South London born Billie, with dyslexia, had the worst childhood ever and the best childhood ever all at the same time. Mental health struggles are part of Billie’s family genetic makeup, and the rollercoaster of her own, her mum’s and her families mental states, taught Billie resilience and mental toughness from a young age, which went on to help her through the tragedy of her mum’s suicide as she lost the fight with depression, when Billie’s only child, now 12 years old, was just tiny at 1 and a half years old. Billie defies every statistic and turned her biggest weakness of a breakdown into her biggest strength as she took the risk of opening her first business, not because she had to, but because something in her just needed to do it. She proved every teacher wrong that said ‘you can’t’ as she now stands proudly the owner of 3 sustainable businesses, one of which she is a co-founder of.
“When I have an idea in mind, I never tell myself there is a risk of it failing, I tell myself that I’ll do everything it takes to make this work, it’s a mindset thing. Teachers used to try and ‘help’ me at school by telling me that, I wouldn’t make it in anything as I was dyslexic, but I have a nice face so go and find a rich man so you don’t have to worry about it, the term ‘just stick her in beauty’ was sounded around a lot at school, where teachers used to direct all the ‘thick’ kids”. Billie giggled, as she has now become a self-made business owner operating in the beauty space for over a decade.
Billie has put time into understanding herself and her customers and what will benefit them and provides brow treatments, including a signature trademarked micro blading style, Feather Brows TM and an accompanying training and scholarship programme to up-skill a community of beautifications and a safe space at The Collab LDN where her truly valued network of clients can collaborate with small businesses and services that provide support for inner self-care. Billie knows how important the balance of outer aesthetics and inner self-love is, and the delicate line that separates ego addiction from self-worth.
Adversity and trauma moulded Billie into who she is today and for that, she is grateful, “every decision and step towards where I am now has been off the back of a tragedy of some kind, whether it was the death of my mum or escaping an incompatible relationship, if it wasn’t for adversity, I wouldn’t be here.” Billie experiences bouts of depression and rather than see it as a battle, she chooses to embrace that it is a part of her, going on to tell me that her lows are made much higher because of the strong and trusted friendships she has. "It's important to have a strong team around you that look out for you, my friends always check-in with me and tend to spot the signs if I'm heading to a darker place and make sure that I always know they're there. If you look after people, they look after you and that's what has got me through, my friends, my daughter and Baby." (Billie's dog)
What's next for Bills?
Billie’s empire is set to rocket even further as climbing and self-development is an unstoppable force within her. I asked Billie what she felt was her view of success was and she said “success is realising that I am already successful, I will always climb because that’s just me and part of me will always be scared to be back where I was as a child. Success is a quiet mind and a happy demeanour inside, feeling safe, present and grateful. Financials, you know, we always want more money, but that’s not success. Being an amazing mother to my daughter Izzy and my dog Baby, is. There’s always so much to learn and I’m looking forward to ten years from now and finding out how much more knowledge my 48 year old self has, versus me right now.”
Billie's advice
“I definitely don’t claim to be some wise guru, half the time I can’t even find my purse! (Giggles) But I’d say work on you. You’re here for a reason, find your inner self-belief. It doesn’t matter what you want to do, fuck society and what it tells you do do, focus on what you want, whether it’s to work at Tesco or become a business owner, you need to be ‘inside healthy’ to make it happen, so always put that first. Women are out there doing incredible things every single day and they don’t realise it, just because they’re not seeing a brand or product at the end of it, it doesn’t mean that they’re not achieving something magical. For example, a friend of mine looks after a mentally ill relative every day, and is their full time carer - another friend of mine raises four children and is a fantastic mother, that is incredible. We all have our calling, and women need to find their own truth, not scroll on social media and put themselves down because someone’s life appears better or different to their own. You can forget men when it comes to that, this is something us women need to change. The way I think about things like this is, when I’m old looking out of my 98 year old eyes, what will I take true pride in, that’s my truth, and it will be different for everyone."
In a nutshell
“It’s okay to just be, and not chase the next thing and the next thing, we need to give each other a break and ourselves, too!"
We are here all day long for that Bills! We could not agree more.
Our biggest takeaway from Billie
Billie still suffers most days with her mental health and has been going to therapy for two years. She is proof that you can be going through live challenge, and still know you’re enough, rise through adversity and achieve what you never thought you could, even when you are still struggling. There is a way.
Let’s support each other!
Thank you for inspiring us Billie 💕
Follow Bills on her success journey:
insta: Browsbybilliejean and Thecollabldn
www.browsbybilliejean.com
The Collab LDN, Unit D2, Seedbed Centre, Romford. RM7 0AZ
