Announcing...

A New Plan for The Waiting Room Substack

No distractions: finding a quiet space to think, write… the hyperbaric oxygen chamber at HUM2N, Six Senses London is the dream.

Founding La Pyae and taking our beautiful fragrance Catch Me If I Fall slowly but surely out to the world is not what people think it is. When they ask me, “How’s it going?” I invariably say, “Smoke and mirrors,” because the truth is, there are so many wonderful things happening for us, but also the truth is, it’s very much hand to mouth, all (my) hands are on deck(s) (literally, figuratively, metaphorically), and the day to day is not what I suspect it looks like from the outside at all.

When I started writing my Substack I wanted this to be a way of sharing the reality, because as so many new brand founders know, it’s hard, but also so exciting. I lost my nerve somewhere along the line, and too many what-ifs popped in - what if, considering my default style of writing is self-deprecation on overdrive, my candour put off would-be investors? What if our luxury retailers secretly thought a little too much honesty was off-putting for those seeking that high end, cellophane wrapped-with-a-ribbon experience? All of which missed the point. The reason we do well is because we have a truly great fragrance (thank you Frank Voelkl!) and a good story - and who is telling that story? So what if, (and apologies, there are a lot of italics in this piece) I just get on with it, stop worrying and commit to telling it my way.

I haven’t been here that much of late because May saw a lot of travelling - there was a holiday (India) but also a family concern (USA) - and I’ve been playing catch-up ever since. Despite the fact my personal Instagram feed is an endless spiral of portraits of me flouncing about having lovely dinners at events with the occasional quick piece to camera with a founder, 90% of the time my work-life is not that at all, and my head is full and my diary is full and poor Substack is at the bottom of that pile. If you’re anything like me, you tend to look at other peoples instagrams and think This Is All They Do, Ever. Time is relative, we are all of us busy, and I try not to use that word as an excuse ever since Vogue’s longest-serving editor Alexandra Shulman once gave me a withering look in a meeting when I hadn’t quite met a deadline and told her and the rest of the heads of department gathered in the too-small Art Room that it was because “I’ve been busy”. We’ve all seen the Devil Wears Prada. While Shulman was always lovely and this was by no means a Meryl Streep-Anne Hathaway situation, when she somewhat gruffly retorted “I’m sorry, you’re what?” I muttered something about “still working on it” and vowed never to utter those words again. You can be busy playing backgammon on your phone, you can be busy going to the gym, you can be busy saving the world - it’s not a competition.

But still, all my writing takes place in my head. Usually first thing in the morning, sometimes in my dreams I can get a good opening sentence out and structure a paragraph or two. If I’m lucky I can still remember them when I sit down at my desk a few hours later (dog walk, coffee etc). And then once the day takes over, sheer panic descends at the thought of all the things I have to do and there’s no space in my head any more for Substack. I used to save writing it for weekends, but then found myself making other content (all those pictures on my iphone having fancy dinners have to go somewhere!) at weekends, or organising myself with the new COO I just hired - Claude someone or other - getting a list ready for the week ahead.

Moving forwards, this is what’s going to happen:

There will be a once a month post about behind the scenes at La Pyae, because it is my biggest learning curve and therefore the most interesting thing I am doing. I am learning so much from all the incredible founders I meet on a weekly basis, many of whom give me their time anonymously and without any motive besides just paying forward some of their good fortune, and I feel it would be useful to share some of what I learn with others. If I manage to post more, well, it is just a bonus.

All your subscription fees will be passed on to one of the three charities we support - that takes the pressure off me, and hopefully isn’t too much of a bitter pill for everyone who does subscribe (whose support I am truly grateful for). The irony is, this is one of the things I enjoy doing the most. Hopefully, Claude, my new virtual COO, might be joined by some real co-workers in time, and I’ll claw some of that time back.

Myanmar Update:

And now, very quickly, one of those charities - Medical Action Myanmar. I have got to know one of the team quite well and when I heard she was off to Myanmar I gave her some makeup to take out to some of the people she works with. When I say, “I gave her some” what I mean is, the lovely PR at MAC Cosmetics was really kind and sent over a huge box of cosmetics to help support the LBGTQ communities there.

Additionally, we sell Catch Me If I Fall at the Governor’s Residence in Yangon, an exquisitely beautiful hotel and private members club, and donate 100% of the proceeds there to MAM. We don’t sell a lot because it’s expensive by Myanmar standards, (the average monthly salary is $214, one bottle of Catch Me If I Fall is £185) but we have some wonderful visiting NGOs and foreign dipolmats or Chinese investors/tourists and we are SO grateful for their custom because every time we sell a bottle, that £185 goes straight to MAM - no fees or costs going anywhere else, so it’s worth doing, and an easy way for a small brand like ours to have an impact.

There is so much to say about the work my friend does there, and the situation is delicate so I tend to say less rather than more. Most of it is about sending doctors to remote parts of the country, often completely inaccessible by road, and providing medical care to children, adults, seniors - everything from nutritional screening and vitamin A supplementation to malaria and TB screening. But it’s brilliant, and I am in awe of all those dedicating their lives to being there on the ground, supporting these communities in the way that they do.

I understand why Myanmar might not be top of your list right now - Ukraine, Iran-Israel, so many world-class disasters needing our support. But this relatively small charity has a massive impact directly in the community, so if you’re able, please do check it out. And if you happen to know anyone in Yangon right now looking for a memorable souvenir, please do suggest Catch Me If I Fall at the Governor’s Residence.

That’s it for now, but please do check in for future posts, I really appreciate finding you here, and it’s great to be back in touch.

Kathleen