For 20 years, Rachel Branson has championed free access to health information. Here’s the story of her journey from accidental publisher to media innovator.
Some people enter publishing with a grand plan. Rachel Branson, founder of Haywood Media and publisher of Wellbeing Magazine, fell into it by accident. What began as a job to pay the bills after graduating with a fashion degree has since become a 20-year career spent quietly challenging the status quo, navigating setback after setback with a rare combination of grit and grace.
Her journey is not a straight line from A to B. It is a story of false starts, painful lessons, and an unshakeable belief that information should be shared, not guarded. As Wellbeing Magazine heads towards its 20th year, the woman at its helm is less a traditional publisher and more a testament to the power of resilience, curiosity, and the Japanese philosophy of constant, never-ending improvement.
From Fashion to Fax Machines
In the 1990s, after graduating from De Montfort University and moving from Birmingham to Tunbridge Wells, Rachel needed a job. She took a role in telesales at Benn Publishing, a world away from the fashion career she had trained for. Her days were spent selling classified advertising to international companies, back when fax machines were the height of technology. But something clicked.
“I just fell in love with the idea of talking to people who were the marketing managers and directors of companies, of huge international companies around the world,” she recalls. “And I got to talk to them about their marketing.”
The fashion world was forgotten. Rachel had discovered a passion for connection and communication. She soon launched her own publishing business, creating trade directories for the housewares and flooring industries, only to sell them when the fledgling internet threatened their relevance. A pivot was needed, this time into a field that would change the course of her life: health.
The Problem of the Gatekeepers
Drawn to the world of natural health, Rachel began retraining in naturopathic medicine. While she did not complete the course, a marketing role at the college ignited the idea that would become her life’s work. She noticed a significant gap in the media landscape.
“It was obvious that the national press wouldn’t publish anything that was slightly controversial,” she explains. “So anything that was complementary medicine or that the editors deemed as controversial wouldn’t be published, and I felt that it was really important for anybody that had a health condition to be able to access information freely.”
This wasn’t just a business opportunity; it was a conviction. Rachel believed that in matters of health, people deserved access to a full spectrum of ideas, not just a curated, sanitised version. This principle became the bedrock of Wellbeing Magazine.
“Some of the things I have published are not things that are of my opinion, but I didn’t feel that it was my duty to be a gatekeeper,” she says. “I believe that everybody is entitled freely to information, and that every person should take responsibility and do their own research and come to their own conclusions.”
And so, Wellbeing Magazine was born, starting as a local publication with an initial print run of 10,000 copies, all of which Rachel planned to deliver by hand.
Pounding the Pavement, Painfully
Just as she was about to set off with the first edition, disaster struck. “I had an accident where I managed to pull a very large pine door onto the back of my legs,” she says. “And was in severe pain.”
She spoke to a local osteopath she had met while creating the magazine, who advised her to keep moving. What followed was an act of pure determination. Rachel walked the streets of Tunbridge Wells, delivering every single copy.
“Delivering the 10,000 copies, although it was extremely painful, allowed me to heal my legs quite well,” she reflects. But the experience delivered more than just healing. It connected her to her community in a way she had never anticipated. “I would be dropping copies into doctors and dentists and clinics and therapy rooms, and into local businesses for their employees. So very quickly, I got to know my own community.” This direct contact soon enabled her to run local wellbeing events, bringing therapists and the public together.
The Lessons of Letting Go
As the magazine grew, Rachel decided to franchise the model across the UK. It seemed like a logical step, but the reality proved to be one of her toughest lessons. She discovered that running a business requires a specific skillset, one not everyone possesses.
“I was spending most of my time mentoring and trying to help the franchisees, which meant that I didn’t have enough time to build the business and do the things that I actually loved,” she says. The financial and emotional toll was heavy. In one instance, a franchisee spent his revenue before paying his print bill, leaving Rachel to act as guarantor. “He actually closed his magazine down still owing me money,” she says.
It was a hard-won lesson, reinforcing a piece of advice she had received years earlier when starting her first business: “Learn when to let go of something.” She ended the franchising model, a difficult decision that ultimately freed her to focus on the core business. Later, this wisdom would help her shutter other ventures, including a fruit powder company, when the circumstances were no longer right.
A Digital Renaissance
Overheads for print and paper have always been a challenge in publishing, and the magazine gradually moved online. Then came COVID-19, a period that brought Rachel’s mission into sharp focus. As the world grappled with a health crisis, the need for accessible information—and the problem of gatekeeping—became more acute than ever.
“It became really important for me to see my platform as this place that I could get information out there, for everybody to search and look at,” she says. “It was a platform that I believed would be able to help put information out there, so that it was freely available and not hidden.”
This period of renewed purpose coincided with new technological possibilities. Supported by her tech-savvy husband, with whom she has always built her own websites, Rachel began to create a suite of digital tools under Haywood Media, an umbrella for platforms designed to support the magazine’s ecosystem of contributors, partners and readers. These include the Spiral App and cards, a tool for daily reflection, and Storii, a new platform for partners to share their brand stories.
“Ideas that I’ve had in my mind have been so easy for me to put together and build and test,” she says, her enthusiasm for technology a refreshing counterpoint to the fear many feel. She’s even started experimenting with a 3D printer for another family business.
A Founder’s Philosophy for Wellbeing
So how does a founder who has weathered so many storms maintain her own wellbeing? For Rachel, it comes down to a few core practices. Travel, often undertaken to review retreats for the magazine, is a key component.
“You’re stepping outside your comfort zone the whole time,” she says. “And it gives me the time and the space to problem solve, and especially on some of the retreats where I’m by the ocean or in the mountains, having that time to walk in nature, sit in nature, definitely gives me the time to clear my mind.”
This time away is crucial, but it is her daily philosophy that truly sustains her. Rather than setting daunting annual goals, she follows the Japanese principle of Kaizen, or constant, small improvements.
“I do something new every single day, or learn something every day,” she explains. “It could be something really, really small. It could just be picking up a book and reading a chapter. But doing one thing every day that moves you forwards, and then at the end of the year, I look back at all the things that I’ve achieved.”
It is this mindset, combined with a fierce belief in the importance of finding your tribe and having the resilience to bounce back, that has carried her through two decades in a notoriously tough industry. Her advice to new founders is hard-earned and practical: look after your health, learn to take criticism, and know when it is time to let go.
Today, Wellbeing Magazine is back in print, alongside its thriving digital platforms. For Rachel Branson, the journey has come full circle, but she is not the same person who started out. The accidental publisher has become a seasoned innovator, a quiet leader, and a dedicated student of life, proving that the most enduring success stories are often built not on grand plans, but on daily acts of learning, adapting, and simply showing up.
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Our Editorial Team are writers and experts in their field. Their views and opinions may not always be the views of Wellbeing Magazine. If you are under the direction of medical supervision please speak to your doctor or therapist before following the advice and recommendations in these articles.
