Welcome to the Jazz Shapers Podcast from Mishcon de Reya. What you are about to hear was originally broadcast on Jazz FM, however, the music has been cut due to rights issues.
Elliot Moss
Welcome to Jazz Shapers with me, Elliot Moss, bringing the shapers of the Business World together with the musicians shaping jazz, soul and blues. My guest today I am very pleased to say is Priya Downes, Founder of Nudea – I hope I’ve said that correctly, I think I have – a B Corp certified underwear brand creating underwear and sleepwear from natural and recycled materials. Growing up partly in Kenya and experiencing poverty first hand, Priya was drawn towards work that as she says, had a bigger meaning. Part of a pioneering sustainability movement within the World Bank where she developed initiatives to champion projects on environmental responsibility and fair trade fashion, Priya’s career then moved from finance to luxury fashion with roles at Chanel and Burberry, I’m quite jealous and my wife would be more so. Realising how uninformed and unsupported she felt when buying underwear and seeing the lack of options that were kind to the planet, Priya’s drive to create her own company lead to the launch of Nudea in 2019, aiming to design with purpose and the perfect fit in mind. Nudea’s success has led to a B Corp certification, a trademark bra fit tape tool, finding out all about that soon and virtual fitting room. And the launch, only two years into creating their business, of a sleepwear range.
Priya Downes is my Business Shaper, she’s the Founder of a beautifully named company may I say, Nudea.
Priya Downes
Well thank you.
Elliot Moss
Which I’ve now said correctly a few times because I’ve been practising in the mirror before we met. It’s lovely to have…
Priya Downes
I really appreciate that. Thank you.
Elliot Moss
The practice.
Priya Downes
Yes the practice.
Elliot Moss
You’re welcome. I like to get the name of the company right, it’s important. Why? A woman who’s a finance person, who becomes, does an MBA, who works in obviously the finance bit, the fashion bit. Suddenly here she is with her own business.
Priya Downes
I know, nuts right?
Elliot Moss
What happened?
Priya Downes
I think I’ve got poorer as my career’s gone on.
Elliot Moss
Have you?
Priya Downes
I think I earnt the most as a graduate, you know, as an Actuary and now it’s kind of gone the other way.
Elliot Moss
But.
Priya Downes
But it’s my, you know, I followed my passion and I knew that my heart and my soul was never going to be in finance for too long, it was a great start, it gave me, it gave me the head for numbers, particularly for a youngster who didn’t really know what they wanted to do. I think it was quite a safe career and particularly growing up in a traditional Gujarati family you are very kind of business minded, maths is always a good thing isn’t it?
Elliot Moss
Mm. It’s almost an ology.
Priya Downes
So, exactly. Yeah.
Elliot Moss
Yes.
Priya Downes
Exactly. So, um, it was a safe career but it gave me a real good head for numbers and business but very soon I knew I wanted to do something a little bit more creative and explore the passion that I had in me for fashion really at the time and, and it all kind of came together when I was working at the World Bank because I’ve always just deep down had this desire to do something bigger than myself. So even when I was working in finance, the World Bank wasn’t, you know, an obvious dream job because it allowed me to be I’m in an institution that was actually doing things at work for a greater purpose, you know, whether it was environmental or poverty reduction and that’s its mission, right? Right at the heart of it. And it was there really that my two kind of, my, my love and passion for fashion and the sort of value driven doing something bigger than myself really came together and this was outside of my day job but I was doing a lot of work with the youth committee around how fashion engages people from all round the world, the impact it was having on economies, on people and also the planet and this was 2006 when nobody was talking about the impact the fashion industry was having. People were starting to talk about food; where does our food come from, you know, particularly in the States with, with the rise of the meat inc., and the documentary around the meat industry but nobody was talking about fashion and yet there’s a fashion economy in every country around the world. So its impact was huge and I think I was just at the right place at the right time, Washington DC, you know, it’s, it’s very political, people care about these things but also I think the World Bank was working on so many great projects, you know, from the better cotton initiative to micro financing artisans all over the world. So it allowed me really to kind of leverage that and, you know, build a bit of a movement so I did a fashion show at the World Bank which was kind of crazy and became this sort of expert in it, you know, but really I wasn’t, there was no authority to it, you know, I was just doing this on the side. I was kind of self-taught and I think what I lacked was real industry experience, you know, in order to be able to have an impact I needed to have worked in the industry and so that’s when I thought, right, well I don’t know quite how to get into the fashion industry mid-career so what do I do? I’ll do an MBA. That’s…
Elliot Moss
And we are going to pause there.
Priya Downes
Okay.
Elliot Moss
Because this is just the beginning, the tip of the iceberg and I already have so many questions but we’re…
Priya Downes
Yeah.
Elliot Moss
… going to come back to you, Priya Downes, my Business Shaper today, the Founder of Nudea. They make beautiful underwear and nightwear, yes?
Priya Downes
Right, sleepwear.
Elliot Moss
Sleepwear. I said nightwear again. I’m doing it just to test you Priya. She knows her own business which is really good because you’ve been, you’ve been running and you set up over the last six years. You were talking about the World Bank and we’re going to get to the fashion world and I mentioned Burberry and Chanel when we started.
Priya Downes
Yeah.
Elliot Moss
Just give me a flavour because it’s, you know, I studied politics so I read about what the World Bank did and you’ve just given a brilliant rapid exposition of what the World Bank is for. It addresses poverty, uh, there’s all the UN sustainability goals, all the things that we know it does.
Priya Downes
Yep.
Elliot Moss
Just give me one example, paint a little picture of what the project that you created actually looked like in the field?
Priya Downes
So one example was I created a subcommittee of the youth group at the World Bank called Fashion for Development and what I did was, I brought together the experts working on projects at the World Bank together to start really seeing that the environmental impact that was being done, for example, on the better cotton initiative also had links to other projects the World Bank was doing in relation to the impact on farmers for example. So because the World Bank is so huge, you know, employs 15,000 people, a lot of the projects are very much done in silo in different departments and so what Fashion for Development did was kind of bring these experts together and say, actually we should be talking to each other, we work in different departments, uh, we work in different regions but actually what we’re doing is there’s a lot of synergy and we can have a bigger impact.
Elliot Moss
And you devised that project?
Priya Downes
Yes I did.
Elliot Moss
And that sense of connecting different supposedly…
Priya Downes
Yeah.
Elliot Moss
…disparate pieces, is that a theme for you that’s important in life?
Priya Downes
Yes, I mean I’ve always been a bit of a networker and bringing people together and I think that’s, that’s been a strength that actually helped me as I formed my own business but, um, because I think it’s really important to be able to see connections that other people don’t see and I think that that was, that was part of the success of it and I think it was, it was great to be able to do a fashion show. It was fun, it was something new but I think behind it all was this idea that actually this is a bigger movement. There’s a big industry here that has a huge impact both environmentally and on the people and we should be connecting all of it together.
Elliot Moss
But then like an organised good Gujarati.
Priya Downes
Yes.
Elliot Moss
A good brain with family and business, you said, but no, I now need to go from the theoretical and the kind of the big picture stuff to working in the industry and I say it by the way, in a…
Priya Downes
Yes.
Elliot Moss
…complimentary way, you, you, I’m saying that that is a very, very, um, kind of clear headed person. Priya says, I’ve got that chip in the bank, I did the numbers thing, I’ve worked at the World Bank and now I’m going to go into the fashion world because how can I possibly learn more unless I’m in it. And then you go into it?
Priya Downes
That’s it.
Elliot Moss
You go, you just say, tick the box, go and achieve it, work in Burberry, work in Chanel, work with Angela Ahrendts who’s…
Priya Downes
Oh she’s brilliant yeah.
Elliot Moss
…amazing, amazing women. What did you learn about being in the operational side? And how has that helped you as you’ve moved into your own business?
Priya Downes
Absolutely so I think obviously having the, the benefit of the strategic side, you know, at the World Bank you get that impact, you understand the bigger picture but what, what I lacked was, okay well actually how difficult is it in reality for brands or, you know, producers or manufacturers or factories to actually make these changes that are needed to clean up the industry. And that was what I lacked and I think that I really needed to get into the nuts and bolts of running, understanding how a fashion business works to be able to really go, okay this is how I can have a tangible impact.
Elliot Moss
Mm.
Priya Downes
Um, and so that’s why I felt it was necessary to get into the operations and, you know, into the industry itself to understand those challenges and I think…
Elliot Moss
And what was it from Angela that you learnt because obviously Angela Ahrendts, big, big name in the world…
Priya Downes
Oh yes.
Elliot Moss
…of marketing. What was the one thing that you took from here that you’ve now used and translated in later life?
Priya Downes
Gosh there’s, there’s so much.
Elliot Moss
Just do one, you’ve only got one magic trick coming out of the Angela hat?
Priya Downes
Angela was amazing with people and she had a way of at a time when everybody was Sheryl Sandberg’ing, if that’s a word, you know, lean in, be a man in a, in a, you know, in a man’s world. She was just like, no I’m, it’s really important that I’m going to leverage my skills as a woman. I’m, I can be vulnerable if I want, you know, and I think that she, she’s made me much, I would hope, a much better leader as a result of the fact that I think she, she saw the opportunity to bring people together, you know, you could be an intern in a lift and she would say hello to you, good morning and chat to you about what you’re doing. And I think it was that, that leadership and that ability to bring people together.
Elliot Moss
And her role at Burberry at the time, was she, was she CEO?
Priya Downes
She was CEO when I went in.
Elliot Moss
There you go.
Priya Downes
Um, and I just thought, this, this is how you make a successful business. You know, somebody who can get people talking, speak to people no matter who they are in the business, what they do and that’s important because I, I say that any business you’re in, is a people business. It doesn’t matter whether you’re selling a product, a service, you know, you have to understand people and be able to, to relate to them and engage with them and I think Angela was brilliant at that.
Elliot Moss
Stay with me to find out exactly what Priya did next which, um, I’m going tell you post Fiorucci and Stephen and Janie Schaffer which we are going to talk about very briefly as well.
Priya Downes
Yes.
Elliot Moss
We will, we will come on to the birth of Nudea along with children probably. Much more coming up from Priya, very shortly. She’s CEO and Founder of Nude. Right now we are going to hear a taster though from the Mishcon Innovation Series which can be found on all the major podcast platforms, lucky you. Lydia Kellett invites business founders to share their practical advice and industry insights for those of you thinking about starting your very own thing. In this clip we hear from Bianca Rangecroft, Founder and CEO of Whering, a fashion app on a mission to up end the buy, use, dispose model.
You can enjoy all our former Business Shapers on the Jazz Shapers podcast, and you can hear this very programme again with Priya if you pop ‘Jazz Shapers’ into your podcast platform of choice. My guest today as billed earlier, is Priya Downes, Founder of Nudea. A B Corp certified underwear brand it says here, creating underwear and sleepwear – good I said sleepwear, I’ve said nightwear…
Priya Downes
Great you’ve got it right now.
Elliot Moss
…whatever, I’ve got it now, I’ve got it right.
Priya Downes
You’ve got it, you’ve got it now.
Elliot Moss
Third time lucky Priya, third time lucky. Halfway through this programme. Well done Elliot. And sleepwear from natural and recycled materials. Now, again I’ve got this sort of, in my head Priya, I have this juxtaposition of the safe, good, I’m going to follow this path, the logic, the maths…
Priya Downes
Yeah I see it.
Elliot Moss
…and I’m now moving forward through my life and I work for a bunch of, I do my well, my actual thing, my World Bank thing and it’s a tick and it’s a tick and then I’ve got these companies and then there’s this little voice in Priya’s head going, yeah this safe thing, this logic thing, it’s kind of causing a problem. And then I read interestingly that you wanted, you were thinking about this business, your new business but you didn’t want there to be a gap on your CV so you thought, well maybe I’ll do it on the side.
Priya Downes
Mm.
Elliot Moss
And your husband said…
Priya Downes
You found out. Yes.
Elliot Moss
…no, you don’t need to worry about, what’s the problem, there’s no gap. Big jump at age 37.
Priya Downes
Yes.
Elliot Moss
Help me understand how safe Priya became adventurous Priya?
Priya Downes
Well it was, yeah, I mean, it’s amazing you found that moment but it, it was, it was a, it was a literally a lightbulb moment. Um, I, I left, I left Burberry and I knew I kind of wanted to start something but I hadn’t quite got my head around exactly what that was going to look like. It was also quite hard to top Angela Ahrendts, you know, Burberry days, um, so it, I was plotting my next move and I had the opportunity to work at a, at a start-up effectively. I joined Fiorucci as one of the first employees that they hired and they were rebuilding Fiorucci so it was, it was a very, very start up like the chaos.
Elliot Moss
Because it was part of popular culture way back in the day.
Priya Downes
Absolutely.
Elliot Moss
Immortalised by the song, I can’t remember but it’s Gucci, da da dum, Fiorucci.
Priya Downes
Fiorucci, yeah exactly.
Elliot Moss
Which I’m going to remember in a minute but anyway.
Priya Downes
Um, and they had all the elements for a great brand and I think they do still, um, it was, you know, all immersive fashion, it was, you know, the Madonna playing in the store. I think it was very of the moment, I mean this is 2017. A very of the moment and I was quite excited to join and it also, I wanted to get into a smaller company, I wanted to get my head into take that sort of logical, you know, I want to start my own brand.
Elliot Moss
And where did the illogical come in? How did it happen?
Priya Downes
The illogical bit kind of came in, so I was there for about six months and I think they had a lot of challenges and actually I think quite quickly into it I was like, you know what, I don’t know why I’m messing around, I probably should start thinking about starting something myself but one of the things that, you know, as you say, safe Priya, um, was thinking was, well maybe I’ll do it on the side, you know, maybe I’ll, I’ll continue to kind of do, do a little bit, you know, work part-time in a job so I don’t have this gap and of course if I fail then I’ve got, you know, I’ve got something to, to keep going and it was literally my husband going, well why, why? You know, if you did something part-time it will feel part-time and it will never be, it will never become anything real until, unless you put your heart and soul into it and if this is something you really want to do, you should do it full-time. And I was like, but that’s risky, that means, you know, what happens if I fail? Um, and I think it was literally you know, I had to soul search, I had to go, what if I do fail? Like what’s the worst thing that’s going to happen and…
Elliot Moss
And what was the worst thing?
Priya Downes
I’d have a hole in my CV, you know.
Elliot Moss
Which is not such a bad thing.
Priya Downes
Which is, which is not such a bad thing.
Elliot Moss
For someone who’s had such an explicitly fantastic CV, MBA at INSEAD and all these other things, I mean, what’s there to worry about?
Priya Downes
Well this is it and I think when I said it out loud, I was like, that is ridiculous. That is actually ridiculous that the only thing I’m worried about is a hole in my CV and then when I said it out loud, I thought again, yeah I am, this is, I’m going to do it.
Elliot Moss
And what’s the first thing you did? Just the first thing that you did to then go, I’m now moving towards my new business?
Priya Downes
I registered it on Companies House and I didn’t, I obviously didn’t have the name at this point but I registered it under a working title and I was like, right.
Elliot Moss
What was the working title?
Priya Downes
Interval Intimates. So actually if you do look us up on Companies House, you’ll see that in our filing history.
Elliot Moss
Interval Intimates.
Priya Downes
Yes.
Elliot Moss
There you go, you see no one knew that until just then.
Priya Downes
Exactly. No one knew that. Unless you’re savvy enough to go on Companies House and do all the digging. But, um, I registered the company in April, um, so you know, I, I left Fiorucci I think probably three weeks, four weeks’ prior. Was sort of dilly dallying around whether I do something part-time or not and then straight away I got this lightbulb moment, decided to start my own business, registered the, you know, a working title and it made it real. That’s what made it real and I was like…
Elliot Moss
And we’re going to hold there, you made it real and now we’re going to talk about, um, what Nudea is all about and why it’s such a clever, there’s a lot of clever things going on around the fact that you do produce, um, gorgeous, sustainable, uh, underwear and sleepwear.
Priya Downes
That’s right. Well done.
Elliot Moss
Thank you, thank you. It’s oh so good and…
Priya Downes
Although nightwear’s fine too.
Elliot Moss
I think nightwear’s a new category.
Priya Downes
Nightwear is good.
Elliot Moss
And the song I was thinking about for Fiorucci was Sister Sledge, He’s The Greatest Dancer, which is a great number as well.
Priya Downes
Yes.
Elliot Moss
So, so in, in this business that you now have, you’ve now synthesised your love of, of fashion and I read somewhere, I love this, that you, you collect old, old editions of Vogue going back to 1916…
Priya Downes
Yes I do, I have a huge collection of Vogue.
Elliot Moss
…or something. Amazing, so the passion thing is there for sure.
Priya Downes
Yeah.
Elliot Moss
And you launched this business and here we are six, seven years later. What’s the impact of the business that you are most proud of? Up to this point.
Priya Downes
The fact that we, we were one of the first lingerie companies to get B Corp certified. I’m obviously really happy to see more and more taking things like this seriously, particularly on the sustainability side, um, but we still are one of the only ones around the world that are B Corp certified and it really is kind of, for us, a proud moment. We’re really proud of the fact that we take that, that element, you know, we’re recognised for the impact we’re having and I think also, you know, I wanted to get into this to have an impact and not just, you know, as a business but of the industry and I’m really proud that, you know, we’re leading that. You know, we’re, we’re one of the first companies to offer recycling for bras and, and whilst it’s not huge at the moment, I hope it becomes a bigger movement across many brands as well. So I think for me, it’s those kinds of things that I’m the most proud of. Obviously I love our products and I love our customers and all these things.
Elliot Moss
But the innovation, I love this, I mentioned it early, the digital size until the Nudea fit tape.
Priya Downes
Yes.
Elliot Moss
And the virtual fitting room. Are you a fan of technology?
Priya Downes
Um, of course...
Elliot Moss
For you personally in your life?
Priya Downes
…absolutely yes, I mean, you know, I’m not somebody who works in the industry so I’m definitely note the first adopter of AI but I certainly can see the benefits it’s going to bring my business on, you know, from the very beginning I saw it as an opportunity rather than a threat versus a lot of people in my, in my industry who still are quite scared of what AI’s going to bring in terms of prospects. I don’t look at it like that at all so from that point of view I’m very excited about technology and always have been. It’s obviously just looking at how it can be used in my business but, um, on sizing, I mean that really came from a practical business need to be honest. One of the problems that the lingerie industry has, and this goes back to the sustainability thing, is wastage, you know, loads of women buy bras that don’t fit them.
Elliot Moss
Don’t fit. I mean this is the thing I hear from my wife and then she tells me why she buys the specific brand that she buys, which is very expensive.
Priya Downes
Yeah.
Elliot Moss
But I mean it’s because, there’s just a, there’s a fit question.
Priya Downes
Yes and I’m glad that she’s found a brand that she…
Elliot Moss
She has.
Priya Downes
…you know, but for a lot of people who struggle with bras and fitting and particularly because the fact that an average woman where’s about six different sizes in their life so, you know, you might fit a brand or you might fit a size today but, you know, you might have a baby or…
Elliot Moss
I was going to say.
Priya Downes
…lose a bit of weight and suddenly you don’t anymore and the whole industry is so wasteful because women tend to over buy bras, they have a lot of, the average amount is about twenty but only wears about four and now…
Elliot Moss
Is that right?
Priya Downes
…so that. That is, that is a stat.
Elliot Moss
That’s why there’s no money in my household anymore.
Priya Downes
Because of all the bras.
Elliot Moss
All the bras. I blame…
Priya Downes
Absolutely.
Elliot Moss
But that is an incredible…
Priya Downes
Especially if they’re expensive.
Elliot Moss
Yeah that is an incredible stat I had no idea. That’s extraordinary and that’s just because they don’t quite fit…
Priya Downes
They don’t quite fit.
Elliot Moss
…but I feel guilty chucking it because it’s too much. What am I going to do? Is it that, is that the insight?
Priya Downes
Well it’s that, I think partly it’s, you know, you’re, maybe you’re husband, partner gets you underwear that, you know, you wear for a moment but you just, it’s not comfortable and it just gets stuck at the bottom of your lingerie drawer.
Elliot Moss
I never, I never buy my wife underwear. That would be a mistake.
Priya Downes
Well I think absolutely, that’s probably quite smart to be honest.
Elliot Moss
Yeah.
Priya Downes
Um, or it’s, you know, they’ve bought a bra, they’ve worn it once, realised it’s so uncomfortable and then it’s got stuck at the back of the, of their lingerie drawer and this is, this is a story you hear all the time and this is why we end up with so many bras and there is no end of life options for bras, you know, you can’t, you can’t rent them, you can’t resell them, you can’t even really give them away so, they are just like a landfill and something like 19 million bras in the UK end up in landfill. And there’s not much you can do with them, I mean that’s why we offered recycling and I think recycling particularly is still quite a new movement when it comes to bras and briefs but I’m really excited to be kind of at the forefront of that and I really hope as a brand that we can continue kind of growing the recycling element of what we do but I think that from a sustainability point of view the best thing we can do is buy less and buying less means also getting your fit right, um, and if you’re an online brand that’s particularly challenging. So that’s what really drove me to start looking at how we can help women size up at home because this is, you know, this is actually a business challenge, right?
Elliot Moss
It’s a real, it’s a real need and we’re going to have a few more words on other real needs and final questions I have for my Business Shaper today.
Priya Downes
Yep.
Elliot Moss
It’s Priya Downes and we’ve got some Alice Russell for you as well. That’s in just a moment.
Just for a few more minutes Priya Downes is my Business Shaper, Founder and CEO, I love people that give themselves titles but you are the CEO, I mean it’s what you do and your beautiful brand which is called Nudea.
Priya Downes
Right.
Elliot Moss
Right, good. I’m getting lots of things right by the end of this.
Priya Downes
Yes you are.
Elliot Moss
I’m really, I’m really smashing it out the park today. Um, I read somewhere that you like proving people wrong? And I could be wrong, I may have misread something but, but there’s this sense of people maybe have underestimated you or thought, no Priya’s going to be going down, going to be, just that’s what she’s going to do. Has there been a sense of you showing people that the safe Priya isn’t the only Priya in there?
Priya Downes
Um, a little bit, that’s, that’s an interesting question, I’ve never been asked that but, um, but yeah I think a little bit. I think I’ve always felt, because I’m not particularly, you know, your classic extrovert and I’ve had quite a safe career until I started my business as, you know, we discussed.
Elliot Moss
And then all hell broke loose.
Priya Downes
And then all hell broke loose so I do think that people, and I think as an entrepreneur you do have to be, have an attitude of proving people wrong because you get a lot of no’s, everywhere. You know, all the time and, you know, you probably get one yes for every hundred no’s, you know, you receive and you’ve just got to have the ability to go, no I’m going to prove you wrong or I’m going to, you know, pick myself up and I’m going to keep going and I think I definitely, you know, have got a huge, you know, a huge capacity to take a knock and come back and I think that that’s a really important trait. If I, if I, if I didn’t, I don’t think I would have stuck at it for six years, you know.
Elliot Moss
And is this most you that you’ve felt in your career?
Priya Downes
For sure because the great thing about having your own brand is you can shape it to how you, what your values are and Nudea is very much in line with my values, you know, that whole idea of having an impact, the fact that it’s very women lead. It’s all about my values and I think that’s one of the things I think that, that I’m really proud of a legacy, you know, whatever happens with the business, whatever, you know, if it, if we fold up tomorrow I would still be very proud of the fact that, you know, I’ve shaped something that’s, that’s around my values and my vision and that’s, it’s a lot harder to do in reality than to say, right. So I think, um, I think, you know, I’ll always, I’ll always be proud of that.
Elliot Moss
And is there anything stopping you doing what you want to do next? What gets in the way of you having your achievements in line in front of you on the wall, as it were, and then you being able to get there?
Priya Downes
Not much. I mean, I think money helps.
Elliot Moss
Yeah.
Priya Downes
But it’s not the only thing. Um, I think you, you have to have the ability as a business leader or as an entrepreneur to, to think big. You have to think big and you have to think anything is possible and I do. I think anything’s possible and I would love to see Nudea be the biggest brand in the world, um, quite frankly but, you know, there’s obviously, there’s lots of challenges along the way and, and that’s where kind of I love having two heads; I’ve got my logical side that kind of sometimes goes, my brain going, maybe take a few more steps before you get there but I think it’s important to have a vision, right. And think big because otherwise what’s the point.
Elliot Moss
And on a daily basis Priya, if there is and I’m thinking of kind of great Indian mythology here for a moment, I don’t know why it’s come into my head. If there’s the, there’s the, the fighter on the one side of logic and then the other side there’s the fight with passion and with, with just, let’s just go and do it. Who wins on most days?
Priya Downes
Oh probably, probably, I hate to say it’s probably logic but, but sometimes I think this is where your gut comes in. I’ve, I’ve had loads and loads of moments where I’ve had that fight with my gut instinct versus my brain and actually some of the best decisions I’ve made have been going with my gut and really sort of saying, no I know this doesn’t make any sense whatsoever but we’re going to do it. Um…
Elliot Moss
And you’ve been proved right?
Priya Downes
And I’ve been proved right with that. So I think, I mean not all, I mean sometimes you, there are decisions you can make that don’t make sense, you know, at all at that time but I think I’d love to say every time it’s the creative visionary that always wins. Sometimes you have to think about practicalities but yes, I would say that most of the time it’s the logical side that wins, um, on the day-to-day but, um, bigger things, bigger decisions I think, you know, the visionary side kind of comes in and the instinct really helps.
Elliot Moss
It’s been good meeting both Priya’s.
Priya Downes
Thank you very much.
Elliot Moss
The logical one and the gut driven one. I think that’s the combo and I think I am sure it has to flick inevitably from one thing to the other.
Priya Downes
Yeah.
Elliot Moss
And the fact that you’re able to just turn one of the dials up and one of the dials down is indeed an enlightened person.
Priya Downes
Well thank you so much for, um, letting me talk about the two sides of my, uh, my experience, my head.
Elliot Moss
It’s very important for people to know that that is the truth of it, it’s never, it’s never just one direction. Thank you so much for spending some time with me, just before I let you go, what’s your song choice and why have you chosen it?
Priya Downes
Thank you so much. So my song choice is by the Rebirth Brass Band, from the album Rebirth of New Orleans. I absolutely love the energy of American brass bands in the jazz genre and living in America I had a lot of exposure to southern jazz and I remember going to the New Orleans jazz fest., only a couple of years after hurricane Katrina so I remember the visual impact of kind of seeing houses and the city still quite impacted by that. Um, and going to jazz fest., was, you know, for me a really memorable time and, and the fact that the rebirth of, of New Orleans is a, it’s their home basically so I feel like that, that’s a really fitting choice for me personally.
Elliot Moss
Let’s Go Get ‘Em from the Rebirth Brass Band, the song choice of my Business Shaper today, Priya Downes. She talked about doing something bigger than myself, that sense of purpose which I absolutely love. When you’ve got your own business you can shape it around what your values are. That is the privilege that you get when you become a founder of a business. You have to think big, critical if you’re going to make it a success and finally, the perineal fight between logic on the one side and your gut on the other and depending on the task at hand, one will win one day but one will win another. Brilliant stuff. That’s it from me and Jazz Shapers, have a lovely weekend.
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