“Firstly, I don’t think something should be thrown away if it’s edible,” she says.“Secondly, when you throw something away, you’re not just throwing the fruit away, but all of the resources that went into growing it. It’s called virtual water – the water you don’t see. So, for example, in a glass of cordial you have the cordial and the water, but also the water that helped to grow the fruit and the sugar.”

Natasha is armed with knowledge about such matters, and rightly so considering she went back to university to study Water Science from King’s College in London.

After graduating from the University of Birmingham where she read Archeology & Ancient History, Natasha worked in the city at Deloitte. It was during this time when she started to feel increasingly dissatisfied with her mundane routine that she began to spend more time at her allotment where she grew her own vegetables; here she would forage for ingredients around her allotment and around green spaces in London, taking them back to her mum’s kitchen and turning the fruit into cordial.

“It was just a hobby initially, and I would sell them at a farmer’s market at the weekend. It was not until I got a listing in a 2 star Michelin restaurant that I decided to leave my job at the accountancy firm and work on Urban Cordial full time.”

Just like her business, Natasha lives her life with “sustainable values”, and she ensures that these values are reflected in her business: “It is important to me” she says. Her family has been incredibly supportive and she recognises that she has an “amazing mentor, amazing family and an amazing husband” who are constantly giving her ideas to develop her business in accordance with her sustainable values.

She feels that schools should encourage students to learn more about the practical elements of business: “I didn’t really learn about the logistics of business at school; I feel that schools should cover elements on how to run your own business and this should include, for example, how to file a tax return or how to analyse profit and loss”

Natasha has fond memories of her time at St Margaret’s, “I don’t have any bad memories! Everyone was so friendly and kind. I’m still good friends with 8 people that I was at school with; I have some friends who aren’t in touch with anyone they went to school with, so I think that’s a testament to the kind of community the School built around people.”

She feels that attending St Margaret’s had quite an impact on her overall attitude towards life: “If there was ever a problem, you could talk to somebody at the School and I think those values of positivity were instilled in me and I was shown not to focus on the negative. This element has had a positive impact on me in terms of communication with others.” And she adds, with a huge smile: “ If I have kids, and if I have the money, I have no doubt that I would want to send them to St Margaret’s or a school similar to it, with the same community feel.”