Jo Fairley

Jo Fairley is one of the UK's leading entrepreneurs. As co-founder of Green & Black's chocolate, she has an exceptional understanding of brand creation and development, and a talent for sharing that experience and insightful knowledge in the most inspirational way.

Jo works for a very wide range of clients as a widely acclaimed public speaker both to large audiences and smaller groups at a hands-on level, helping individual brands with product development, branding, media and more.

Since founding Green & Black's chocolate in 1991, Jo built the brand into the world's leading organic chocolate, continuing to champion its worldwide success in co-operation with its new owners, Kraft.

With her background as a female entrepreneur and creator of Green & Black's, Jo's presentations deliver a real insight into how to create, launch and grow a brand. Green & Black's was started with just £20,000 of her savings, and grew into a brand worth £100 million worldwide in less than 20 years.

Despite its widespread global availability, Green & Black's has retained its luxury cachet: it is the only food brand featured in the UK's CoolBrands Top 20.

From its inception, Green & Black's has also been an ethical brand, sourcing cocoa direct from Third World farmers who are paid a fair price. Green & Black's was the first brand to be awarded the UK Fairtrade Mark with Maya Gold (in 1994), and the company announced that by the end of 2011, all the many bars and products in its chocolate portfolio would carry this certification.

Formerly the youngest-ever Editor of a women’s magazine - Look Now, then Honey - Jo has contributed to thousands of articles, news and features to leading newspapers and magazines both in the UK and internationally, including the Mail on Sunday’s YOU Magazine, The Times, National Geographic Green, Elle, Red, Waitrose Kitchen, Saga and many more.

An award-winning author and journalist, Jo Fairley is author of a series best-selling books on health and beauty - including the worldwide smash The Beauty Bible. She is also co-author with Craig Sams of Sweet Dreams: The Story of Green & Black’s.

Today, Jo maintains her involvement in health, beauty and well being via a diverse range of interests including:

The world’s leading beauty website - www.beautybible.com
The award-winning bakery - Judges Bakery
The 11-room boutique wellbeing centre - The Wellington Centre

Jo Fairley's presentations can address how ethical issues are becoming more important to consumers, and how working for a company with a strong Corporate Social Responsibility programme can boost team spirit and dedication.

She talks about the many lessons learned along the path to business success, including the emotional aspect of building a brand and then 'letting go', when it's sold on, as well as the importance of design, branding, PR and marketing. (Jo remains an ambassador for Green & Black's.) 

Jo Fairley has been in rapidly increasing demand as a speaker at conferences, women's entrepreneurial events, networking occasions (and occasionally as an after-dinner speaker), including for HSBC, O2, Business Link, National Women's Enterprise Day Ireland and Accenture, among many other clients.

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Clients often ask about purchasing books for giveaways and delegate packs. Below you’ll find a selection of products by Jo Fairley. Click the images to view on Amazon's website. For bulk orders, please speak with your Booking Agent.