‘The competition is the fiercest I’ve ever seen it in Ireland’ – SoSu founder Suzanne Jackson on cracking the beauty world

As the founder of SoSu Cosmetics and Dripping Gold, Suzanne Jackson has had to develop a thick skin over the years and learn how to “drown out the noise” in order to be a successful entrepreneur.

The beauty mogul launched her cosmetics brand in 2015 and it now has an offering of over 100 products.

In 2018, the company launched a second brand of tanning products, Dripping Gold.

Jackson stressed the importance of being “resilient and confident” in order go far and leave a mark.

“You’re going to get knocked down and probed and picked on a lot, and there’s going to be times you make mistakes in business I’ve done it over the years, and it can potentially nearly ruin you but in terms of learning, you have to stand back and go what have I learned from this,” she told Independent.ie.

“It’s just about dusting yourself off and making sure you don’t make the same mistake twice, be resilient and make sure you learn from your mistakes.

“Sometimes you have to take a little bit of feedback and sometimes you’ve got to listen to constructive criticism, only if it’s constructive, I listen to those things because we don’t know everything, we’re not perfect.

“It’s about being dedicated and passionate too and after that the good stuff happens.”

The Dublin native, who described herself as “very family orientated”, said she does not entertain negative comments online and only focuses on constructive criticism.

“I don’t get many (negative comments) anymore, but I don’t know these people, they don’t know me and at the end of the day I sleep at night and I’m a good person, but I suppose over the years I’ve learned just to not listen to them, just drown out the noise,” she said.

“Our product is still selling, I’ve a great team, good family and friends, I’ve food on my table, I’ve a roof over my head and that’s all that matters.

“I used to get it years ago a lot more than I do now but now, no because I’m proof in the pudding that I actually have made it in terms of a successful brand so you can’t take that away from someone. The customer for us is everything, they’re number one for us and at the forefront of all our decisions.”

Jackson said she is constantly trying to improve and does not stop to “pat myself on the back”. She said Sosu Cosmetics will always promote “affordable beauty”.

“I’m just not programmed that way. I always look forward, I definitely look at things from a constructive feedback type, it’s the way I am,” she said.

“But do I look back and say, ‘wow look at all I’ve done’, no, because I think if you start thinking like that you get a big head. It’s important to look at things and say how can I do this better next time.

“The competition is the fiercest I’ve ever seen it in Ireland, so it’s important that I keep trying to come up with new ideas with my team.

“It’s about trying to find your niche and our niche definitely is that young girl who loves her cosmetics and it’s affordable beauty and we will forever be that.

“This year it was about bringing really good value to the customer as always, let’s call a spade, a spade, it’s getting tough out there in terms of bills, so we want to make sure it was a good product for good value.”

Looking ahead to Christmas, Jackson has decided to host the festivities this year for her entire family.

“I’m having family to mine, 25 people, God help me, I’m probably going to regret this,” she laughed.

“Covid stopped us from that over the last couple of years, so I was like ‘come to mine’.”