Lara Morgan keynote speaker

Lara Morgan is a British entrepreneur with a track record of delivering exceptional accelerated growth. Her investment strategy in wellbeing products primarily is pinned to improving life’s journey. Investing as a family office she has a portfolio of seven consumer services businesses which she works to drive sales, leadership and innovation. She is an inspirational leader with a legacy of building world-class teams and aligning organisations behind a clear strategy. She practices the art of selling and creating win-win customer partnerships for her brands 24/7. Her specific expertise is in sales strategy, customer insight and brand development, multichannel and multisite management plus organic or M&A / partnership driven expansion.

Lara founded her first business, Pacific Direct, in 1991 at the age of just 23. Having arrived in the UK from Hong Kong with little or no hotel experience, Lara quickly grew Pacific Direct into a specialist global supplier of luxury high end brands for five-star hotels. Seventeen years later, she sold Pacific Direct for £20 million. At Pacific Direct she was involved in multiple disciplines from luxury brand licensing, marketing, retail operations to commercial and private label development. She has also managed and owned factories in Czech and China. Working with extremely large organisations as well as small start-ups, she acquired valuable sector experience in specialty retail, brand merchandising, consumer health, education, well- being travel, leisure and hospitality.

Lara invests in British brands including Scentered.com, the 100% natural, portable, mindful wellbeing modern approach to an aromatherapy brand, balmy brilliance to get us talking about mental wellbeing; Gate8 luggage, lightweight, timesaving, functional, business luggage and accessories that reduce stress; KitBrix, a functional, robust, modular, sports kit bag and organizer system for active people. She has recently successfully exite Dryrobe.

Most recently Lara has invested in Yogi Bare - who design and manufacture the best in class yoga and fitness mats and accessories, and she is a small shareholder in a group of other emerging product Scentered Hospitality is a remarkable twist on Lara’s previous toiletries supply brand licensing company and a very happy collaboration with Scentered.com. Today we still have the same amazing sourcing and design capability whilst delivering innovative solutions beyond the basics of hospitality products with a considerable focus on eco-conscious and sustainable waste reduction. Personalising the world of guest engagement and hospitality service enhancement Global Amenities add value through providing recycled fabrics, products that reduce waste, including a project to eradicate the use of plastic bottles in hotel rooms. Only offering dispensed and refillable travel toiletries presented in planet friendly packaging that is still beautifully aligned to luxury hotel environments, informs guess and yet brings stories, surprise and delight an often-jaded guest who welcomes a different thoughtful execution.

Lara’s passion for fragrance and functionality in natural aromatherapy products led her to develop, design and produce Scentered, an aromatherapy based Wellbeing Ritual which provides a scent-based solution for mindful transitions through our daily journeys. She knew first-hand from challenging times at Pacific Direct that therapy-grade essential oils enhance mindset and wellbeing. The Scentered mantra and ritual - Stop. Inhale. Reset - teaches the customer how to connect scents with desired mindsets, empowering them to direct their thoughts and emotions to live happier lives. The Scentered balms and candles are unique in their portability and daily use convenience. Lara believes this neurological link between scent and habit has additional opportunity to help transform the way people set goals and achieve their desired outcomes.

Lara is a proud mother of three girls and a committed volunteer and philanthropist. She is actively engaged with various global non-profits. She is a world class engaging speaker only on subjects where she can bring direct experience and shared lessons. She has also commented live on current affairs and business issues with Sky and BBC News has been a finalist in Ernst Young Entrepreneur of The Year Award three times and a finalist in the Veuve Clicquot Businesswoman of the Year Award. In 2009 Lara received the much-coveted Cranfield University Entrepreneur Alumna Award. She is a published author of the Amazon best-selling business book “More Balls Than Most” and is a co-founder of Start Up Britain. Taking all this in her stride, she also manages to train for charity bike rides and triathlon and came 10th in the 2011 World Triathlon Championships in Beijing.