and speaker. Offering insights to individuals, leaders, companies, and corporate events, Jo has offered insights that covers the entire spectrum of business development.

Speaking Topics

– Sustainability and The Environment

– Entrepreneurship

– Women in Business

– Diversity

– Start-Ups

– The Business Sector

– Corporate Social Responsibility

– Marketing and Branding

She has also sat as a judge for a variety of awards, such as the RSPCA Good Business Awards, HSBC Business Thinking Awards, and the YOU/Clarins Dynamisante Women of the Year Awards.

Charity

Jo has always believed in the importance of giving back, and has since used her public position to engage with a variety of philanthropic and charity activities, including:

– Establishing a peace garden in Alexandra Park in Hastings

– Soup lunch fundraiser in aid of the Refugee Community Kitchen in Calasia and Dunkirk

– Matron of the Women’s Environmental Network

– Runs transformative confidence programmes for women at Centrepoint

Clients

Accenture, Barclays, Barefoot, Ben and Jerry’s, Bloomberg, BNP Paribas, Boots, BT, Chanel, Comply Direct, Credit Agricole, Deloitte, Dr Hauschka, the Global Travel Group, Grant Thornton, Imedeen, Jo Wood, Jupp Castle, Legal and General, L’Occitane, L’Oreal, the Northern Business Exhibition, P&G, Santander, Skanska, Superbrands, Teesside University, UCLAN, UK Trade and Investment, Visit Norway.com, Vodafone, Weleda

To check fees and availability for Jo Fairley, contact Great Business Speakers on 0044 (0)1753 439289

Contact us.

Jo Fairley, a visionary speaker, guides you through navigating disruption with adaptability and innovation for success.

Jo is an exceptional speaker: confident, engaging, thoughtful, and always thought-provoking. She makes the extraordinary tale of her business success seem so attainable – and that is what makes her truly inspiring.
Fuller Research Group

We had someone come up after her speech saying ‘I could’ve listened to Jo all day’.
Visa

We absolutely loved having Jo speak for our International Women’s Day lunch. She was inspiring, insightful and engaged the whole audience throughout! Her sense of humour, incredible experiences and natural storytelling was a delight, and we have had so much positive feedback from everyone there. I would highly recommend her for any style of event.
Norges Bank

Thank you so much for such an engaging and insightful talk today, Jo! The office was truly captivated by your journey, and there were so many valuable takeaways from your inspiring session.
CMC Markets

We were so pleased to partner with Jo on Metro Bank’s Small Business Campaign. She was a great spokesperson, getting across all our key messages with passion and effectiveness.
Metro Bank

Jo’s story was very inspiring and very well received and very inspiring. She went down so well, perhaps partly because she was honest about her career, as well as being entertaining. She had a 45min slot but everyone could have easily listened for longer. Jo’s pre-event communication gave us a surprise, because of how good it was. She always wanted to make sure she would relate to us as a company and made sure we had everything we needed. Thank you, Jo, for everything pre-event and on the day it was all very much appreciated.
CILT – Chartered Institute of Logistics & Transport

Jo spoke at our business support event about her journey of creating and growing Green & Black’s. The talk was delivered with such passion and positivity that everyone in the room could relate to what she was saying about growing a business. Her thoughts and lessons learned really resonated with the audience, and our local businesses also took away key learnings to think about. The free chocolate was also an added bonus!
Growth Platform, Liverpool

Jo’s presentation at ReTec Europe was utterly enthralling and without artifice. Not only a fascinating glimpse into Green & Black’s history, of how a start-up in a London flat became a global ethical business, but also brimming with practical material to take away and grow a business, a brand or even a department. Jo’s delivery was assured and entertaining in a style that just makes you nod, as each pearl of wisdom is presented, and smile!
ReTec Europe

We booked Jo for our first Business Away Day. Our employees were captivated listening to her story about how Green & Black’s began. She was engaging, thought provoking and well- prepared, and the feedback we have received internally from Jo’s talk was so positive – “entertaining and inspiring”. All our employees took so much away from it, especially our female colleagues. Thank you!
Cartwright & Butler

Jo spoke at the inaugural Yorkshire Sustainability Week in July 2023. Jo’s brilliant story of founding Green & Black’s Chocolate was shared with passion and honesty, and proved very inspiring for our audience. Thank you, Jo!
Kate Hutchinson, Founder of The Sustainability Community Ltd.

Jo was an absolute joy to listen to and an inspiration to everyone. To have someone so accomplished treat our event with such professionalism and warmth was just wonderful! Jo tailored her talk brilliantly to our educational audience and I would recommend everyone spend time in her company as what she doesn’t know about ethical leadership isn’t worth knowing!
South Gloucestershire Head Teachers Association