a body scrub in her own home and sold it at Greenwich Market in London to help her mother pay the bills. Ma attended Croydon High School for Girls from 2002 to 2007. In the evenings, she took cosmetic formulation courses to extend her knowledge and Tropic’s product range. She initially made the products in her kitchen at home, and sold them on weekends at markets around London. Later, in 2007, she attended University College London and graduated in 2010 with a 2:1 Bachelor's degree in Philosophy and Economics, followed by an FX Sales and Trading internship at Citigroup. Philanthropy Tropic Skincare takes part in many charity initiatives, driven by Susie Ma’s personal philanthropic pursuits, and by the company’s “Infinite Purpose”: to help create a healthier, greener, more empowered world. Tropic regularly raises money for education and environmental causes at annual "Glambassador" events, including the Winnie Mabaso Foundation, and United World Schools. Ma has taken part in three Strive Challenges to date, alongside Sir Richard Branson. In these challenges, groups of entrepreneurs undertaking cycling and climbing challenges in different countries to raise money for Big Change, an education charity helping young people in the UK to "thrive in life". Tropic Skincare has funded 2,000,000 school days via their partnership with UWS and opened a school in the north of Cambodia in February 2020. Awards Susie Ma won 3 Stevie Awards for Women in Business in 2016, with a further 5 awards also won in 2017. In January 2018, she secured a place on 2018 Forbes 30 Under 30 list, in the Retail and E-commerce category for her work with Tropic Skincare, and acted as a judge for 2019's list of honourees. Later in 2018, Ma won an EY Entrepreneur Award for ‘Building a Better Working World’, and was selected as an Outstanding Entrepreneur at the Global Business Excellence Awards. She was also chosen for the Startups.co.uk Young Guns Class of 2018. Ma was ‘Highly Commended’ for the Natural Health Awards 'Holistic Hero' for two years running (2018-2019), and in 2019 was chosen as one of Management Today’s 35 Women Under 35. References 1988 births Businesspeople from Shanghai Businesspeople from London Alumni of University College London Living people People educated at Croydon High School