"ANN SUMMERS WOULD NOT BE THE SUCCESS IT IS TODAY IF I WAS NOT A WOMAN."

Jacqueline Gold
CEO of Ann Summers

WORDS: LARISSA NOLAN

She is a woman who has made her name – and her millions – from selling sex toys with colourful names like the Rampant Rabbit. She cornered a market that had previously been ignored and brought sex to the high street, liberating thousands of women. The lucrative career she has enjoyed since is proof that sex sells. So it is perhaps forgivable to expect Jacqueline Gold, Chief Executive of sex shop chain Ann Summers, to be something of a brash, ballsy broad; like a glamorous character from a Jackie Collins novel.

She is, however, the polar opposite. Instead, the woman I meet at the Ann Summers flagship Irish store, on Dublin's O'Connell Street, is a quiet, reserved, petite brunette; an intelligent and ambitious woman who is far more interested in talking about business than bonking.

She seems shy and introverted – although she insists she simply takes a while to become relaxed in the company of strangers. The sleek, chic 46-year-old is calm and serene after spending a hectic afternoon in-store, signing copies of her new book – A Woman's Courage. It’s a triumph-over-adversity memoir of her extraordinary life, blighted by childhood sexual abuse, depression, marriage break-up and the heartbreak of unsuccessful IVF treatment.

Known for being a public face but a private person, the tell-all book is a new departure for Jacqueline Gold. Everyone knows of the British businesswoman who took Ann Summers from being a low-key venture and transformed it into a 138-store strong chain with an annual turnover of £155m (€227m); the role model who is consistently voted in the lists of top most powerful women in business. But until now, no one really knew her. 

With the release of A Woman's Courage, all that will change. So what made this person who admits she takes a while to open up to strangers decide to lay her whole life on a plate? Ann Summers markets itself on being a sex shop run for women by women and females make up more than three-quarters of its customers. Some snide media-watchers have suggested – is it a way to get more women onside?

In an interview with WMB, Gold explained business reasons had nothing to do with her decision to tell the world her very unique story. Instead, she says she did so as a purging exercise to relieve past hurts and as a story of hope for others.

Read more about Jacqueline Gold in the June | July 2007 issue of WMB, subscribe now.