How She Does It: Arabella Preston

In our How She Does It column, we speak to inspirational mothers about work-life balance, their favourite travel destinations, travelling with children, and how they really do it all.

This month, we caught up with Arabella Preston. Founder of skincare brand Votary and home fragrance brand Verden. Here she tells us what travelling with two teens is like and how she manages parenting alongside her successful career as her children have grown.

Tell us a bit about yourself:

I am co-founder of Votary and Verden. Votary is a skincare brand and Verden a home fragrance brand for bath, body and home. I live in Kent with my husband and two teenage children; my son is 15 and my daughter is 13.

Tell us about your work? 

I mainly work from home in rural Kent, with once or twice weekly visits to London for meetings and events – for example next week I’m doing a masterclass with a retailer in London. In general, the balance feels about right. My business partner Charlotte and I speak on FaceTime every day and try to meet up as often as possible in person – it’s so nice to see each other. We were working remotely long before lockdown as we realised it’s a great way to balance work and family life. This way I can down tools at 5 p.m. and pick my daughter up soon afterwards. I couldn’t do that from an office in London while living in Kent.

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What inspires you in your career?

My business partner, Charlotte. She has a brilliant, strategic mind. We met years ago when I did PR and marketing for the business she ran then. We have known each other for such a long time that we just know exactly how to work well together. We share the same passion for our business.

Which three items help you juggle everything?

My iPhone, Google Drive, and my husband! It’s so important to have a partner with whom you can share the load and that’s very much how my husband and I operate. He works from home quite a bit which helps, and we tend to split who does what evenly.

If you could give your past self one piece of advice about being a working mother what would it be? 

Accept the lack of control sometimes. When we are younger we think we should be doing everything perfectly and now I realise that’s just not possible. No one can achieve that. And never feel bad for prioritising one thing over the other: you just have to go with your instinct and decide what requires your focus at that time.

Have your career goals and aspirations altered since becoming a working mum?

If anything they have expanded way beyond what they were before I had children. I was working as a makeup artist at the time and thought it was what I would always do. Actually, running the brands is easier to manage with children in many ways than if I was still a working makeup artist and constantly travelling to shoots or clients. Being a makeup artist was wonderful and I loved it, but it was unpredictable with last-minute calls to work the following day and long hours. What I do now works much better around my family commitments.

If you had the power to change one thing for working mothers, what would you change? 

I’d make quality childcare affordable and convenient for all. When the children were young we lived in London and had some truly wonderful au pairs who helped us juggle it all. They were lovely girls who we are still in touch with, but I know we were lucky to be able to have that and to find such nice people. We moved to Kent when the children were seven and five so they went to school, and we also used after school clubs.

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Tell us about the best holiday you’ve taken with your children:

I asked them this exact question the other day and they both said the safari we did in Tanzania. It felt properly adventurous and wild. We stayed at one of Alex Walker’s safari camps. He moves the camp around to where the action is so you really get to see some amazing animals. It was such a remote and beautiful spot – no wifi for sure – but even as kids my children seemed to understand how precious this time was for us all. My husband does a bit of travel writing and we have been to some exciting places such as Ecuador, which was wonderful. We often book through Scott Dunn who have helped us plan some fantastic itineraries.

Do you think travel benefits your children? 

Absolutely, widening horizons is so important. We love to travel all over the world with our kids trying out new places. Having said that, now they are teenagers I am conscious of leaving some parts of the world for them to explore on their own. Now that we have GCSEs and A Levels coming up, I’ve made a list of all the holidays we have left with the children before they go off to uni, as exams mean we can’t be as flexible as we once were, and there are places we want to tick off. For example, we are planning a trip to the Galapagos because that’s a real adventure that we will all love – and it’s also not the kind of place the kids are likely to go backpacking.

Favourite hotel – with or without children? 

In London, The Rosewood. Usually for work meetings or for when I need to stay overnight in London. It’s the chicest and the service is second to none. With kids it has to be the Marbella Club. Everyone loves visiting; there’s so much to do, delicious food and lots of fun to be had. The interiors are stunning too. The hotel has recently been renovated and is really gorgeous, every detail is thought of – including Votary products in the rooms.

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Travel essentials with kids?

Comfortable over-ear noise-cancelling headphones. The ones on planes are just not good enough and the kids don’t like them. These are necessary from ages three to 18, and beyond! When the children were younger they used to take full backpacks onto flights, but now all they need are headphones and of course their phones so they can listen to music. That’s teens for you.

Your own travel essentials? 

The stack of New Yorkers that sits by my bed unread the rest of the year, it’s so nice to flick through an actual magazine on holiday and the New Yorker is one of my favourites. I always pack my Votary minis, and a monogram basket from my friend Rae Feather who makes the best beach bags; the monogramming makes it feel a bit more special. I’ll also be packing my new striped shirt from With Nothing Underneath – the perfect thing to throw on over a swimsuit or wear with shorts on holiday.

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If you have a day to yourself, what do you do?

Go for a walk with my sister or a girlfriend, do a yoga class and finish by watching a movie with my family.

Heading ‘out out’ – where is your favourite spot? 

I have not been ‘out out’ in years! For a treat I like to go to Locanda Locatelli for a meal or to the ballet or theatre, we are off to see Pillowman in the Westend soon. These days we tend to take the kids with us and do lots as a family. In a few weeks we are all going to see Blur in concert in London. That was our favourite band when we were young and now my teenage son loves 90s music. He’s so excited to see them live.

The best advice you would give to other mothers?   

This too shall pass. (And then you will miss it!)

How do you do it? 

Lots of organisation and diary sessions with my husband. We sit down every Sunday and work out any potential logistical issues for the week ahead. It makes us calmer, and our lives run more smoothly.

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