This exclusive interview with Thea Green was conducted by Tabish Ali of the Motivational Speakers Agency.
Thea Green helped turn British beauty into big business before it became an Instagram industry.
As the founder of Nails.INC, she launched her brand in 1999 after spotting the nail bar boom in America and bringing the idea back to the UK. What followed was one of the country’s best-known beauty success stories: a brand that went global, won the Queen’s Award for Enterprise for International Trade, and helped earn Thea an MBE for services to the beauty industry.
But Thea’s story is not just about nail polish.
She has since launched other beauty brands, invested in companies including Luna Daily, Better Menopause and Dot Dot Bubble Tea, and become one of the most recognisable voices on British beauty, retail, female entrepreneurship and scaling a brand beyond the UK.
In this exclusive interview with the Female Motivational Speakers Agency, Thea discusses how the British beauty industry has changed since the late 1990s, why customers now expect brands to be more honest, the reality of raising money as a female founder, and why the hardest part of business is often balancing ambition with motherhood.
Question 1. How have you seen the British beauty industry change since you first entered it?
Thea Green: It’s changed quite a lot. It’s definitely become much more innovative and inclusive.
It is very fast-moving. When we launched, back in 1999, trends were slower and we were looking more towards the US than the UK for trends.
Today, the industry works on real-time consumer feedback, engagement and community. The UK is now much more of a destination for beauty than it was.
The level of transparency that brands share has really changed, whether it’s ingredients, marketing, the founder’s journey or sustainability. That has become increasingly important and has been a big change in the industry.
Moving into 2025 and 2026, people are sharing how they’re working with technology in the beauty industry, whether through marketing or product development, and how they’re going to have a positive experience with AI to take the beauty industry to the next level.
The biggest change is that the UK has become an exciting melting pot of great British beauty brands.
Question 2. How can brands build genuine loyalty with customers rather than just chasing engagement?
Thea Green: Listen and talk less.
You have to listen more. You have to work with your consumers and customers as collaborators, rather than always thinking of other brands or influencers to collaborate with.
The most modern collaboration today is really with your customer. That means open conversations and taking them on the journey right from the beginning.
Consumers see right through it when it’s pre-done. You’ve already launched a brand, then you go back and do the history afterwards because it suits social media.
True transparency and listening matter.
Today, people really like when you own a mistake. Whether you’ve gone out of stock or a product hasn’t been as strong as some of your other products, I think customers respect honesty.
I saw a new supermarket that launched in the US last week, and it owned the fact that one of its products was not good enough. It still had queues outside because 99% of what they’re selling is amazing and 1% isn’t good.
It was all over social media, and the founder was out there saying, “Yeah, it’s shocking.” He was showing that it was appalling, recalling it and starting again.
Customers feel loyal to brands that feel human. Part of being human is sharing your mistakes as well as the journey. Not just sharing all the positives, but also not making up mistakes.
Consumers see through it. It’s about genuinely sharing how it is, in real time, in real life.
Question 3. What have been the hardest challenges to overcome as a woman building businesses?
Thea Green: I look forward to the day when those questions are different. I’ve got two boys and a girl, and I hope for my daughter that the question becomes: what has everyone overcome?
I think the pendulum is swinging. It’s probably going to swing quite far before it lands somewhere in the middle, which I think is really exciting.
Sometimes, with my guy friends and guys I work with, they comment that there are amazing opportunities at the moment for women in business. It can feel excluding to men at times, but I think it needs to swing far before it comes back.
Going back to the beginning of Nails Inc., raising money as a female was difficult. But when I look back, quite frankly, raising money as a non-experienced founder is difficult.
I probably saw it at times as being because I was female, but I know I don’t want to back a founder who has never done it before unless that founder is really fantastic.
It’s much easier to back an experienced founder, but how can you ever have the experience?
On the other side of it now, when you see a founder sharing their passion, it’s almost good that by the time you meet them, they’ve had multiple knockbacks and you can see their resilience and grit.
Raising money is just difficult, full stop. I think the stats do say it’s more difficult to raise money as a female, but I think it’s difficult for a first-time founder anyway.
The biggest ongoing life question is balancing entrepreneurship, or any job, and motherhood. It’s the best thing and the worst thing that happens to you.
I always try to have a positive spin on it and go, “I’m living both worlds. I want to do both. I’m not changing and I’m not giving up on either one.”
But that means you have very little time for yourself, your own wellbeing and your own routine. You’re putting everybody else forward.
You can feel like you have one foot in one room and one foot in another.
I really do think that’s the balance of any job and motherhood. Everyone I know who has been through that wouldn’t change it.
Today, with working from home, the world has massively improved. When I had children, working from home just wasn’t a thing. You were on maternity or you were at work. No one gave any value to anyone working from home.
The world is much kinder now. You can work from home, and we’re all so much more tolerant.
If you were on the phone today and your toddler was in the background, we’d laugh and joke about it. When I first started my business, if I had a toddler in the background, people would think I was unprofessional.
It has improved so much.
The balance of motherhood and running a business, or working in any role, is challenging. You can’t sacrifice either one of them. Most women want to do both.
It’s tough. Hopefully, you have a lovely support network at work and home to support you through it, but there’s no easy answer. There’s no easy pill. It’s just challenging.
Question 4. When you speak publicly about entrepreneurship, what do you want people to take away from your story?
Thea Green: I want to do a really real public speech, so people can see the highs and the lows.
I want it to feel honest, approachable and not hard. I feel like anyone can set up a business.
I want people to know how accessible it is to set up a business if they want to do it, with all the pitfalls and challenges.
It’s about inspiring people with the positivity of: I wouldn’t change anything in my journey.
I’ve had awful times in business and terrifying times in business, and I wouldn’t change any of it because it makes me so calm today with challenges.
There’s not much now that surprises me. I’ve seen that one before, or a different version of it.
I’m still learning every day, but in terms of challenges and problems, I’ve seen most of them or a version of them. That becomes your armour through business and helps you help people.
For me, there’s no secret sauce. I love listening to entrepreneurs’ journeys, so I want to share mine, inspire someone and make someone feel really positive.
The aim is that you could do it too. It’s not just for certain people. Anyone can do it.
