Before he discovered OKO Harry had already graduated from the Royal Ballet School, been accepted into the Birmingham Royal Ballet Company, and even performed at venues around the world that included Buckingham Palace and the Royal Opera House.
But at the age of 20, he started to wonder if ballet was truly what he wanted to dedicate his life to. Unsure, he decided to explore other avenues, which led him into hospitality. Then Covid struck and the hospitality industry was forced to close shop, and Harry found himself looking around once again.
It was during that first lockdown that Harry worked with his mum to make 3000 face-masks, and successfully raised £3500 for Hospice in the Weald, which held a special place in his heart as they had cared for his grandmother.
This experience ignited in Harry a desire to become a Saville Row Tailor, but he couldn’t see how could start his journey towards becoming a tailor in the middle of a second lockdown.
That’s when Harry discovered OKO, and met Dave, his mentor. “On the surface Dave and I seem completely different but within the first five minutes of meeting each other it was clear to see how many similarities we actually shared.”
Together with Dave they decided to go big, and used the time to explore and prove his ability to innovate and create. “Being paired through the algorithm helped Dave and I see straight away where our personalities complimented each other. That helped us understand one another, and I felt a sense of confidence and trust in Dave early on because of this.”
And that’s how Happy Scrubs was born.
Happy Scrubs makes scrubs for healthcare workers – scrubs that bring a smile and joy to those wearing and seeing them. Harry and his team got stuck in and made scrubs for Demelza House Children's Hospice, and delivered their first order of 97 scrubs.
At the start of Harry’s OKO journey he was unemployed - now he now owns a company and loves the fact that his company brings joy to the world.