Our CEO & Founder Celia Hodson has been named ‘Virgin Startup Mentor of the Month’ by mentees Rosaline Scott and Alison Rogers of sustainable toothbrush brand, Toothbuckle.
Celia said: “For more years than I care to mention, I’ve mentored several early-stage start-up enterprises, but to be honest, I’m unsure who gets most out of our sessions! I love their can-do vibe & the agile way they work through tasks. I’m currently working with two of the most amazing women mentees – Ali & Roz from Toothbuckle – they are the perfect mentees. They prepare well, send me a considered agenda & we always leave space to brainstorm & be creative.
“I am incredibly fortunate to have won several national awards for my leadership of a social enterprise and as a woman leading a high-growth enterprise. Through networking, I have been introduced to seasoned entrepreneurs who have been extremely generous with their time and expertise, so I like to pay that forward in any way I can.”
Roz and Ali said: “Since becoming a part of the Virgin StartUp family, it’s been a fantastic ride. We’ve been provided with a wealth of support and business opportunities, including working with our fabulous mentor, Celia. We’ve had her undivided attention right from the start. Celia has been a great listener. When we have needed to think aloud and tell her what we were feeling, she has encouraged us to be brave & not second guess ourselves.
Putting us forward for various awards and having us look deeply at our business goals. We realise how incredibly fortunate we are to have her, even long after the mentoring commitment has ended.”
Toothbuckle creates sustainable, plastic-free vegan-friendly toothbrush covers made with natural silver that reduces bacterial growth in-between brushing. Run by a mother-daughter team, both spent many years working in the airlines business as cabin crew where they witnessed a lack of plastic-free oral care products that were effective when at home or when travelling.
Ali explains: “Toothbuckle has a two-fold company mission: to leave the world a better place than we found it: and people better off before they found us. We know by changing customers behave and simply choosing a sustainable option has the potential to create a positive impact on the worldwide plastic disaster.”
The Toothbuckle team met Celia through a Virgin Startup mentor matching programme in early 2021. Hey Girls have been involved with Virgin Startup since it was crowned Virgin Scottish Startup of the Year 2018.
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