We sat down with Suzanne Jackson as we marked 25 years of VIP Magazine.
She’s a busy woman, and we took the opportunity to look back at Suzanne’s career as we walked down memory lane.
When VIP came out Sue you were 15 years old. Do you remember having the magazine at home?
Yes! My mum always loved magazines, always had a VIP on the go. When I did eventually shoot my first cover, I remember feeling like I’d made it!
Could you ever have imagined way back then that some two decades later, you and your husband Dylan, would shoot the sexiest VIP cover ever (last July) from your summer home in Portugal?
STOP! But that’s so nice to hear [laughing]! But no, I would never have imagined that! I’ve done so many shoots with you guys but each time I still have to pinch myself. Even when you rang me to do this shoot with Gráinne and Rosanna and Celia, I was like, ‘Am I as good as them? Really? What?’
Watching you pull poses in front of the camera is like watching a master at work. How do you do it? What do you think of? Who do you think of?!
I think about music and fun and laughing with my husband and champagne flowing! You know when you’re driving and when a good song comes on, that feeling of happiness? That’s what I try to embody in photoshoots – I love it. I love a bit of craic, love a laugh…
Do you also love being flirty and a bit cheeky?!
I’m always flirty and cheeky! And I’ve always known how to work a room; it’s something that was instilled in me, I think, from when I was an Irish dancer, that level of confidence has always been there to perform. I’ve done lots of TV over the years and for me when I’m on camera, I switch it on, I tap into that alter ego, that higher self.
That alter ego that you step into, do you step into it a lot and, when you step out of it, who are you?
I do step into it a lot and I think I’ve only figured this since appearing on Dancing With The Stars that there are two versions of me. There is the higher, more confident Suzanne who wants to always perform and do her best and look like she’s got her shit together. And then there’s the Suzanne who doesn’t have any of her s**t together and doesn’t know what she’s doing and how she’s doing it, she’s winging it, y’know! So two versions, yes, but there are many versions of everybody. When I need to perform or come out of my comfort zone, and I’m gonna use DWTS here as an example again, when I start to embody that higher self more, that’s when I start to get results and in the case of DWTS, better marks. We all have that higher self that wants the best for you and so I try to step into that more and more now rather than the Suzanne who is always second-guessing herself. Obviously, that side is still in me, but it’s like the good wolf or the bad wolf – who are you feeding? I’m feeding the good wolf these days!
When you started out with your blog in 2010, had you a plan, did you know what you were doing?
My mother always says that things just naturally come to me. She says as a child I was very magnetic, that people wanted to be around me, that I was fun, that I made people laugh. I don’t think many people would know that about me, that I am actually kind of funny! I think when you’re having a laugh and not taking things too seriously, I think people are drawn to you. My mum always says it’s the magic in me – such a mum thing to say! – but most entrepreneurs I know do have a bit of magic. For me there was no plan, no strategy, I was just being funny ol’ Suzanne.
You are crazy busy at the minute – what’s going on?
It’s always busy, but this is the year of pure and utter strategy and business expansion plans. We’ve always been expanding, we’ve always done well, but we’ve never really put a big strategy behind that. I’ve invested in some really key people now to help with that, but that requires a lot of meetings to get everybody up to speed. We have big expansion plans too, we’re looking to expand into further regions such as Dubai, Australia and America. So it’s ship-up or ship-out time! It’s get in and get it done, because it’s now or never! There are so many competitors, so many competing brands and everyone is doing their best, but we need to see how we stand out from the rest and that is what we’re working on at the moment.
Founder of @sosucosmetics, @drippinggold, @bahamaofficial & @bahamabody
