Maverick here: Even as a small only, never a lonely child, I loved making potions. It all started with my Grandma Lock and her roses. She grew the most amazing roses and I inherited her strong sense of smell a very useful ability to have when creating a skincare brand (alas the same cannot be said of my skill with the roses or any plant or vegetable). When the rose petals had finally dropped I was allowed to gather them up and place them in a jam jar and cover with water to make rosewater. Most of it very unsuccessfully but the joy when I got it right!

Having qualified as an ITEC professional back in 1979, I have dedicated the last four decades expanding my knowledge and gaining experience working with ingredients, essential oils and various facial treatment protocols. Very few days pass when I'm not thinking about or working on a client’s skin and all its wondrous capabilities. Having worked at the coal face of the beauty industry I have experienced tremendous highs and lows - from the joys of working and managing my first salon to owning our own high street salon. There hangs a tale having placed the requisite adverts in the Yellow Pages etc (this was pre-internet and social media) with my shelves stocked with thousands of pounds worth of products my first days taking comprised of one £3.50 eyebrow shape! Little did I know that the seed to create Charlie Locks Professional skincare started to grow that day.

I now basically get to play with a huge jam jar here at the gloop lab with our highly skilled technical team. All this experience has allowed us to create a product range which is able to meet the needs of both the professional therapist in treatments and the client at home. When I do get time away from HQ I can be found reading (I adore my kindle), walking and enjoying the various gastronomic delights to be found in Winchester -hence the need for all the walking. Working with your husband and raising two strapping sons, welcoming daughter-in laws and  grandchildren isn’t bad either but that’s a whole different biography and probably better saved for the book! 

Julie xXx

Mark Raines aka Goose

Goose here: As you'd expect most of my time is spent supporting Maverick as her trusted wingman and my list of duties include the day to day running, finance; operations at Charlie Locks and to stop Julie blowing the budget on rare black grapefruit oil! 

My previous experience couldn’t be more removed from what I do now which started in the Royal Navy in 1979 where I became a Physical Training Instructor until I left in 1989 when I became one of the founder members of the Mr Mum Club so that Julie could focus on her high street salon. Once our two sons were old enough to feed themselves I followed a career in Operations Management and prior to Charlie Locks I managed supply chains across a range of industries and it's this broad experience that enabled me to bring a fresh pair of eyes to a stagnant skincare industry allowing Maverick to focus on her potions. 

In the beginning, I wish I could have had a £1 every time I asked Julie "Why?" My main contribution coming from outside the beauty industry is to bring a new perspective and mindset to our business and although sometimes it feels as if I am constantly saying why or no, it's this philosophy that has enabled Charlie Locks to become a disruptor to an industry that I felt was very resistant to a much-needed change. I'm particularly proud of our SPF in a pouch, which was one of those real light bulb moments.I've experienced a few but this has been one of the most challenging periods of my career and life trying to breakdown entrenched ideas for packaging and manufacturing within the beauty industry and learning how to work with your wife… As Maverick has already said  that biography is definitely best saved for the book!  

It's hard to pull a sicky when your wife is ultimately the boss, but when I do blag some free time I enjoy putting myself through the hell of training for and competing in the tougher triathlons. 

Mark xXx