Lara Morgan’s first business, Pacific Direct, was founded in 1991 at the age of 23. Having arrived in the UK with little or no hotel experience, Lara Morgan quickly grew Pacific Direct into a specialist global supplier of luxury high-end brands to five-star hotels, which she has become world-renowned for.
Lara Morgan sold this business after 17 years for £20 million having acquired battle scars and experience spanning extremely large organisations to small start-ups. She has been involved in multiple disciplines, including, luxury brand licensing, marketing and retail operations to commercial and private label development. She has also managed and owned factories in Czechia and China.
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Lara Morgan Investor & Entrepreneur
Lara’s investment strategy is pinned to improving life’s journey, she invests in the fantastic British brands, Dry Robe, the ultimate change robe, Gate8 lightweight time-saving functional business luggage and KitBrix, modular sports kit bags. ActiveBod and Global Amenities Direct are two other companies that Lara has built in line with her portfolio strategy.
Lara Morgan also makes time to grow her own particular brands, Global Amenities Direct, luxury room solutions taking her back full circle into the hotel industry. Her passion for fragrance and functionality in natural aromatherapy products lead her to develop, design and produce Scentered, a mood management approach which supports mindfulness and which through fragrance restores lifestyle balance. Focused on portability and convenience all of Lara’s interests build time for people.
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Lara Morgan | o Founder Scentered
Lara’s Scentered story…
“I was running a global hotel supply business, living life at 100 miles an hour, with three young daughters and a work/life balance that would make the most resilient person cry. I was at breaking point.
I couldn’t sleep, I wasn’t eating properly and I developed a facial tic that I hadn’t even noticed. At one point, I was carrying so much stress and anxiety that I used to hold onto chair arms to help force breath into my body. I felt isolated and alone and didn’t know who to talk to or what to do about it – I just kept going.
My mum came to my rescue. An aromatherapist, she gave me a selection of bath oils to blend that were designed to help me relax, sleep, focus and keep control. Whilst they had an impact, I was frustrated with having to use the oils in a bath, when I was travelling so much – it just wasn’t practical. Then the oils leaked in my suitcase and I lost patience with them.
I knew though, that aromatherapy could help me, I just needed to have them in an easy to use, portable format that I could keep with me for when I needed them. And so, much easier said than done, some years later Scentered was born”.
Lara Morgan Brand Strategist
Lara’s specific experience is in brand strategy, customer segmentation and proposition and creative marketing. Her specific sector experience includes speciality retail, brand merchandising, consumer health, education, well-being travel, leisure and hospitality.
On a personal level, Lara is a a committed volunteer and philanthropist. She is actively engaged with various global non-profits as a trustee/board member or advisor. She speaks regularly at industry events. She has also appeared and commented on current affairs and business issues with Sky and BBC News and has also appeared on the popular BBC 2’s The Apprentice: You’re Fired.
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Lara Morgan Awards
She has been a finalist in Ernst and Young Entrepreneur 3 times and was a finalist in the Veuve Clicquot Businesswoman of the Year Award. In 2009 Lara received the much coveted Cranfield University Entrepreneur Alumna Award.
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Lara Morgan Other Work
She is a published author of the Amazon best-selling business book More Balls Than Most and is a co-founder of StartUp Britain. Taking all this in her stride she also manages to train for charity bike rides and triathlon, coming 10th in the 2011 World Championships.
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To check fees and availability for Lara Morgan, contact Great Business Speakers on 0044 (0)1753 439289
