BUSINESSWOMAN REVEALS HOW SHE OVERCAME
Top chef on winning awards and her mission to help other entrepreneurs
The idea that her life could become a success seemed a million miles away.
The troubled teenager – daughter of an oil tycoon – was just 14 when she made the first of three attempts to kill herself.
Over the next 10 years, she battled to overcome an eating disorder, cocaine and heroin addictions, anxiety, depression and general low self- esteem.
Now, at the age of 29, the talented chef runs her own flourishing food company, The Sweet Beet.
Her artisan products have been given airtime on one of the nation’s top radio shows and have appeared in food magazines. And Lizzy has been named as one of the country’s top young entrepreneurs.
Lizzy, who was born in Aberdeen, said: “When I look back over the last 15 years or so, I know I’ve been on quite a journey.
“I’ve been admitted to a mental hospital, I spent five months in a rehabilitation facility to help me get over a drug addiction, I’ve self-harmed, I’ve attempted to take my own life and there have been many times when I was sure I was going to die if I didn’t manage to turn my life around.
“I know I’m very lucky to have grown up in a family where I didn’t want for anything but I had this fury and frustration inside me and I didn’t like who I was. “What helped me was f inding something that I was passionate about doing. But I’ve learned you have to embrace your worries, insecurities and doubts and learn how to use that energy for positive results. “Now I want to help other people do the same.”
Lizzy grew up living between two of the world’s most famous oil capitals – Aberdeen and Texas – after her parents, who both worked in the oil industry, split up when she was young. Her dad, Ken Hodcroft, continued living in Scotland, where he set up his own oil firm, Increased Oil Recovery, while her mum moved to America.
She mainly attended school in Texas but would spend at least a month of the year attending Hamilton School in Aberdeen and would spend every
summer in the UK. Hamilton, Scotland’s only privately- run independent day school, closed down in 2014 following a joint investigation by Scotland’s care watchdog and the police.
Lizzy said: “I can’t pinpoint any moment in my life where I can look back and say ‘this was when my mental health problems started’ but, growing up, I had a tainted view of life and where I fitted in.
“I struggled with my body image from an early age and I can vividly remember lying in the bath when I was quite small, sucking my tummy in and hoping that maybe it would stay that way.”
Lizzy made her first attempt to take her own life following a family row when she was 14.
She swallowed a bottle of painkillers but was found by her mother, who rushed her to hospital, where medics saved her life.
She was admitted to a mental hospital close to her home in Texas, where she was glad she only had to spend a couple of days.
From then, she started seeing a psychiatrist but she believed her life was already on a downward spiral.
Lizzy, whose dad also owned and was chairman of Hartlepool United FC for 17 years, said: “I used to play football for my school, which I loved, but I tore a ligament in my leg and couldn’t play for a long time. Because I wasn’t being active, I started to calorie count and restrict what I ate. If I did binge on food, I would make myself throw up.”
When Lizzy was able to return to playing footbal l, her teammates reported their concerns about her eating disorder to their coach, who dropped her permanently from the team.
She said: “Football at the time had been my passion and focus. When I was kicked off the team, I got in with the wrong crowd and things went downhill.
“I had never drunk alcohol, I hadn’t even smoked, but I did a total flip and, instead of trying alcohol or even soft drugs, I went straight to cocaine.”
Over the next 10 years, Lizzy sought help to tackle not just her drug addiction but mental health problems.
With the support of her family, she moved permanently to the UK, living either with or close to her dad, before enrolling at Newcastle Col lege to become a chef.
She found a love of cooking and devising recipes. After several years of working in the catering industry, last year she set up her own company, The Sweet Beet, making a range of Texan- inspired sauces and jams to liven up everyday dinners or be used as a base in other recipes.
Her unusual combinations – including Maple Bacon Jam and Smoked Apple Butter – are now stocked by more than 60 farm and deli stores nationwide and by companies including online retailer Ocado.
Her products have become so successful that she was named North East Young Entrepreneur of the Year, they were used by BBC culinary expert Nigel Barden on Simon Mayo’s radio show Drivetime, which has six million listeners and they were featured on TV show Farmer’s Country Showdown.
As well as creating a successful food business, Lizzy is using her struggles with mental ill health to help other entrepreneurs cope with the mental pressures of starting up and running their own companies.
She has set up her ow n website , Weirdly Relatable, offering ring support to others and is in demand as a motivational onal speaker.
Lizzy, who is set to appear ppear on the next series of Dragon’s agon’s Den, has beat her addictions ctions and developed coping oping mechanisms for her anxiety. nxiety.
She said: “My storyy is not unique. So many of us struggle to find a passionassion in life, an ambition to move forward d or where they fit in the world.
“We have a tendency to look at t successful people and imagine they y just sprang out of bed one day, ready to o challenge the world and become a leader. .
“But everyone has a history and, on a day-to-day basis, we are all terrified of f messing up. Now I’m happy to tell people e how my business saved my life and show w why resilience is so important t
to entrepreneurs.”
Everyone has a history and we’re all terrified of messing up. I’m happy to tell people how my business saved my life