What prompted you to start Basking Babies in the first place and was it always part of your plan to franchise the concept?

I was pregnant with my first child, deep in a Google rabbit hole, when I stumbled across baby massage. The benefits I read about stopped me in my tracks. I immediately booked annual leave from work to train as a baby massage instructor.

Basking Babies [1] was born alongside my son. As I fed him through the night, I used that time to visualise the business: the name, the logo, the class content, and most importantly, the mission. I ran my first class in my living room in Brentwood when he was just a few weeks old, with just one client. My vision, although a long road ahead, had just begun.

I wanted to reach as many families as possible and create real communities for new parents. We live in a country where so many people don't have a village of support around them, and I felt strongly that what I was building could fill that gap - from pregnancy right through to the preschool years. Franchising was always part of the dream: a perfect way to make Basking Babies available to every family in the country, whilst also empowering other women to build successful businesses around their families.

Did you have a background in business you could draw on?

I'm a chartered accountant by background. I trained with Grant Thornton whilst working in audit, moved into corporate finance, and then spent over a decade training accountants in London and Chelmsford.

That foundation has been invaluable, both in building Basking Babies and in supporting franchisees to run strong businesses of their own. The brand is deeply purpose-led and emotionally driven, but commercial rigour has always sat right alongside that.

How long did it take to get the first franchisees onboard?

The business outgrew my living room quickly. Demand meant I had to move to larger venues almost straight away. About 18 months in, I posted a message on Facebook asking if anyone wanted to join my team. I expected interest from people looking to work as an instructor for me. Instead, I was flooded with messages from women across the country asking me to teach them how to build a business just like mine, but where they live.

That was the real beginning of the franchise network. Earlier than I'd planned, but I threw myself into getting everything in place to support these women in the best way possible. So, within two years of starting the business, we welcomed our first three franchisees.

What does a typical class involve?

We run a whole range of classes from pregnancy to preschool; baby massage, baby yoga, baby reflexology, pregnancy relaxation, and sharing and support circles. But the thread running through all of them is the same: a genuinely safe, welcoming, non-judgmental space where parents can be honest about how they are, form real friendships, and build a sense of community.

We nurture the parent as much as the baby. For many families, the support and connections they find in our classes become just as meaningful, if not more than, the classes themselves.

How did you manage to grow the business while raising a growing family?

Hard work! A serious, relentless amount of it. I look back now and genuinely don't know how I managed it at times.

I worked during every nap time of each of my children and regularly through the night. I became very good at putting my own needs aside because I cared so deeply about what we were building. When I had my first son, it hit me hard how impossible it seemed for women to have both a successful career and truly be there for their children. That injustice, alongside my mission to help new parents have communities of support, became the fuel behind everything. I now have four children, and Basking Babies has grown alongside every one of them. It's most certainly not been easy, but it has definitely been worth it.

That same passion drives our entire franchisee network - women building businesses to support other women, around the families they love.

Finally, how proud are you of your recent EWIF awards?

Winning both Woman Franchisor of the Year and Overall Woman in Franchising 2026 felt surreal, and beyond anything I expected. To be recognised by EWiF, an organisation that champions women in franchising so passionately, was genuinely emotional.

The past 18 months have been one of the most significant periods in the brand's history.  A major overhaul of our technology and systems, new programmes to broaden income opportunities for franchisees and real momentum in growth. To have that work recognised publicly means a great deal.

But these awards belong to the whole network. Our franchisees, our head office team and our suppliers. They show up every day for families across the UK, and that's what this recognition is really about.