\n Danielle Clementina Close, a former Malvern College pupil and founder of the sustainable skincare brand My Skin Feels, secured \u00a350,000 of investment from Deborah Meaden and Gary Neville on the BBC show.\n<\/p>\n
\n She said skills developed at the independent school played a crucial role in her confidence and ability to pitch.\n<\/p>\n
\n Ms Close said: “Speech and drama lessons at school did make a difference in terms of my overall confidence.\n<\/p>\n
\n “I really enjoyed it, felt prepared for the challenge and not at all nervous.\n<\/p>\n
\n “It worked out very well for me and the opportunity to raise the profile of my work in that setting is invaluable.”\n<\/p>\n
\n My Skin Feels uses natural and organic ingredients including by-products from the food and drink industry that would otherwise go to waste.\n<\/p>\n
\n During her appearance on Dragons\u2019 Den, Ms Close delivered a pitch that impressed all five investors, with Peter Jones describing her as \u201ceverything you want to invest in\u201d and Steven Bartlett saying she was a really good storyteller.\n<\/p>\n
\n She ultimately chose Ms Meaden and Mr Neville, following a tough negotiation.\n<\/p>\n
\n Former Malvern College pupil Danielle Close founded My Skin Feels (Image: Rous)\n<\/p>\n
\n Ms Close, who previously worked for Charlotte Tilbury, has urged young people to embrace opportunities to develop soft skills, especially in pitching and communication.\n<\/p>\n
\n She also called on teachers to promote a wider range of career options beyond traditional academic routes.\n<\/p>\n
\n Now based in Brighton, she described entrepreneurship as “extremely hard work” but said she was proud of what she had achieved.\n<\/p>\n
\n Ms Close said: “My Skin Feels was inspired out of a love of listening to your mind and your body so you can make better decisions for yourself, those around you and the planet.”\n<\/p>\n
\n She hopes to return to Malvern College in the future to share her experiences with current pupils.\n<\/p>\n
\n Keith Metcalfe, headmaster at Malvern College, said the school was delighted by her success and proud of her appearance on national television.\n<\/p>\n
\n Mr Metcalfe said: “I would very much agree with Danielle\u2019s advice when it comes to taking every opportunity at school to develop skills that will serve you well in your future career plans.\n<\/p>\n
\n “I also believe it\u2019s important for schools to evolve as the workplace changes to ensure they are consistently providing the education, support and valuable guidance needed to adapt to a changing careers landscape and give youngsters the skills they need to forge their own path to success.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Danielle Clementina Close, a former Malvern College pupil and founder of the sustainable skincare brand My Skin Feels,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":425651,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[96,391,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-425650","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-entertainment","tag-tv","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425650","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=425650"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425650\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/425651"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=425650"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=425650"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=425650"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}