The one lesson I’ve learned from life

Kelly Hoppen

ONE of the UK’s most successful interior designers, Kelly Hoppen, 59, has one grown-up daughter and, while married to Ed Miller for 14 years, was stepmother to actress Sienna Miller and designer Savannah Miller. She lives in London.

YOUR WEAKNESS CAN BE A STRENGTH

I had a miserable time at school in West London. I loathed it. I was horribly bullied and I couldn’t spell or read properly, which only added to the profound feelings of isolation.

I was obviously dyslexic, but it wasn’t diagnosed until I was a mother myself and recognised the same struggle with words in my daughter.

Now I look back and I’m grateful. It’s important to understand dyslexia is not a disability — quite the opposite. It is simply a different way of thinking.

I realise that, in many ways, dyslexia has shaped who I am and what I’ve done with my life. I have a highly developed visual imagination and heightened intuition — thought by many to go hand-in-hand with dyslexia. Both these skills have served me very well in life.

I can sit at the opera, for example, and design an entire house in my head. When I’m filming for television, I can’t memorise a script from the page, but I can imagine it as a series of images and learn it that way.

I feel glad I’ve got a gut instinct I can trust. I’ve run my business on instinct and intuition for 41 years. Women are better at it than men, and we should never underestimate its power.

Most of us have an instinctive reaction when we first meet someone, but then let logic take over and disregard that gut feeling. I say we should listen to it.

I can look at a million CVs, but it’s only when I meet a person that I know whether or not they’re right for my business. I even felt rumblings of the financial crash long before it happened — and was able to prepare by battening down the hatches and scaling back.

Whenever I’ve ignored my instincts, I’ve made mistakes.

To me, it can be hard to make sense of the world of words, but these intuitive and visual abilities I have are a constant, effortless joy.

I wish I could tell my schoolgirl self that one day I would be proud to be the odd one out — and that what seems to be your worst weakness can actually be your greatest strength.