A Remarkable Woman of Worth: Anita Ruddock
Anita Ruddock was born in 1942 in Little Hampton, Sussex.
She attended a convent and in 1961 studied at the Bath College of Higher Education to train as a teacher.
After graduating Anita spent a year in Romania where she volunteered to helped with children who were affected by disabilities, war, natural disasters and HIV/Aids.
When she returned she began teaching at Little Hampton Community School and shortly afterwards she met her husband Gordon Ruddock.
In 1969 she gave birth to her first daughter Justine.
In 1970 the couple married and Anita left her job as a teacher to run a Restaurant/Hotel with her husband.
The Restaurant and Hotel business failed and in 1971 she gave birth to her second daughter Samantha.
As money was tight and Anita’s husband was out of the country, Anita decided to open the Body Shop as an attempt to try and support her two daughters.
The Body Shop opened in 1976 however it only offered 15 products at the time and brought in less than £300 a week.
In 1989 she created the Body Shop Foundation which was dedicated to raising as much money as possible to various different charities.
Because of the work she had previously done in Romania, in 1990 Anita founded COTE (Children on Edge Charity), which was devoted to raising money for children similar to the ones she has helped.
By 1991 the Body Shop had expanded and had over 700 branches across the country.In 1995 Anita was the first woman ever to be awarded the Women’s Business Development Centre’s Annual Woman Power Award.
In 2001 Anita received the ‘Woman of Peace’ award from the International Peace Prayer Day Organization’s
By 2004 the Body Shop had expanded to over 1980 stores worldwide.
On the 14 February 2007 Anita revealed that he had been diagnosed with Hepatitis C.
Anita spent as much time as possible campaigning to spread awareness about the disease and raising money for the Hepatitus C Trust.
Sadly on the 10th of September 2007, Dame Anita Roddick died at St Richard's Hospital in Chichester, England, after suffering a major brain haemorrhage.
Her husband, Gordon, and daughters Sam and Justine were all with her.
Business Accomplishments
In 1984 following the success of the Body Shop, Anita was named Business Woman of the year. .JPG)
In 1991 The Body Shop was awarded the World Vision Award for Development Initiative. The shop now served over 77 million people throughout the world, and was voted the second most trusted brand in the United Kingdom and the 28th top brand in the world.
In 2002 Anita created the book ‘Take it personally’ encouraging equality and an end to exploitation of workers and children in underdeveloped countries. Anita won the National Book Award prize and donated the money she received to various charities.
In 2003 she was appointed Roddick Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire and was officially named Dame Anita Roddick DBE.
Charity Work
Anita consistently raised money and worked over seas for COTE the organization she founded in response to her visits to Romanian orphanages. It is estimated that around 52 million was donated to the organization in total.
In 1990 Anita set up The Body Shop Foundation and spent six years donating more than 3.5 million pounds to 180 charitable groups including Green peace, acid rain pollution, and helping to prevent animal testing.
Around this time Anita also went to Romania to help rebuild three main orphanages.
In 2000 she gave £300,000 to selected grassroots groups fighting for human rights globally.
In 2006 Anita prompted work for the Hepatitis C Trust she campaigned to increase awareness of the disease and donated money to the company.
Anita also donated much of her money to Littlehampton Community School, which was financially struggling and was on the brink of closure. As a result a new building was built and it was renamed the ‘Roddick Enterprise Centre'.
“To succeed you have to believe in something with such a passion that it becomes a reality.”
By Danielle Jawando
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