Business Hub

Nicole Higgins

Founder, The Buyer and Retail Coach

Retail Expert

Nicole Higgins is a seasoned professional with over 18 years’ experience in the retail industry, having worked as a buyer with companies such as Primark and M&S across multi-product categories. Her journey in the corporate world has equipped her with a wealth of knowledge and insights that she now dedicates to empowering startups and small to medium-sized enterprises in their journey to growth, profit and scalability.

Nicole specializes in guiding businesses through the intricacies of startup, strategy, sourcing and product development. Her keen understanding of market dynamics allows her to provide tailored solutions that drive success in today's competitive landscape.

Visit Nicole's website here.

Karolina Barnes

Founder, ESTILA

Marketing Expert

With her background in retail, design and hospitality, Karolina Barnes is a brand strategist at STUDIO/ESTILA, a brand development consultancy and marketing studio. For over two decades, Karolina has been specialising in customer-centric, story-driven marketing, sales and PR in the small independent lifestyle sector. In 2015, she also founded ESTILA, a media and membership platform with a mission to promote, support and unite next-generation design-led brands, interior designers and artists. 

Her expertise can help you connect with your key customer base and keep them coming back time and time again. 

Visit ESTILA here.

Therese Oertenblad

Founder, Small Business Collaborative

Wholesale & Sales Expert

Therese Oertenblad, Small Business Collaborative, has been in the home and gift industry for 15 years. Since 2018, she’s been working with purpose-led, product-based business owners who want to grow their wholesale and create a powerful, consistent income stream for their businesses.

Her clients include Studio Wald, Claude & Co, Etta Loves, Hello Day Planner, and many others. Many are now stocked in Liberty, Selfridges, Oliver Bonas, Anthropologie, and independent stores in the UK and abroad.

Therese is on the National Committee for The Giftware Association, and she hosts Let’s Talk Shop, a seasonal business podcast sharing industry-specific business advice.

Visit the website here.

Claire Charlton

Founder, Dueto Agency

Branding Expert

With over a decade of experience as a buyer and events director for renowned global brands, Claire Charlton brings a wealth of knowledge to her role as a branding and retail director at Dueto Agency.  

In response to the changing landscape of traditional retail, Dueto Agency was established to assist businesses in crafting meaningful connections with customers and fostering positive retail experiences.  Whether you’re an emerging venture or an established player seeking to rejuvenate an existing presence, Claire offers strategic insights that transcend conventional approaches and ensures a tailored and impactful strategy for your brand. 

Visit Claire's website here.

Nicola Snell

Founder, Press Loft

Press & PR Expert

Nikki Snell is the founder of Press Loft, a PR platform which automates PR for 1500 brands around the world in the Home, Design and Gift sectors. During her career, Nikki has helped over 25000 brands generate over 1 million pieces of coverage. She is passionate about tech and making PR Simple and accessible to all.

Geared at brand owners, Nikki is on hand to advise how to grow your online sales as customers continue to gravitate towards the ease of internet shopping. 

Find out more about Press Loft here. 

Kat Maclennan

Founder, Dot to Dot

Visual Merchandising Expert

Kat Maclennan is a Visual Merchandising consultant, collaborating with brands to create exciting shopping experiences for customers.

Passionate about retail, Kat collaborates with retailers, ensuring engaging, creative and commercial customer journeys. She is experienced in visual merchandising, visual range planning, store planning principles, and window concept design, bringing product and marketing stories to life in stores.

Explore Kat's website here.

Ami Rabheru

Founder, Retail Huddle

Retail Expert

Ami Rabheru is a highly experienced former Retail Buyer, turned Retail Business Consultant, passionate about products and obsessed with retail!

She is the founder of Retail Huddle, a consultancy where creativity meets retail strategy and success is a collaborative journey.  She helps both established and emerging retail product businesses with strategic, actionable insights and transformative solutions to grow their sales, stand out in a crowded marketplace, and build compelling retail brand and product growth strategies.  She prides herself in uniquely combining consultancy, mentoring and industry knowledge, to navigate the ever-evolving retail landscape by empowering businesses to think differently, enabling them to achieve sustainable growth, increase market share, and build long-lasting customer relationships in an omni-channel world!

Explore the Retail Huddle here. 

Laura Harrison

Founder, LH Retail Development Ltd Consultancy

Finance Expert

Laura is a retail specialist with 27 years of experience in UK high street and luxury names who works with independent retailers and brands to help bring calm to the chaos of growth. She does this through planning strategy and defining the individual foundations of their businesses focusing on the customer, their experience and data insight to refine buying and profit boosting processes. Helping owners adapt to everchanging customer behaviour and mindset so they can focus on the creative direction of their ranges is Laura’s mission.

Visit Laura's website here.

Priscilla Pollara

Founder, Top Trick

PR Expert

Priscilla Pollara founded Top Trick because communication remains a stumbling block for so many businesses and individuals. As a former journalist, Priscilla uses her unique eye and experience to offer companies big and small a masterclass in comms: she gets people communicating better, she teaches them how to get noticed and how to outthink their competition. Most importantly, she demystifies PR and teaches all businesses why it is an absolutely essential part of commercial success.

Find out more about Top Trick here.