'Leave the ego at the door’: Rochelle Humes on building a brand that lasts

You may know Rochelle Humes as a popstar or TV and podcast host, but she has also carved out a name for herself in the world of entrepreneurship. Through her brand My Little Coco, which is one of the UK’s best-selling baby and family brands, Humes has built a story defined by resilience, risk-taking and learning to say no.

At just 12 years old, Humes joined S Club Juniors, catapulting into the pop machine of the early 2000s. With it, came a sudden influx of money. “I remember upgrading our family car, buying a fireplace and for a friend’s birthday being able to buy them whatever they wanted,” she says. “But we didn't really know how to look after cash and sustain it. It wasn't life-changing money but I definitely could have been smarter.”

When the group split, the money stopped. Humes got a job handing out leaflets promoting a local radio station – an experience that stayed with her. “It all goes as soon as it comes, so that's always in the back of my mind – sometimes to a toxic trait level.

“I'll always want to be ‘on’ because I'm scared of the phone not ringing. But I've become a lot better at that in the past couple of years. I’ve learned that you have to have that self-belief. It’s not always a coincidence when things work; it's because I do apply myself and I’ve worked hard for it.”

Humes' second act came with The Saturdays, achieving 13 top 10 UK singles and selling over 5 million records in the UK & Ireland. By the time the group went on hiatus in 2014, Humes had already built an impressive presenting showreel and the next evolution of her career started to take shape. But entrepreneurship wasn't an obvious next step and it wasn’t universally encouraged.

“I found that leap really humbling,” she says. “At the time when I wanted to build my own brand and business for myself, it was frowned upon. It was seen as a risk. People said, ‘Why not be an ambassador or the face of someone else's brand and we'll get you a good royalty?’ However, I was really passionate and wanted to build something for myself.”

That something was My Little Coco, where she is now creative director. The idea came about from a gap in the market she noticed while pregnant with her daughter, Valentina. “I couldn't really understand how you couldn't use the same product on my four-year-old [her eldest daughter, Alaia-Mai] and my newborn. They're both precious to me. Also, I wanted to bring diverse skin and hair products that had a premium feel to the high street. That became my mission,” she says.

The pivotal meeting came with Boots. After multiple retailers wanted a "safe" range without products for curls and coils, she walked into a room “full of women” who instantly understood her vision. Boots agreed to stock the full product line.

My Little Coco launched on 17 February 2020, just weeks before the first Covid-19 lockdown. As an essential retailer, Boots stayed open, giving the brand rare visibility. “We've changed over time,” Humes says. “We started with seven SKUs and now have over 90, although we will be streamlining some.”

Humes has also been on a journey to understand who she is as a leader and is conscious of being honest about her own abilities. “I’m in more of the nitty-gritty than I’d like to be. I just want to solely be creative director and lean into that. I feel like I've taken it as far as I can take it with my skillset, if I'm really honest,” she says.

“I had to leave my ego at the door because there's absolutely no time for ego. At one point, I thought I was this hotshot CEO and it was a bit of a badge of honour. But I just want the best for my company. It's always going to be mine, I'm always going to be the founder – and that's enough. Play to your strengths.”

This is an honest realisation, but a lesson grounded in humility, mentorship and self-awareness. “You can meet somebody at some point who says one sentence that can stick with you forever. I've been lucky that I've grabbed a little bit from different people along the way. But being a founder is really lonely,” she says.

“That’s also why I ended up building my podcast, Ladies Who Launch, because I was desperate to pick the brains of other founders who may have entered that world and didn't necessarily know what was waiting for them at the other end.”

Her timing feels prescient. Earlier this year, the government-backed FTSE Women Leaders Review found that while women occupy more than two in five seats on the boards of Britain’s biggest listed companies, fewer than 10 FTSE 100 companies have female CEOs. For Humes, the podcast is not about swapping war stories but helping women shorten their learning curves through honest conversation.

Candour is a defining trait. Reflecting on her earlier career, she says: “People would assume that everything was only ever from an agent but for I've always been really at the front of centre and centre of anything I've done. When I was entering those rooms with an agent, or my manager that I trust is with me, people would just talk to them and I’m like, ‘um… hello’."

But she used that. “While you thought that I was there all naive and worrying about lip gloss… I was taking notes.”

Now, her focus is on building a team that can turn My Little Coco from a beloved brand into an enduring one by protecting the Boots partnership, expanding into new retailers and listening to the community while refining its range.

There’s a final image she leaves us with, which doubles as a thesis. Asked for a fact that you can’t find about her online, Humes smiles: “I can only swim breaststroke, but let me tell you, I got a certificate because of my breaststroke.” Then the kicker: “Sometimes it’s not about being good at everything, it’s just about being good at that one thing.”