Rachel sat down for an interview during the week, where she talks about her past, present, and future!!

Singer and model Rachel Stevens – who is collaborating with children’s footwear label Step2wo, as part of its Mending Broken Hearts appeal, in support of the British Heart Foundation (BHF) – speaks to CWB about her ambitions past, present and future.

I always wanted to be…
My first aspiration was wanting to model. I loved the idea of the glamour and creativity coming together to capture a specific moment in time. In fact, it’s a part of my job I still love now and get very involved in, but at at 5ft 1″ catwalk modelling was never going to happen for me.Then music came along. I remember going to my first concert to see Kylie Minogue. I was in awe and I remember saying to my mum I wanted to do that one day. Fashion was something I always really enjoyed, too, from watching the catwalk shows on the fashion channel when I was young, to experimenting with new trends, fabrics and designs.

I knew I’d made it when…
I don’t ever remember thinking that, actually, because my ambitions and dreams constantly evolve, but I do remember being exceptionally proud when we opened on our first concert date for S Club 7 [the pop group Stevens was in] to thousands of screaming fans and having a sense that things were going really well for us all. I’ll always cherish that experience and memory; it was wonderful.

My mum is the person who influenced me most…
Among her other attributes I admire, she is an amazingly strong woman, with a big heart – something I really value. I’m very lucky to have a great role model to look up to.

I’m really interested in cars…
I grew up around lots of boys, so even though I was a girlie girl, they helped develop a feisty side in me. I loved driving on the race track against them and it was there I developed an appreciation for the way a car drives and the beauty of their design. In fact, I spent my first pay packet on a Mercedes SLK! I also love old buildings. I love the history of them and finding out who lived there as well as the workmanship that goes into them. I’d love to do a restoration project one day. I think there’s something quite special about bringing life back to an unloved property and rediscovering its true potential.

The last thing I want to do before I retire is…
I don’t think I’d want to retire. I always want to be fulfilling my passions and putting my energy into something creative.

My biggest faux pas in business is probably…
I’ve always been quite trusting outside of work, so I applied that same attitude in a business environment. I would take people at face value, sometimes to be disappointed. I learnt from that and I’m much more savvy these days. I listen to my gut and assess my experience before relying on what’s said.

My toughest moment in business was…
Probably when S Club 7 split up. To the outside world it was fun entertainment but for us it was our business, our careers and our little family in a way – it was all we knew at the time, so the change was big and I learnt a lot from it. It was a catalyst to me experiencing a lot of personal growth and learning about business.

I have lots of things I aspire to do…
I think as you get older there are always new goals and challenges you want to reach and achieve. I hope to reach my full potential in everything I do, personally and professionally. If I gave it all up tomorrow, I’d probably retrain in design of some sort – fashion, or interiors, which I’ve recently rediscovered a real passion for.