Pippa O’Connor Ormond Expands Flavored Vodka Business Empire: ‘The way I see it, I’m not tied to one thing’
She has handled everything from fashion and real estate to TV production and book writing. And now lifestyle entrepreneur Pippa O’Connor Ormond has expanded her empire with a move into the lucrative alcohol market.
“Connor Ormond has been announced as lead investor and creative director of Istil38 Irish Vodka. The rising brand’s team also includes beverage industry veterans Shane Davey, Niall O’Dwyer and John Reynolds.
The Irish drinks brand produces three flavors of vodka from a copper still in Meath and also donates 5 cents of the profits from each bottle to help plant sustainable forests in the country where Istil38 is sold.
“Over the past five years, I’ve had a variety of opportunities related to alcohol, and none of them have been for me,” says O’Connor Ormond. “I met with him [Istil38] guys not long ago and i was really impressed with them. I was amazed at how advanced the brand felt even when it was brand new. I left the meeting thinking, ‘I love this and I want to be there’.”
The new venture comes after a record year for O’Connor Ormond and her husband and business partner, former broadcaster Brian Ormond.
Not only did the couple welcome their third son, Billy – a sibling to Ollie and Louis – last September, their company POCO increased sales by 6 percent to a record €2.7 million in 2021.
The couple have also formed a holding company, BOPOC Holdings Ltd; a real estate investment firm, Bopoc Investments Ltd; a TV production company, Bopoc Productions Ltd; a company that promotes events in Ireland, Ronnoco Style Ltd, a company that promotes events in the UK, Ronnoco Style NI Ireland and Ronnoco Collection Ltd.
Pippa O’Connor Ormond has been announced as lead investor and creative director of Istil38 Irish Vodka
“The way I see it, I’m not tied to one thing,” says O’Connor Ormond. “I don’t have to sit at my desk every day and concentrate on one thing. There are also so many different teams for all these different businesses. I feel like I’m fair [watching] about them at this stage.
While O’Connor Ormond sees her husband as the driving force behind her empire, she’s known to have built a close-knit staff around her. Among those she works with is her sister, Susannah.
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“From the beginning, I just tried to be good to everyone and to be as fair as possible to everyone,” she says. “And it’s worked so far. I like to think everyone on the team is happy to be there.”
O’Connor Ormond comes from an impressive stock; Her grandfather was, alongside her brother Cian, who was a show jumper, Karl Mullen, a gynecologist at Mount Carmel and a former Irish rugby captain. Having spent part of her childhood in Florida, O’Connormond moved to Ireland after her parents separated and lived in her grandfather Tulfarris’ palatial home in Blessington, Wicklow, now a golf course and hotel.
O’Connor Ormond landed on the radar when her jumping brother Cian competed in the 2004 Olympics. Cian’s former girlfriend, model Rachel Wyse, persuaded Pippa to sign with model agency Assets.
Little did she know at the time, but O’Connor Ormond’s years of work as an Irish model would prove to be a driving force behind her future businesses.
“I’m very, ‘okay, what’s next? What can we do now?’ And I hate the idea of being pigeonholed,” she says. “I’ve been pigeonholed for so many years and people were like, oh, you just have a pretty face. You’re just a model and maybe that stuck with me.
“I didn’t really know what I wanted to do, and yes, but I knew I didn’t really have something that I had my heart set on. [Modelling] was just something I fell into. There has always been something in me that I wanted to be my own boss. I wanted to stand on my own two feet and buy my own house. I’ve always been very hungry to be successful and to do my own thing. And I come from a family of successful people. I used to look at her and think, ‘I want to do this. I want to be proud of myself’.”
https://www.independent.ie/style/celebrity/pippa-oconnor-ormond-expands-business-empire-with-flavoured-vodka-the-way-i-look-at-it-im-not-tied-to-one-thing-41588962.html Pippa O’Connor Ormond Expands Flavored Vodka Business Empire: ‘The way I see it, I’m not tied to one thing’
