'I nearly died three times': Sepsis scare made woman launch successful cosmetics company

She almost died three times in her hospital bed as she battled the blood poisoning, caused by a complication following an ectopic pregnancy.

Her loved ones feared the worse but the 35-year-old pulled through each time and managed to survive the sepsis attack against all odds.

"I was taken ill very suddenly. I had fallen pregnant but the baby was growing in my cervix. I had several operations to remove the foetus but it caused an infection which led to the sepsis.

"It was so bad that I had to have a hysterectomy. That's been difficult because it means never having children of my own. Everyone goes through a journey and this was mine," says Emma.

But her life-changing ordeal and brush with death in 2016 gave her a 'new lease of life' and the chance to evaluate what was truly important to her.

Thriving

And this led to her setting up her now thriving and sparkly Stourbridge-based business Prima Makeup, which is going from strength to strength.

"I was doing a stressful job at the time as a regional contract manager for a NEET [Not in Education, Employment, or Training] contract with 30 staff helping to get 16 to 25-year-olds back into work.

"My illness made me ask myself 'was I really doing what I wanted to do?' and the answer was no," explains Emma.

After many weeks in hospital, she then spent three months recuperating at home, which gave her the time to reflect on what she wanted to do with her life.

And with the help of a laptop, given to her by her now husband Simon to keep the boredom at bay, she began researching ideas.

"I had always been interested in the beauty industry and I had retail and sales experience. I could see that the glitter trend was going to come over to the UK from the US but there were concerns about loose glitter getting everywhere and being bad for the environment.

"I started to think about what I could do with glittery and sparkly cosmetics," explains Emma.

Experimenting

Then she got to work experimenting with different cosmetic formulas in her kitchen.

"While I was recovering I started having a go at making a gel-based pressed glitter.

"I ordered in cosmetic ingredients and I was trying out different formulas on baking trays in a pizza rack. I was testing them all for their wearability and durability. I tested 50 different formulas before we launched in August 2016.

"I thought it would just be a little hobby and if it brought in some money for Christmas, that would be amazing.

"Straight away people were buying it and loving it - we've now sold 250,000 of them," says Emma.

While she knew her product well, the business name took a while to find. "It's really hard to find something that's new and hasn't been trade-marked already.

"One day I decided to try translating top class and first class into different languages to see what happened.

"I started with Italian and Prima came up. It seemed perfect and nobody had it already which was good," says Emma.

Vegan-friendly

Prima Makeup, which employs eight staff, now has 140 lines and all products are a cosmetic grade, safe for face, body and hair as well as being vegan-friendly and cruelty-free.

Emma's products, which include pressed glitter eyeshadows, highlighters and face and body glitters, have appeared in Vogue, Cosmopolitan, Love Island and Brides Magazine.

Her company, which won both the Start-up and Business of the Year awards at this year's Black Country Chamber of Commerce Awards, is also the main cosmetics supplier for River Island and works with other retailers.

She was able to join Prima, which is based at Stuart Works in Wordsley, full-time in February 2017 and completed NatWest's Entrepreneurial Spark programme.

"It's been a whirlwind two and a half years that I never ever expected. It started with my illness and now I'm doing things like developing a cosmetics range for River Island.

"It's incredible when I think about what has happened since I started. Now we are developing some exciting new products, including a world-first, and we are opening our new laboratory space in six months time. It's very exciting," says Emma.