Almost a year on from when she joined the Dancing With the Stars cast, Suzanne Jackson "still gets goosebumps" talking about it.
"I'm so proud of myself for seeing through a project that tested me in more ways than one, and I haven't been tested like that in a long time. It was different types of universe testing me out and pushing my boundaries and challenging me, and I'm proud that I stuck it out."
Though the founder and entrepreneur behind SoSu Cosmetics didn't win in the final, she dazzling audiences with her commitment and passion, but no one more so than herself.
Speaking at the launch of Shark's latest haircare products in Arnotts yesterday, we caught up with the beauty mogul about her year out of the brand.
"One thing I've learned about myself is that I'm such a fighter and that I give everything 100% and that anything I do, I do it well and with all of my heart and my soul. And I think for a while I was starting to almost step into this imposter syndrome when I was in SoSu. Why am I doing this well? Why is SoSu doing well?"
"I love every single person on that show, from production to costume to makeup to the judges to the dancers, the celebrities. We even talk now in the WhatsApp group!"
Her stint on DWTS was an important personal step for Jackson who, just over a year ago, decided to step down as CEO of her brands and spend a year focusing on other projects. She recently announced her return to the company as Creative Director, and is vocal on the benefits of that year away.
"When you're in it with a small team, you end up doing the everyday running of a company. And sometimes that can drown out your creative flair. So, for me, stepping back really was a time to recharge, regroup, find out what it is I want with my brands going forward. And I took the year and I had a great time, and I said, you know what? I miss the creative side."
Jackson says that her goal for the company and her customers has changed too: "I now want to bring her on a journey of maybe the mood boards behind that, maybe some behind the scenes of us actually developing the product and then creating campaigns. That gives the user almost that feeling. I really do feel it's not selling the drill anymore. It's selling the hole in the wall."
Aside from beauty products, Jackson mentions "self love" as a guiding factor in the company and its products now, something that she has evidently spent a lot of time thinking about since stepping down as CEO.
"When you step out is when you start to not enjoy what you do. It was becoming something like monotonous. To me, it wasn't exciting anymore, and it was just product after product after product", she says. I felt like a robot, and I was down in the weeds, so it's hard to kind of lift your head up out and see the woods from the trees when you're in it every day."
She knew it was the right time to step back in once mood boards and visions about the brand and products started coming to her at night, she adds.
Her time on DWTS also brought back the "emotional Sue" that had been quiet for a long time, she says.
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"When you're in business, you tend to put emotions aside and you put your business hat on. And I think Dancing with the Stars brought that emotional Sue back to the surface and that little girl inside that's just as terrified as anybody else, stepping out on stage and making a show of herself.
"And that little girl came back where when I was in business and I was so successful and everything was always doing well, you kind of become accustomed to it. And that wasn't what I wanted. I wasn't enjoying that level of, I suppose, success. I needed to feel again."
Now firmly "back in the driving seat" Jackson is bringing the drive we got to see on DWTS to the fore.
"This is the thing about me, when I'm in something, I'm in it. I'm not even thinking outside. I don't lift my head up for air."
