One business is just not enough for American-born Suzanne Noble. Currently on her fifth venture it is fair to say she has earnt the title of serial entrepreneur. And she is not stopping there. Suzanne plans to keep setting new goals and adding to her long list of achievements. She says that learning something new every day and keeping an active social life is key to her happiness, along with accomplishing her goals. 

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The mother of two, got her first taste of success at just 27 years old. Teaming up with a couple of her girlfriends, they decided to become TV producers of their very own astrology show in 1988. Up until this day it is still the only astrology show in existence. Eventually, after much work and many knock backs the programme was commissioned by Channel 4 and working alongside one of the major media channels in Britain, is where Suzanne’s business journey really began. “As I like to put it, we were three girls with red lipstick and big blonde hair who use to strut into Channel 4 offices. So, I am pretty sure that was part of the reason they got us in,” she says with a raised brow and sassy smile. 

 

It was not until after she got pregnant with her first child, that the producer decided to join her then husband in his newly established PR agency, Stunning PR. Knowing nothing about public relations Suzanne taught herself the job role and how to run the business, which she did with a high success rate. The agency was transformed into a respected company with Suzanne, with clients such as Warner Brothers and Sony on board. “Ten years later we were running quite a successful business with about a dozen staff members. Along with turning over a million quid.”, and it’s fair to say Suzanne definitely earned the right to brag about her success.

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It seems that when an opportunity comes along she just can’t say no.. The inspiration for her third line of work stemmed from the birth of her second son. Through the frustration of not being able to track down the ideal baby sling in the UK she created the Better Baby Sling Company. Taking a trip back to her motherland, the US, Suzanne found the perfect yet practical baby sling and began to import the product within the UK, as she wanted to share it with all the mums back home. And so, she did. 

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It is obvious by the way Suzanne speaks about her entrepreneurial journey that her hunger for success keeps her going, “I just believe I will make it in anything I do, that is just my nature,” she explains. There is a determination about her, which was vital when she decided to split her half of Stunning PR with her employees, when she made the decision to go digital. Staying true to her instincts served her, along with her staff, very well. “I decided that I was going to let all my staff take their clients and split the PR agency up. So, then I went on my own and took my biggest client with me, which was an Icelandic children’s programme called LazyTown. It was very crazy and nuts. But LazyTown has got to be one of the pivotal moments of my life,” Suzanne says with no regrets. Bringing the programme to the UK and US, she even managed to collaborate with the White House, partnering LazyTown with Michelle Obama’s ‘Let’s Move’ campaign for children.

 

Now all the focus is on Advantages of Age. Suzanne is taking on one of her biggest challenges yet, changing media’s narrative around ageing. No biggie. “I always think I might as well set myself one big influential goal rather than mini ones, it keeps me going,” she explains. Advantages of Age came to her in 2016, at a period of her life where she was in the mists of building the events discovery app for Londoners on a budget, Frugl.

 

However, like many great ideas the concept behind the Advantages of Age community came when she was having a chats with one of her closest friends, in her beloved hot tub. A couple glasses of wine later the rant was in full swing; their irritations about the medias portrayal of mature women, and the rules behind what they can and cannot do at their age lead to the forming of Advantages of Age. “It was then, in the hot tub when it clicked how ridiculous content around the ageing women is. So being a little merry I brought the URL and domain. By Christmas, Advantages of Age was set up and underway,” Suzanne reminisced  with laughter.    

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With the support of the Arts Council funding, Suzanne and her co-founder, Rose Rouse, created a community for women and men ages 50 to 75 years, giving them local nights’ outs and social events from drumming to poetry readings, along with an online magazine where the group can contribute and share their stories. The  Advantages of Age community has grown tremendously, with over 3000 subscribers on Facebook within two years. “We literally had people telling us they were going to leave London because they felt lonely but now they have stayed because of the friends they have made at Advantages of Age,” she says.  

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It is not just the creation of Advantages of Age which has left the founder with appreciation and admiration for the ageing population, but each individuals’ personal growth in confidence within the community. The AoA style bus in 2017 was a prime example of how the community can have a laugh and be proud of being a member of the mature demographic. Parked just off Sloane Square, the style bus gave members of the group a chance to get dressed up and socialise. They took the bus around the capital enjoying the sites and indulging in endless bottles of Prosecco. “The event we did on the style bus has got to be one of the most rewarding moments of my career yet. It was truly amazing, and was cheered on by social media for weeks after. It was at this moment I felt like we had made a real connected group,” Suzanne explains filled with nostalgic memories. “I will never forget those people walking towards the bus. I was practically crying. Firstly, for the fact people even turned up but also because of all the wonderful people it attracted.” Emotional about what she has achieved Suzanne’s does not see Advantage of Age as work, but a beloved hobby.  

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However, her hard work has not come without sacrifices. Aware that she needs to convert the social enterprise into a business, Suzanne admits that she is skating on thin ice by funding her own projects, “I realise there is an element when you have to speculate to accumulate. I have speculated enough now, the accumulation part needs to start happening.”  

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Physically, it was the menopause milestone that had Suzanne in a hot flush, but as expected she managed to turn the dreaded menopause into a positive. Dating a man 16 years younger than her at the time, the effects of ageing did not come without any complication. “I started to feel so unsexy. The beads of sweat running down your back when you are out and the hot heat rush that would last a few minutes, was not the best. At the time, I wasn’t a good girlfriend and I had to tell my partner. We ended up breaking up. From that stage in my life I started to feel invisible, which was not for me.” Taking the matter into her own hands, and getting in control of her life again, Suzanne decided she needed a bold change in her life. “I decided to dye my hair pink,” she explains.  Admittedly for some the phrase ‘midlife crisis’ would come to mind. But not for Suzanne. “All of the sudden I became the opposite of how I felt. I became this totally visible person to the point where I can walk down the streets and someone would walk by me and be like great hair,” she says, proudly whipping her hair with confidence.  

 

It is the positive thinking and belief in oneself which helps push powerful women such as Suzanne Noble to the top. With the social enterprise recently celebrating its second birthday, the founders have many social events to come, including a big birthday night out. Suzanne plans to keep on working until she decides she has had enough and it is time to stop. There is no stopping this female entrepreneur, before she decides she’s ready to stop.   

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“As my friends commonly ask, can you be all the colours of the rainbow? And I think yes. Being all the colours of the rainbow is doing whatever you want no matter what others think.”