From her initial days training in the musical theater while starting out as a real estate agent to diving into her current role as the Director of 'True Sports Hydration', Gemma Burke's journey represents the dynamic nature of ambition and adaptability.

Burke also initiated her entrepreneur journey by delving into the beauty industry; offering a plethora of makeup services for weddings before making the significant decision of transforming her parents' pool area into a thriving spa. And that's how the luxurious 'York Cottage Spa' came into existence. 

As she pursued to building her own thriving business, Burke was headhunted to manage the European arm of 'True Sports Hydration' and 'Natural Glow'.

Under her impeccable leadership, True Sports and Natural Glow became intertwined entities, embodying a holistic approach to health, fitness, and beauty.

But, that's not all it, folks. At just 31 years of age, Burke has also branched out to the landscape of fitness by personally involving herself in several marathon runs, daily gym routines affiliating with the ethos of her brand as she garners the ambition to revolutionize how people perceive hydration; further encouraging her desires to affiliate her brand with top-notch sports personalities within the field; poising to leave a fantastic legacy for the establishment. 

As she navigates the complexities of the hydration market and her own Spa, Gemma Burke sits down with ReVamp Magazine to discuss how she's balancing all of these significant elements into her life, insights into her experience working with 'True Sports', the top things on her bucket list pertaining to her professional journey, and much more!

Hi there Gemma. Thank you for joining us on ReVamp! How has this year been like for you so far?

In work and out of work its been the biggest one yet, we have entered our pre launch stages of x2 of our hydration brands True Sports and Natural Glow been nominated for an award and hit some fantastic milestones.

Talk to me more about the exact moment you decided to pursue Hydration as a significant element into your professional journey? 

When the founder flew me out to the US and I sat in a board meeting for 4 days where I would learn not just about his exciting new business launch of the hydration but he spoke about how he gives 99% of profits to charity and how he feeds 1 million children a day…. I was in.

I know you initially started out as a real estate agent and a makeup artist before establishing your own mark in the hydration industry. Do you think you garnered any valuable lessons from those specific landscapes which further helped you do things in your current profession?

Absolutely. I think every experience you have in life sets you up for your next adventure, I would say growing up training in musical theatre was the baseline to everything I’ve achieved, it gave me confidence, made me extremely resilient and most important held me accountable and independent, albeit would never have thought I'd end up in hydration. 

You initially paved your way within entrepreneurship by managing two different brands- True Sports Hydration and Natural Glow. 

When did you decide it was time to amalgamate these two branches and work on it together rather than one sole entity; giving your time to both of the brands?

Well the decision was taken out of my hands as such our founder really has the final say so when he approached the idea of taking both brands (another to be launched down an Affiliate Growth Buisness route which I can only explain a modern style MLM without all of the ranks and out of date Buisness structure I was actually extremely excited, now others can promote and make money too whilst staying hydrated and healthy. 

Besides True Sports, you are also the owner of the wonderful 'York Cottage Spa'; transforming your parents' pool area into a luxurious accommodation! How did this idea initially struck your mind and how has the reception been like on this specific endeavour so far?

I started with beauty treatments as a side job to my estate agent role, Ive always grafted and enjoyed making money so I started doing  my treatments in my parents old pool area and it hit me that people could enjoy the treatments along with some ‘me time’ lounging around using the pool etc, I started advertising for private spa sessions with treatments and afternoon tea and within weeks I was fully booked, we are now an award winning spa and guesthouse our weekend stays are fully booked months in advance and we run around 50 spa sessions a month, I honestly find the spa so far my biggest accomplishment.

What has been your experience like managing these distinct establishments of spa and drinks together? Did you face any challenges while trying to work with these elements all at the same time and if so, how did you overcome them? 

I would be lying if at times I didn’t say it was challenging… but I love a challenge, I now have an amazing team around me that when I first took on the hydration roll I didn’t have, I think what has always worked is I treat working at True Sports and Natural Glow the same as running my own business so when it comes to making decisions especially financial ones, I treat it as if its my own money/business . 

You are also a very active participant of fitness; involving yourself in several marathons and daily gym routines. How do you think hydration plays a significant role within the landscape of fitness?

It’s so important and it should be your baseline to every day life and even more importantly when doing any form of exercise, I wish I had this drink when running marathons, for endurance, injury and most importantly for me is recovery, when your in training and you do a speed run lets say on the Monday and a long run 2 days later, if your recovery from Monday is bad inevitably your long run will be hard and possibly slow, adequate hydration can help with all of these ailments.

What are the top three things on your bucket list that you'd really like to achieve pertaining to your brands as well as your overall professional journey?

To have a presence with True Sports and our other brands in every European country, to be in the hands of the youth all the way up to the elderly and for everyone to understand the importance of intracellular and good hydration, Id also love to have the opportunity to travel around Europe with business more.

If given an opportunity, is there anyone specific on your radar that you would absolutely love to collaborate with or even partner with in terms of True Sports?  

Being a female I’d love to see the product in the hands of female sports teams like the lionesses, or female boxers, we have had some amazing feedback from some of the up and coming lionesses and boxers in fact which is one step towards the goal.

What's next for you, Gemma? What can your fans expect from True Sports Hydration as well as your professional journey in the forthcoming years? 

So I’m currently growing my first child so I have set some big goals for the next 3-4 months one being find the perfect sports person to sponsor, another to get our social media presence up. I truly believe what we are currently building is going to take over the hydration industry, there is no product out there that can work intracellular, this means its ingredient like the water and electrolytes can work right into your cells and give you maximum hydration, this stands us out from the rest in itself and people are cottoning on… just watch this space. 

Lastly, I would love to know if there's any message that you'd like to convey to your supporters?

To thank everyone for the support we have already been shown and promise that all of our efforts will go into making sure we always provide the best hydration and support our charity’s whilst doing so.