Gemma Burke: “I'm a born and bred grafter: I don't see anything else.”

Gemma Burke has been here, there, and everywhere. She’s the kind of woman who can do anything she sets her mind to—a trait she's inherited from her mother. Gemma’s been in a girl band, a gospel choir and was a competitor on the first season of X-Factor for Under 14s. She’s been in beauty, real estate and now runs her own award-winning spa in Northamptonshire.

Her latest venture? She’s the right hand of charitable billionaire Manoj Bhargava, founder of Five-Hour Energy. She’s helping his new hydration tool break into the sports and spa market. Bhargava poached Gemma after a four-day board meeting in America. Like I said: she’s been here, there and everywhere.

The TrueSport company is more than just the hot new hydration tool; it’s a for-profit company funnelling 99% of its earnings into charity. Bhargava is on a mission to feed a million children a day, and Gemma is helping him do it. It’s pure water with an even purer purpose.

We sat down with the businesswoman to talk changing careers, life regrets, motherhood, and what it actually means to be hydrated.

Square Mile: Who is your business inspiration?

Gemma Burke: My mum. She is the hardest-working person I’ve ever met in business. She is so frugal. I aspire to be like her every day. I have two siblings, a brother and a sister. She started her own business when we were all three under three. Before that, she was a network marketer working for a company called Tupperware when my brother came along, and he was a really bad sleeper. Someone introduced her to lavender oil, and she was like, ‘There is no way this oil is going to stop my baby from crying.’ And the first night, she put the lavender oil on his feet, he slept through the night. They thought it was a fluke, and then it happened the second night, and then the third. My mum became obsessed. She spent night and day researching it, she went to the library, as you used to do. Then it became her business idea. Back then they were putting whiskey in bottles to get kids to sleep, not lavender oil. It wasn’t a cool thing to do.

My parents spent a long time discovering oils and going to lavender fields. They built this brand called Lakisma. They launched it, and within a couple of years, they were in 18 countries. She built a multi-million-pound business before she was 30. We see so many incredible entrepreneurial women today, but back then, people were like 'you should be at home with your children, not building a business'. Thank god she had such a supportive husband. They supported each other through it.

SM: When did you realise that your family was different growing up?

GB: I knew very early. I grew up singing and dancing and acting and my dad used to be the only dad there waiting to pick me up. Everyone else had their mum. It was quite obvious that our setup wasn’t the norm. As I get older, I’m so proud of what my parents have done for us. The business was a huge part of our upbringing. Naturally, you feel pushed out for certain things. But as I’m older I understand. It’s so hard to navigate this life. Especially with a successful business and three screaming kids.

SM: And…you are pregnant, are you not?

GB: I am! I’m pregnant with my first baby. I’ve got two gorgeous step kids as well. I am 23 weeks today.

SM: How are you feeling?

GB: Have you had children?

SM: Not yet.

GB: Strap in. The first trimester was wild. I thought I was going to be one of these working mums and I was on the sofa at 3 pm in the afternoon unable to keep my eyes open. It was wild. I was nauseous the entire time. I feel so lucky that I run my own business. I don’t know how people do a 9 to 5 in front of a computer feeling that way. I work seven days a week but at my chosen time with my laptop in my bed if needed. Exercise came to a pause which was hard for my mind. That played up with my emotions a lot. People don’t talk about the first trimester. People talk about later on. There were so many things that I was like, ‘Is this normal?’ and I wouldn’t know until I’d on TikTok and see other women experiencing it.

SM:We’ll come back to motherhood but I want to talk about your upbringing first: when did you discover you could first sing?

GB: I was always the performer. From as young as I can remember. I started dancing at the age of three. My sister and I went to a predominantly musical theatre school in the evenings. My sister had two left feet; she was like an elephant with tap shoes. It was hilarious. But I picked it immediately and knew that it was where I was going to be. I went to boarding school when I was 11 at Arts Ed Tring.

I put performing arts to bed when I was 20. I took a different path in life. I wanted to be a bit of a nut job. I went and did three seasons in Ayia Napa and did that hot girl summer but for three summers. I wasn’t taking it seriously enough. To make it you have to eat, sleep and breathe it. The industry is so hard. I fell out of love for it. I didn’t want to wake up and do casting. It wasn’t for me anymore.

SM: So it was the industry that pushed you away, not the performing?

GB: I’ll always love singing. Singing is my passion. I still do it. I was in a gospel choir in London for a while called RevSingers. I loved singing in a group, if I was ever going to step back into that space, it would in a choir. I was on the first ever year of X-Factor when they did under 16’s. It was 2009, I think. I was 13 or 14 when I auditioned. I felt like a mature youngster. My parents had a business, and they let us do our thing. We were independent. We grew up really quickly.

SM: Did you end up staying in ArtsEd?

GB: I did it for a year and a half, and then I left.

SM: Why did you leave?

GB: In all honesty, I was a naughty child. I was a complete attention seeker. I was always the class clown. I was always getting kicked out of classes. I don’t want to play it down, but having dyslexia played a huge part in that. I wasn’t able to do the same things as everyone else. My mind didn’t work the same way. I just didn’t sit still. I’d go to school, and then go to dance and stay there until nine at night, five days a week. I was like a Duracell bunny. I still do it now, but my words are jumbled quite a lot. I’m a terrible speller. I take it in my stride now. I would get distracted so easily, and I get bored very easily. It was my decision to audition for ArtsEd. There were 2000 people that apply and only 30 people get through. I had to take it went I got it.

It wasn’t until I got older and established myself and realised I could put this to good use. My creativity and artistic instinct comes back to my dyslexia. A lot of artists and entrepreneurs have dyslexia. Their mind works different fro other people and it works in their favour.

SM: There’s this break of three hot girl summers in a row - when does that happen - during university?

GB: I never got into university. I didn’t even try. I hated school. I hated every second of it. The only reason I went to school was because my dad said, ‘You’re not doing after-school activities if you’re not going to school.’ If my dad had more lenient, I would never have gone. I wouldn’t have got into sixth form. My grades were not good enough.

SM: At what age did you pause on school?

GB: I finished school at 15. I moved to London, and I went to a musical theatre college. I did that for two years and then went into the big wide world. I got into a girl band, and we toured around the UK.

SM: What! A girl band? How did that come about?

GB: So, I was on a couple of talent agency websites. Peter Andre, who was really big at the time, was forming a girl group with his tour manager. I was invited for an audition and got the spot. We did okay. We did as much as we could, but the funding stopped at one point, and we all got split up. I went for normal auditions and fell out of love with it.

One of my best friends is in musical theatre in the West End, and she’s getting one of her first leads at 32. She’s given up so much of her youth, she sacrificed so much, and she wouldn’t change it for the world, but I would. That’s when I knew I couldn’t keep going.

SM: At this point in your life, where did you think you were going to end up?

GB: I honestly didn’t have a clue. I started doing sales and loved it. I was really good at sales. I just took to it. I could talk the back legs off a donkey.

SM: What was the first thing you ever sold?

I sold meetings. I’d call companies and say, ‘Hey, have you heard about this product? blah blah blah’ and then I’d get a commission for every meeting I booked. Then I did travel insurance. Then I did real estate. That was when my career really started.

SM: How does real estate become business owner - fill in the blanks for me.

GB: I did real estate for six and a half years. I love properties. I’m really into fashion and design. I’ve been here, there, and anywhere. I wanted to make money, and that’s when I found real estate. I met my boss, and we hit it off right away. I loved being on the road all day. I’ve now refurbed three or four of my own properties and sold them on. I’ve got a real eye for it. I could go into a property that was an absolute dive, and I could envision how the house could be if it had an uplift. I was the youngest employer at my agency and the top sales woman to the point that when I opened my spa I was offered a branch manager role. But that wasn’t me.

SM: So why a spa? Did you want to be in the world of wellness?

GB: I’m a born and bred grafter—I don’t see anything else. I was doing network marketing for essential oils, and part of the company's experience was aroma touch. It’s almost like a massage, but it’s about using essential oils as a natural medicine to heal you. I was doing this out of my spare bedroom, and then my parents offered their house because it had a jacuzzi. Before I knew it, I’d opened this private spa, and we were fully booked within weeks.

SM: Let’s talk about essential oils for ailments. Can you give me some examples of their uses?

GB: There are hundreds of oils. In layman’s terms, they are natural medicines. So you name me any ailment or medical issue that you might have, and nine times out of ten, there will be an oil to aid. If you had your arm cut off, essential oil isn’t going to put it back on. But if you have an ailment that you would usually go to your medicine cupboard for, try a natural medicine first.

One thing that really resonated with me is a bug, a virus. Medication can’t do anything for a virus. And that’s because a virus is basically oil. When you put water, which is mainly what our medication is made up from, with oil, they don’t mix. Water cannot penetrate through oil. So the medication cannot penetrate and get to the bug. Whereas oil and oil work together. So you put something like On Guard, which is an essential oil blend of wintergreen or tea tree oil, into your body; it can penetrate through and kill the virus. That’s just one example.

Frankincense has the most backed-up research, more than penicillin, as a medicine for cancer. It shrinks cancer cells. There is not enough research done on putting essential oils into the system. They are truly amazing.

SM: Since starting the business, have you made any essential oil discoveries?

GB: I used to get horrible night fears. It got to a point where I was having them five nights a week. I wasn’t sleeping, and then I’d re-live them during the day. It was like I had PTSD but from dreams. I went to the doctor, and they tried to put me on antidepressants, and I was like, ‘I’m not depressed. I’m just not sleeping. I need something to help me sleep.’ That’s when I called my mom, and she was like, ‘Go back to the lavender.’ I went back to it and it really helped me. That was why I started that business. And that’s what I’ll use with my baby. 

SM: How is your sleep now?

GB: It’s much better. I think I was just in a really bad place at the time. I wasn’t looking after myself. I was stressed. I wasn’t happy with work. I was working stupid hours. I was in a bad place in life. I always know when I’m not happy because I have bad dreams. Then I know what I have to do.

SM: Was that the thing that pushed you to leave the estate agency and do this full time?

GB: I was overworked and underpaid. You know, albeit I managed to buy my first house at 24. By the time I was 27, I had moved into my second home. It opened so many doors, literally. But I knew it wasn’t my final destination. I knew I was more than working for someone forever. It wasn’t where I needed to be. I finally left the agency when I was 27. The spa became my full-time job.

SM: So how in the world does True Sport come into this?

GB: So I gained a lot of knowledge about spas, salons, beauty and wellness through all of this. I was invited to go over to America to meet Manoj Bhargava, the owner of Five-hour Energy, who’s an unbelievably successful businessman. They’d started True Sport and wanted insight into how to bring it to market. They had a sport range, a beauty range, and a lifestyle range. I was initially brought in to give insight on the beauty range. It was a board meeting in Detroit for four days. I spoke about what I’d do and how I see the product in the spa space, and Manoj actually changed the entire way they were selling because of what I said. At the end of the four days, he got me in a room and offered me a job. I had no idea how I was going to do it. I had just won Spa of the Year in the Northamptonshire area. I was booming. I was like, ‘How am I going to take this on?’ My mum said, ‘If you want to, you can find a way.’ So, I hired more people to help me at the spa, and I joined the TrueSport team.

SM: Give me a rundown of your day-to-day role as Managing Director for True Sport**

GB: Today, I’ve been on calls with four of my team members. We’ve got a meeting with our leaders tonight. I help my marketing team a lot with the design. We talk about the vision for the website. We are still in pre-launch, really. It’s hard to pinpoint what I do. Manoj doesn’t do roles. He doesn’t interview for roles; he doesn’t believe in that. If someone approaches him and it’s the right fit, then he goes for it. Which I absolutely love. It’s teamwork. It’s all about teamwork.

I spoke about this idea recently but I don’t believe in a self-made millionaire. It’s such crap. No one made it to a million without the help of someone else. Whatever it might be, you didn’t do that on your own. That’s what Manoj is like. He is wealthy and brilliant, but he knows he did not do it on his own.

SM: He sounds like a dream boss.

GB: He’s amazing. He gives 99.9% of profits back to charity which is a huge reason why I jumped on board.

SM: How is that possible…?

GB: Manoj runs multiple companies. He’s a billionaire. His charity is called Billions in Change. He builds towns. He builds hospitals. He found our water through creating a system that purified water into these villages in India. The most hydrating water you can find on the planet, pharmaceutical grade water. Then he added electrolytes and everything else and went to market with it to do a 360 and put the money he made back into charities. No other business does this - 99% is unheard of.

SM: From an outsider perspective: there is so much contradictory information about how the body hydrates. Why is TrueSport the best?

GB: There is nothing on the market that does what our product does. That’s because our osmolality is perfect. Now if anyone else had that, they would have it on the bottles or cans. No one does. Our water is intracellular. It is so pure that it penetrates into your cells and hydrates them. Other water and hydration tools just go around your body and then into the toilet. TrueSport doesn’t just hydrate you; it also takes the electrolytes, magnesium and potassium into your cells.

SM: Why do so many competing products put sodium into their products?

GB: We do not need added sodium. People put it in mainly because electrolytes do not dissolve very well. Sodium helps them dissolve. Some people will need extra salt if they are exercising a lot, but that is few and far between. How many people do we know who do triathlons? That’s not your average Joe. But me and you? We don’t need the extra sodium.

SM: Did you know anything about this before you had the job?

GB: I knew nothing about hydration. I am quite into health. I’ve run a marathon, and I go to the gym every day. I don’t have a six pack, but I live a healthy lifestyle. I was drinking three to four litres a day of water. I was drinking a lot of water. But I knew nothing about hydration.

SM: What differences have you noticed since switching your water to TrueSport?

GB: I no longer drink four litres of water a day. I drink one litre max, and I’m as hydrated if not more so. I need way less water. The pain around my periods also completely went away. I was gobsmacked. It completely changed the way my body was operating. Overall, I am less tired. I always know I’m getting optimal hydration.

SM: Okay, last question: what life lesson do you most look forward to teaching your child?

GB: Not giving up too soon. So many times in my life, I gave up too soon. As I get older, I become more persistent. Even with my singing and dancing, I know in my heart I should have kept going. Persistency is the lesson I will teach my children. I went to eleven schools in twelve years. From day one, I was always on to the next thing. I didn’t live in the moment and better myself in the moment. That is what I look forward to teaching my children.

Learn more about TrueSport and Billions in Change.