Meet the Author
Be Kind, illustrated by Jakki Jones, HQ, £9.99
She is a novelist and editor of a star-studded glossy magazine, known to A-listers and royalty. He is a waiter. Their crashing encounter at a private members’ club in London’s swanky Portman Square is living proof of the ethos she treasures and promotes in her latest book.
Rosie Nixon, award-winning editor-in-chief of Hello! magazine, this week launches her first non-fiction book, Be Kind, to coincide with World Kindness Day on Saturday.
With pages packed with wisdom and words of advice from celebrities including Holly Willoughby, Russell Brand, Fearne Cotton and Chris Evans – it urges kindness to self, to others and to our planet.
Nixon, the woman behind a successful trio of novels – The Stylist, Amber Green Takes Manhattan and Just Between Friends – says the new “bedside” book serves as a prompt to how we should lead our everyday lives.
The mum of two, who feels as much at home strolling the beaches of Arran where her husband Callum has family, as she is wining and dining clients at the iconic Home House – reveals: “In any moment you are in complete control of your reaction.
“I was out on a work lunch in Home House, having some drinks with some clients.The waiter came over with a tray full of drinks and stumbled and spilt the entire lot over me; my hair, my shirt, and my handbag – which was open and had to be dried out.
“I could have screamed at this guy or I could be kind. So, I just laughed and said,‘gosh, don’t worry.’ That made such a difference to him, and I felt better as well. Being kind can bring a little bit of magic to your life.”
The book, she says, was “a
lockdown baby” and came in the wake of the magazine’s Hello To Kindness campaign: “I was seeing so many inspirational words and tales of wisdom, and quotes and tips pouring out on social media. I thought,‘wouldn’t it be nice to have all of these inspirational stories in one place and put it all together in a book?’
“Of course in order to be kind to others, you have to start off with yourself.”
Nixon admits it was a lesson she had to learn.“Two or three years ago, I was working really hard and had two really young children – Heath, now seven-and-a-half and Rex who has just turned six.
“I was run ragged and burned out and putting a lot of pressure on myself to do it all.The diary would get out of control and I would wake up anxious about how I would get through the rest of the
week and juggle it all. I had a conversation with a really close friend who taught me the power of how to say ‘no’ kindly.”
It was transformational, allowing her to focus on what was truly important in any given moment – like bathing her boys and putting them to bed. “I needed to let other people have a chance to blossom around me and just focus on the core things that were really going to make a difference to myself that week and to prioritise,” she says.“Learning to say no with kindness was one of the biggest lessons I had to learn.”
Callum, who works in the TV and film industry, supports her work with kindness, she says, adding:“We have to train ourselves to be kind.This book is a daily guide. Keep it by your bed. Act now, don’t just think about it, do it and be the kind person.”