Coffee with Andrea Dinnick, founder of skincare brand Desavery

Andrea Dinnick

Owner of Desavery

London Zoom coffee

Introduction

I was recently asked what it takes to start a new business in the middle of a pandemic. My answer was “patience and perseverance”.

This sentiment was echoed by Andrea throughout our interview, as she reflected on how she’s changed since her 20s (hint: it relates to the above) and how she feels as a 50-something thinking about the years ahead (hint: it’s positive).

Mix in Andrea’s growth mindset and she is a good example of why we are seeing so many midlife individuals deciding to start their own businesses and succeeding. Did you know the founders of McDonald’s, Coca Cola, and Kentucky Fried Chicken were all over 50 when they established their businesses? As several other interviewees have reminded us It’s never too late. And now my interview with Andrea.

Enjoy! KBx

Describe your career path in two or three sentences including any twist or turns ending with where you are now.

I started out as a journalist in Canada working in smaller markets. Eventually, I became a reporter for the CBC (Canada Broadcast Corporation) and came over to London as the CBC European Business Correspondent. I continued to work in the UK  as a presenter and journalist for 7 years.

Then a friend of mine, who had also been a journalist in Canada, sold a television series to Disney. She called and asked ‘Will you be the executive producer of this series?’ I had no experience in children's television but I agreed and that set my career on a different trajectory.  

I spent several years at Disney and ended up more on the channel marketing and content side. That eventually led to another business with a large content and e-commerce element. I ran that for a few years, before deciding to finally start my own business, Desavery, a direct-to-consumer skincare and self-care brand. 

What decision or experience proved the most helpful to your career, or that could be a failure that set you up for success later.

I’d put this in the failure category. I don't think I was patient enough in my earlier career. When things didn't go my way, I was a sort of a throw-your-toys-out-of-the-pram kind of person and wouldn’t persevere.  

You don't want to put up with shit from people but on the other hand, sometimes you have to be patient and wait your turn. And I've never done that, to my detriment.

So maybe that leads into what advice you'd give your 20-year-old self knowing what you know now, or what advice you'd say to you?

My advice would be to understand that your career is going to take a lot of twists and turns. So be ready and open to all different kinds of experiences and let those life circumstances guide you to a certain extent. At the same time, think about those choices you make.  

As I'm sure you’d agree, picking up and moving to London is a great idea and lots of good stuff happened. But you give up things on the other side of that.  

Where or to whom do you look for inspiration?

I look to other entrepreneurs for inspiration and people who are big thinkers. I love reading about those kinds of people and looking at what they do.  

KB: Do you listen to any particular podcasts like How I Built This? 

AD: Yes! I was just going to say that. Also, for great stories, I love Death Sex and Money by Anna Sale.

When you're feeling stuck, or uninspired, what actions do you take or what questions do you ask yourself?

I'm a person who has a very strict routine. So when I'm feeling stuck, I embed myself even deeper into that routine. For example, if I'm feeling uninspired and not motivated, I just say well, this is Wednesday morning and this is what happens on Wednesday morning so just put your head down and move forward. 

KB: Have you always had that routine? Or is that a practice you’ve put into place more recently? 

AD: I have always had a routine. It’s changed over the years, but whatever the routine is I stick to it religiously. And it's not out of amazing self-discipline, it is 100% survival.

In the last five years, what new belief, behavior or habit has most improved your working life?

The growth mindset concept. Especially, working in e-commerce, if you're not going to embrace growth weekly, you're going to be left in the dust. And I would say that about pretty much every part of my business and my life. I'm very interested in what I can learn and then what I can put into practice.

Related: Want to know more about Growth Mindset - read this HBR article by academic Carol Dweck that coined the term.

If you had, could you put a quote or a piece of advice on a big billboard for everyone over 50 to see what would it be?

It’s not a quote, it's more of a mathematical formula but in essence, it says “You’ve still got more time ahead than behind”

Age ≤ 50 = 15 years of career productivity

Age ≥ 50 = 35 years of career productivity 

The math:

Start with your age, let’s say you’re 50.

Subtract 25 years for education and just growing up because zero to 25 what the hell do you know!?

Now you are at 25.

Subtract 10 years for women who've had children to cover lost career productivity and you’re at 15.

That means when you hit 50 you’ve had 15 years of career productivity. 

Now let’s say you can be productive until you are 85. As a 50 year old that means you have 35 productive years ahead of you and 15 behind. 

In other words, there's more ahead of you than there is behind you.

And let's face it when you're 26 and you're starting a job, or you're 28, you don't know what the hell you're doing. And you're probably wasting some time just putting in your time.

So, the next chunk of time (assuming bad things don’t happen and sadly we know they can happen) and that’s the amazing thing - you have a big amount of time ahead to accomplish a lot.

I think it's really important for people to recognize that.

And also, to think of this as a time to invest.

You can't expect to switch your career in 18 months. If you want to do something really meaningful, maybe you need to take five years for a new career. You need to be patient and play the long game.

Recommendations, what book or podcast would you most recommend for someone thinking about designing their post 50 work life?

I'm a big believer in meditation. And I know it's talked about more as a trendy thing but I've been a meditator for quite a while. And there's a book called Passage Meditation by Echonet Eswaran.  It's a unique and very accessible type of meditation. I've recommended it to so many people.

If you want to make a meaningful change to your life where the benefits of meditation can be applied to whatever you decide to do, then I would definitely recommend this book.

You can follow Andrea and Desavery on Instagram  

Read about three more midlife beauty trailblazers…