Richard Reed was born in 1973 in
Kirkheaton,
West Yorkshire, and grew up in
Mirfield. after which he worked as an account manager in an advertising agency for four years. In 1998, with fellow Cambridge graduates Adam Balon and Jon Wright, he set up a smoothie and drinks company called
Innocent Drinks, initially operating from a market stall. Reed said in an interview with
The Financial Times: "After we left our jobs, we had no cash – just one month's salary each that we tried to eke out for two months. We each ran up debts of about £15,000 from overdrafts and credit cards.... It took us four years before we were back to earning £40,000 – the same salary that we had left." and co-founder of the Innocent Foundation and in 2012 of JamJar Investments. He is the author of
If I Could Tell You Just One Thing...Encounters with Remarkable People and Their Most Valuable Advice (
Canongate Books, 2016, ), At the
2016 Queen's Birthday Honours, Reed was appointed a
Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for services to the food industry and to charity. Reed resides in
West London. ==References==