Life is wild because Boots UK rejected me for a job when I was 16 So explain to
By Isobelperl · October 9, 2026 · Curated by George's Blog
Life is wild because Boots UK rejected me for a job when I was 16
So explain to me how last week, they invited me to their store reopening in Dubai 😆
At 16 I applied for a job at Boots
My mum's first job was at Boots, and so was my sister's, so it felt like the perfect first job for me too, almost like a family tradition
I remember how much it stung when they said no
It felt like the first time someone had looked at me and decided I wasn't quite right
Fast forward 5 years, I lost my corporate job and decided to put £1,000 into a skincare brand I was building, with no investors, no retail background and nobody telling me I was qualified to do it
That brand is now Isobel Perl
It has generated over £1.5 million in revenue, shipped over 46,000 orders and has been entirely self-funded, with a full-time team of one (me) and some amazing freelancers
I’ve poured my everything into building this brand, and had to rebuild it from scratch January after a trademark dispute forced a rebrand
But, despite all the heartache of running a business, it's the reason I now live in Dubai and get to work with dream brands as a creator
So when the invite to Boots' Dubai Hills Mall reopening landed in my inbox last week, I thought straight away about the 16-year-old who filled in that application
She didn't take that no and let it define her
Rejection isn't a verdict on what you're capable of, it's just one person's decision on one day
Most of the women I work with aren't missing skills or ideas
They're waiting for someone to tell them they're allowed to go and build the thing
Consider this your permission 👏
What's the rejection that ended up being the best thing that ever happened to you? 👇
#mindset #founder