The Success Series: Henrietta Norton

Identify a gap in the market

Working as a clinical nutritionist and within the supplements industry specialising in women’s health for 10 years, Henrietta was writing her book Take control of your endometriosis when asked if she could make some supplement recommendations.

“I realised there wasn’t anything on the market I could recommend. I felt passionate about doing it differently, doing it better, effectively elevating the standard, which at the time was shamefully low. I couldn’t not do it.”

And Henrietta and her husband Charlie have never looked back.

Dream big

Despite humble beginnings – the first batch of products was formulated from the garden shed with regular visits from their three chickens – Henrietta was encouraged to think big.

“We were told by a mentor to get things set up early because if things go really well, you’ll find yourself in a rocket ship and won’t have time to think. It was invaluable advice.”

Having launched the website, Henrietta and Charlie approached Whole Foods with an aim to stock the product range in their High Street Kensington branch “At the time, I thought if I could be stocked in Whole Foods within five years, I could hang up my hat.” But the five-year dream was achieved in just three months. “They wanted to stock us in all branches and asked if we could expand the range. It was a bit of a shock, but like every good entrepreneur, we said yes and then thought about how we could make it happen.”

Purpose and passion

“The founding principles of the brand were always to make an uncompromising product, but also to educate; to empower people to understand their body and to make informed decisions.”

Wild Nutrition remains true to its core values. As well as increasing the product range and stockists, the team provides educational content, hosts regular talks and above all, has a team of highly trained nutritional therapists to help people better understand their bodies and their needs. Henrietta recognises “people are still confused, there is information overload, and they want to trust a brand, built on purpose, built on expertise, which is here for the long run.”

Advice for future entrepreneurs

“Be passionate and purposeful about why you are starting something. There will inevitably be times when you wake up rather sweaty in the night. It’s really hard, incredibly galvanising, but an amazing privilege. It can be difficult to balance all elements of life, but that rock solid sense of purpose pulls you through.”

Henrietta acknowledges that entrepreneurship can sound enticing and exciting, but that regardless of gender, many people face imposter syndrome “it’s that sense that I don’t really belong here, I don’t know what I’m doing, particularly if you don’t start with a business degree from Harvard.” But you don’t need to do it all alone. You can bring in the expertise to fill those gaps.

“Behind every great idea there are great people. It might be my idea, but I’m not the only one who’s got it to this place. It’s me, my husband Charlie and each member of our talented and committed team… that’s really important to remember.”