Samantha "Sam" Roddick (born 1 July 1971) is the founder of ''Coco de Mer'', a British lingerie brand and retail store. She is the daughter of Body Shop founder and activist

Anita Roddick Dame Anita Lucia Roddick (23 October 1942 – 10 September 2007) was a British businesswoman, human rights activist and environmental campaigner, best known as the founder of the British version of The Body Shop, now The Body Shop Internation ...

Early life and education

Roddick is the younger daughter of Anita and Gordon Roddick. She was educated at Summerlea Primary School and then at

Frensham Heights Frensham Heights School is an independent school and sixth form college located near Farnham, Surrey, England, run by the registered charity, Frensham Heights Educational Trust Ltd. It was founded in 1925 and formed as part of the movement for ...

in Surrey until she was asked to leave at age 16. She gained only two

O-Levels The O-Level (Ordinary Level) is a subject-based qualification conferred as part of the General Certificate of Education. It was introduced in place of the School Certificate in 1951 as part of an educational reform alongside the more in-dept ...

due to having undiagnosed

dyslexia Dyslexia, also known until the 1960s as word blindness, is a disorder characterized by reading below the expected level for one's age. Different people are affected to different degrees. Problems may include difficulties in spelling words, r ...

. On leaving Frensham, the mother of a schoolmate suggested she work with her in

Nepal Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne, सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is ma ...

, which is where her activism began.

Early activism

Roddick's early activism included talks, fundraisers and projects worldwide. In addition, she set up ''Cockroach'', a youth magazine; and taught art in

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the city, up from 631,486 in 2016. Th ...

. Roddick backed the Women's Equality Party's campaign to encourage women to vote in the UK's 2016 referendum on its membership of the EU.

Coco de Mer

In December 2001, Roddick opened Coco de Mer in

Covent Garden Covent Garden is a district in London, on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit-and-vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist sit ...

Monmouth Street Monmouth Street is a street in the Seven Dials district of Covent Garden, London, England. Monmouth Street runs north to south from Shaftesbury Avenue to a crossroads with Tower Street and Shelton Street, where it becomes St Martin's Lane. A ...

with an evening hosted by Dave Stewart, and a fly-poster campaign by Saatchi and Saatchi. In 2004 Roddick was prevented from registering the Coco de Mer name as a trade mark by French fashion designer

Coco Chanel Gabrielle Bonheur "Coco" Chanel ( , ; 19 August 1883 – 10 January 1971) was a French fashion designer and businesswoman. The founder and namesake of the Chanel brand, she was credited in the post-World War I era with popularizing a sporty, c ...

, the lawsuit citing the similarity in product range and name. In 2011 the brand was purchased by British sex shop Lovehoney. In April 2014 former La Perla brand director Lucy Litwack was appointed as managing director of the company. Cristina Ceresoli was also brought on to be interim Chief Marketing Officer. The name comes from the coco de mer palm tree of the

Seychelles Seychelles (, ; ), officially the Republic of Seychelles (french: link=no, République des Seychelles; Creole: ''La Repiblik Sesel''), is an archipelagic state consisting of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean. Its capital and largest city, ...

, which has the largest seed in the world. The seed is said to resemble a woman's buttocks.

Bondage For Freedom

Bondage for Freedom was founded in 2008, focusing on fighting for human and environmental rights. It had worked on a number of projects, including the 1994

Rwandan genocide The Rwandan genocide occurred between 7 April and 15 July 1994 during the Rwandan Civil War. During this period of around 100 days, members of the Tutsi minority ethnic group, as well as some moderate Hutu and Twa, were killed by armed Hutu ...

; the release of the " Angola Three"; preventing sex-trafficking; and colony collapse disorder.

Television

Roddick is an advisor on ''

The Joy of Teen Sex ''The Joy of Teen Sex'' is a British television show on Channel 4 that delves into the world of teenagers and sex. This includes sexual experiences, sexual health, trends and relationship issues. The first series ran from 19 January to 9 Febr ...

''.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Roddick, Sam 1971 births Living people English businesspeople People from Rustington English women in business People educated at Frensham Heights School People with dyslexia