‘YOU DON'T HAVE TO WAIT YEARS TO LEARN HOW TO BE BRAVE'

TV PRESENTER AND LIFE COACH ANDREA McLEAN CHATS TO OK! ABOUT TEAMING UP WITH BONMARCHÉ AND EMPOWERING WOMEN

- LAUREN GOODWIN-GRAFTON

You may recognise Andrea McLean as the friendly face from Loose Women. She was a presenter on the daytime TV show for over 15 years, but taking time to talk to the fabulous 52-year-old it’s clear to see she is much more than her successful TV career.

Andrea is open, honest, kind-hearted and really cares about making a positive difference to women’s lives – be it through her first fashion collection with Bonmarché, or through life coaching on her This Girl Is On Fire platform, which she launched with her husband three years ago.

We chat to the mum-of-two and fully-fledged entrepreneur about why she thought Bonmarché was the perfect fit for a collaboration, how she’s going to be styling her favourite party frock come Christmas, and what female empowerment really means to her…

Hi, Andrea! Huge congratulations on your collection with Bonmarché. You have turned down other fashion collaborations, but felt Bonmarché was a great match for you. Why is that?

Well, what made the little “ding” in my head was that they’re all about community, and that’s obviously what I do now – I help women through our community. I give loads of help and advice in terms of how to feel good every day. It’s not like dieting or exercising, it’s actually tiny little things, that’s how I see it. So the synergy here just made sense to me. It’s not simply about, “Andrea, will you come on board and put a collection together?” It’s more about how we can work together to help women feel really great about themselves.