My accent had people thinking wasn't well educated

Dragons' Den Sara's social mobility mission

- GRAHAM HISCOTT

DRAGONS' Den star Sara Davies says she had to work "twice as hard" as others to succeed because snobs looked down on her background.

The comprehensive-educated entrepreneur, who was made an MBE in 2016, is fiercely proud of her Co Durham mining village roots and North East accent.

And she says she used negative preconceptions to "fuel" her ambition as she built a multi-million pound art and craft firm.

"Quite often I was the only woman in the room, the only young person in the room and the only person who sounded like this in the room," 40-yearold Sara told the Mirror.

"It used to frustrate me that people had a preconceived idea of me.

"They assumed that because I had an accent, I wasn't as capable or as well educated, or I wasn't going to be as good as my counterparts who had been through a private education, or grown up in a much more well-to-do town.