She may be known as Stacey Solomon’s sister, but Jemma Solomon is successful in her own right. The 36-year-old organisational expert – who’s also known as the “Label Lady”, thanks to her custom-made stickers and tags – has already made a number of appearances on This Morning to share her crafting and tidying tips.
Jemma smiles, “I was over the moon that This Morning even wanted me to come in. I had to have a Zoom meeting to say, ‘Are you sure you want me on the show?’ I will take every opportunity that I’m given. What’s the worst that can happen?”
With her 34-year-old sibling a huge star, Jemma – who’s 18 months older than Stacey – doesn’t deny that she is stepping on her sister’s toes. In fact, she’s up for a good dose of sibling rivalry.
“I think sibling rivalry is healthy, it’s fun!” she says, laughing. “I think it’s great to have sibling rivalry. I think it bonds a relationship and gives things to bat off each other.” And she jokes, “I’m telling everyone that I’m the tidier one, and I’m sure she’s doing the same. I’m going to run with it!”
The relationship between them strengthened after their parents divorced in around 1998. “We didn’t have many holidays as children. Our parents split when we were young, but I remember the biggest thing is that we had the best time, whether it was abroad or a caravan holiday. We had an A-Team van when we were little and we used to go on holidays in that and all jump out,” Jemma recalls.
As an organisation queen and a lover of holidays, Jemma’s thrilled to be working with Google on their new app, Gemini, which helps holidaymakers plan a packing list. She says, “Nearly a third of travellers take a whole day off to pack. Holiday is so precious and to spend a whole day packing because of stress and anxiety is just crazy! They could have had an extra day in the sun.”
She explains, “Gemini works by giving prompts like where you’re going and what activities you’re doing, and the app will come up with a whole list of what you need to pack. It lists everything out for you. I’m always the packer but my husband is going fishing and I said, ‘You need to use the app!’ so he won’t call me!”
Fans of the Solomon sisters may have also spied another sibling – Samantha Stone, a personal trainer – on their social media. Stacey once explained to her followers, “[Samantha] is actually my step-sister, but I never call her that. We grew up together. Altogether there’s seven of us – one step-sister, two step-brothers, my brother and sister [Jemma], and then I have a half-brother.”
While Stacey rebelled during her teenage school years, bunking lessons before becoming a mum to Zachary, now 16, and pursuing her love of music on The X Factor, Jemma followed in their mum Fiona’s medical footsteps and trained to be a paediatric nurse.
She says, “We had an amazing childhood with really hard-working parents: I saw them working hard and I wanted to work hard. I had that instilled in me and I knew at school that if I wanted to go to college, I needed to pass my exams.” She adds, “Fun fact: I don’t have a science GCSE, despite being a nurse!”
Anxiety took a toll on Jemma when she became a parent. Her struggles mirror Stacey’s, who suffered from post-natal depression after giving birth to Zachary and Rex, now five – she also has Leighton, 12, Rose, two, and Belle, one. Jemma soon realised that keeping things organised in her home helped her manage her mental health as she cared for Darcy, 10, Mila, eight, and five-year-old Hudson. She then became a “clean-fluencer” after sharing her tips on Instagram.
“Having children sparked my anxiety. When I had children, reality and responsibilities hit. Birth is trauma and you don’t realise it until you go through it,” Jemma explains. “I was 24 when I had my eldest and I think that’s what caused my anxiety, but being organised helped with it. It was one of my coping mechanisms. Being organised is creating calm and it is a distraction. It shifts your focus.”
The sisters’ deep bond has continued to this day. “Me and Stacey grew up together, we’re close in age, we’re similar and we do similar things together and I guess we’ve continued that as we’ve progressed through life,” Jemma says. “We live round the corner from each other.”
She continues, “We all help out and my kids love going there and they love coming to me – it’s very much a communal family, if that’s the right word! Family is everything and memories are everything. That’s what I’m trying to teach my children. It doesn’t matter how much money you have in the bank or any of that – just worry about making memories and spending time together.”
WATCH: Hollyoaks stars, Stacey Solomon and Danielle Lloyd talk childhoods
Google and Jemma Solomon have teamed up to help Brits take the stress out of holiday packing and save them time and money this summer through Gemini, Google’s AI assistant. To try Gemini for yourself, visit gemini.google.comor download the new mobile app for free from Google’s Play Store, or the Google app on the iOS App Store.