Slimming World founder featured in magazine of inspirational women
Slimming World’s founder and chair Margaret Miles-Bramwell OBE has been featured in a magazine-book series celebrating women who are challenging the status quo to create a positive impact.
Margaret, who started the UK and Ireland’s leading weight-loss organisation aged just 21, has shared her story in Disruptors Volume 3.
The title went on sale on International Women’s Day (March 8th 2024), and features inspirational women such as Guardian CEO Anna Bateson, London’s Deputy Mayor for Culture and Creative Industries Justine Simons OBE and actress Morven Christie alongside Margaret. TV presenter Emma Dabiri is the cover star.
Disruptors’ aim is to drive conversation on women’s issues forward and amplify female voices, given women’s narratives only occupy 0.5% of recorded history to date.
My programme turned all the perceived wisdom about weight loss on its head.
Margaret tells how Slimming World was born out of her own struggles with her weight. She says: “I’d been overweight since childhood, and as a teenager I tried all the various slimming clubs around in the late 1960s. I felt there had to be a better way – so at the age of 21, I applied myself to learning as much as I could about nutrition, how to lose weight sustainably and without hunger, and the psychology of managing weight, literally working it out at my kitchen table.
“My programme turned all the perceived wisdom about weight loss on its head, offering respect, compassion and understanding instead of humiliation, and freedom to enjoy naturally healthy, everyday foods without ever needing to be hungry.”
Margaret ran her first Slimming World group in a church hall in Derbyshire and has never looked back since – there are now 13,000 weekly groups running across the UK and Ireland. Slimming World employs more than 500 staff and supports 3,500 self-employed franchisee Consultants to run their own small businesses.
The businesswoman, who is also a mother, grandmother and great grandmother, talks about the challenges she’s faced along the way including the loss of her beloved husband Tony, her extraordinary passion for fundraising, and what she hopes will be her legacy to the world.
Disruptors is on sale now, both in print and digital editions: Disruptors Issue 3 - Violet Simon