Mary Portas

Businesswoman, broadcaster, author and activist Mary Portas OBE made her name creating change.

Aged 30, she became a board member at Harvey Nichols before founding her own retail consultancy. Mary has since worked with some of the biggest names in global retail. 

Her BBC series – Mary Queen of Shops – premiered in 2007 and she has presented on television and radio for the BBC and Channel 4 ever since. In 2009, she partnered with Save The Children to reinvent charity shops. To date, the 26 Mary’s Living & Giving shops nationwide have raised more than £30 million for charity. She also conducted a review of the future for high streets for the British government in 2011. 

Mary is the author of three books: an autobiography Shop Girl [ 2015] and two non-fiction books – Work Like A Woman: A Manifesto [2018] which looks at the restructuring how we work for the future; and Rebuild: how to thrive in the new Kindness Economy [2021]. The Kindness Economy podcast was #1 on the business chart.

As co-chair of the Better Business Act, Mary heads a coalition of businesses calling for a change in the law to ensure UK companies align their interests with those of wider society and the environment.

In addition to presenting two series of Mary Portas: On Style for BBC Radio 4, Mary is also a podcaster – in her latest series Beautiful Misfits she interviews fellow changemakers taking the imaginative leap to create a better world.

Most recently, Mary took on the government with Kevin McCloud & Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall in The Great Climate Fight on CH4.

In 2024, Mary made the King’s New Year Honours list, being awarded an OBE for her services to business, broadcasting and charity