Loose Women star Lisa Maxwell’s 19-year-old daughter has earned more than £300,000 in the last three years through a very unusual venture – selling English baby names to Chinese families. Beau Jessup said her parents are very "proud" of her business acumen, which has helped her to earn enough money to pay for her university fees at London School of Economics.
The talented teenager set up her company at 16, and has already given her own TEDx talk about business after helping to name more than 677,000 Chinese babies. Speaking about her business to News.Au, Beau revealed the idea was sparked when she joined her father on a business trip to China, and was asked to suggest an English name for one of his colleague’s daughters.
© Photo: RexLisa Maxwell's daughter Beau has launched her own successful business
"I was surprised by this because having the responsibility to name a child is quite important. I wanted to take it seriously," Beau said, revealing that she asked the woman to list a series of characteristics she wanted her daughter to have, prompting her to suggest the name Eliza, based on the quick-witted and strong character of Eliza Doolittle.
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After conducting research, Beau found there wasn’t a name suggestion service available to Chinese parents, many of whom give their children an additional English name that can be read, pronounced and printed in English. And after realising that many parents chose inappropriate names for their children, the teenager decided to launch her own website Special Name, which asks parents to select from a list of 12 personality traits they would like their child to have, and suggests three relevant names to suit.
© Photo: RexBeau is Lisa's only daughter (pictured here in 2011)
"My parents are really proud but probably because they don’t have to pay for my uni fees," Beau joked about her parents’ reaction to her success at such a young age. Beau is the only child of Loose Women star Lisa and her husband Paul Jessup, and has a close bond with her parents. Lisa previously spoke of how she wants to be a good role model to her daughter during an appearance on Loose Women, as the panel discussed anti-ageing treatments including botox.
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“I’m a mother of a 19-year-old daughter and I think it sends out the wrong messages if you worry about that stuff too much. There is so much pressure on young women with social media and all these perfect pictures on Instagram that, as a mother, I try to temper that by not freaking out about my own stuff too much. I would hate to be 19 now,” she said. “We don’t realise the pressure our youngsters are under.”
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