TV Presenter, Author and Entrepreneur
Alison Cork is a British entrepreneur, writer and broadcaster.
After graduating from Newnham College, Cambridge, with a degree in Classics, Alison started publishing restaurant guides in university towns throughout the UK. She then co-founded Carnell Ltd, a mail order publishing company, which was floated on the London Stock Exchange in 1994, making her one of the youngest ever board directors of a publicly quoted company. Whilst running Carnell plc, Alison wrote her first book, Profit Through The Post (Piatkus), about how to set up and run a mail order business, which was voted Book of the Month by Mensa.
She followed this with The Streetwise Guide to Renovating Your Home (Piatkus), at which point she left Carnell plc to pursue a career in writing and broadcasting. In 1996 she presented her first TV series, The Christmas Show, for Carlton Westcountry Television. 1997 she wrote and presented her first network TV series, Home In The Country (ITV), a lifestyle series that spanned cookery, creative inspiration and interiors. This was followed by several other series, including Countdown To Christmas (Five), Domestic Magic (Five), Don’t Move, Improve (ITV), 60 Minute Makeover (ITV) and Help I Hate My House (ITV).
Alison published several more books, including Home In The Country, Special Occasions, and Beautiful Baking. She also started writing weekly shopping columns for The Evening Standard (2000-2020) and the Daily Telegraph (2005-present). In 2011 Alison launched her first furniture range with Made.com. The Alison At Home brand can be found at www.alisonathome.com and also on QVC UK, HSN USA and soon to be launched on TVSN in Australia (late 2023).
Parallel to her own business, Alison invests in and mentors several other businesses, and founded not for profit organisations Make it Your Business (2017) and National Women’s Enterprise Week (2023) to support and encourage women to start their own business. She is also an Ambassador for the British Library Business & IP Centre https://www.bl.uk/people/experts/alison-cork-mbe, and sits on the Advisory Councils of the British Library, The Jobs Foundation https://thejobsfoundation.com/about/ and The Entrepreneurs Network https://www.tenentrepreneurs.org/alison-cork.
In 2023 Alison was awarded an MBE for services to female entrepreneurship.
Her interests include history, heritage, nature, architecture, fitness and artificial intelligence.
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