Our guest on this episode of our podcast, Homing In, is Mary Portas. As a retail consultant and broadcaster, Mary is best known for presenting TV shows such as Mary Queen of Shops, in which she came to the rescue of the UK’s failing high street. But, as our host, Matt Gibberd, reveals after speaking to the famously former redhead at her London office, there’s much more to Mary than first meets the eye…

“Most of us know Mary Portas as a swashbuckling TV presenter with a flame-red bob, but her career away from the screen has been no less remarkable.

“She designed the window displays for Topshop during its heyday, was the creative director of Harvey Nichols when it was immortalised on Absolutely Fabulous and even managed to reinvent the bleak genre of charity retail with her chain of shops for Save the Children.

“Nowadays, however, she runs her own consultancy, Portas, which helps brands create purpose and beauty with everything they do.

“As is the tradition on this podcast, I talked to Mary about her childhood home, her current house and a home of the future. What it revealed is an incredibly rich life story, filled with both trauma and triumph. It started with being made homeless as a teenager when she lost both of her parents and culminated with her establishing the most amazing sense of community in her 60s.

“Despite having a more demure blonde hairdo these days, Mary’s certainly lost none of her characteristic fire, but she’s also a very sensitive and thoughtful soul with a huge amount of wisdom to impart.”

This episode is sponsored by Vistœ. If you haven’t already, be sure to subscribe to our podcast on your chosen platform so you never miss an episode. And, if you could rate and review us, we’d be more than grateful. As always, happy listening.