# Privacy Notice
**Make It Gorgeous | Cover Story**
*Last updated: 14/10/26*
## 1. Who we are
Cover Story is a product and service offered by Make It Gorgeous.
We are **Lisa McSorley, trading as Make It Gorgeous**, and we are responsible for handling your personal information in connection with Cover Story and our related services.
If you have any questions about this notice or how we use your information, please contact us:
**Email:** hello@makeitgorgeous.co.uk
**Address:** 1 Victoria Road, Hitchin SG5 2LS
In this notice, “we”, “us” and “our” refer to Lisa McSorley, trading as Make It Gorgeous.
## 2. What information we collect
When you commission a Cover Story magazine, take part in an interview or contact us about our services, we may collect the following information:
- **Contact details:** names, postal addresses, email addresses and telephone numbers.
- **Personal stories and memories:** information shared during interviews, including family history, life experiences, relationships, achievements and personal recollections.
- **Photographs and documents:** images, letters, certificates and other materials supplied for inclusion in the magazine.
- **Interview information:** interview notes, written transcripts and audio or video recordings, where applicable.
- **Project information:** your chosen package, instructions, feedback, proof approvals and correspondence.
- **Payment information:** payment records and details needed to manage invoices and refunds. Card payments, if applicable, are handled by the relevant payment provider.
- **Website information:** technical information and cookie data collected when you visit our website, depending on the website features and cookie settings.
Some personal stories may include sensitive information, such as details about someone’s health, religious beliefs or other private circumstances. We will take particular care with this information and only use it where we have an appropriate legal basis and, where required, an additional legal condition for handling sensitive data.
## 3. Whose information we collect
The person paying for a Cover Story magazine may be different from the person whose life story is being told.
We may therefore handle information about:
- The customer commissioning and paying for the magazine.
- The person being interviewed and featured.
- Family members or other individuals mentioned in the story or shown in photographs.
If you provide us with information about another person, please make sure you are entitled to share it with us for the project. We may need to provide that person with information about how their data is used, where required by law.
We ask the Featured Person to participate voluntarily and to agree to the use of their personal information for the purposes explained in this notice and the customer agreement.
## 4. How we use your information
We use personal information to:
- Respond to enquiries and manage bookings.
- Communicate with the customer and Featured Person.
- Arrange and conduct interviews.
- Write, edit and design the personalised magazine.
- Select and prepare photographs and other materials for publication.
- Send proofs for review and obtain approval before printing.
- Arrange printing, delivery and any agreed digital copies.
- Process payments, invoices and refunds.
- Handle questions, complaints and requests.
- Keep appropriate business and financial records.
- Meet our legal obligations and establish or defend legal claims where necessary.
We will not use identifiable stories, photographs or magazine pages in our own marketing, portfolio or social media without the necessary permission or another valid legal basis.
## 5. Our legal reasons for using your information
Data protection law requires us to have a lawful basis for using personal information. Depending on the circumstances, we rely on the following:
**Contract:** where we need information to provide the Cover Story service, manage your booking, create the magazine or fulfil our agreement with you.
**Legitimate interests:** where we have a genuine business reason to use information, such as responding to general enquiries, managing our business, maintaining appropriate records or dealing with disputes, and those interests are not overridden by your rights and interests.
**Legal obligations:** where we need to keep records, meet tax and accounting requirements or comply with other legal duties.
**Consent:** where we ask for your permission for a specific purpose, such as using identifiable photographs or stories in promotional material, or where consent is the appropriate legal basis for a particular use of information.
Where a story contains special category data, such as health information, we will also identify and meet an applicable additional legal condition before processing that information. We will seek explicit consent where required and appropriate.
You can withdraw consent at any time where consent is the legal basis for our use of your information. Withdrawal does not make earlier processing unlawful, and we may need to retain some information where another lawful basis or legal obligation applies.
## 6. Who we share information with
We do not sell your personal information.
We may share the information necessary to complete your project with trusted service providers, including:
- Printers and print production suppliers.
- Delivery and courier companies.
- Website hosting, email and file-storage providers.
- Interview, communication and document-management tools.
- Payment providers and our accountant or professional advisers, where relevant.
These providers may only receive information needed for their role, subject to appropriate arrangements and applicable law.
We may also disclose information where required by law or where necessary to establish, exercise or defend legal claims.
We will take reasonable steps to use service providers that handle personal information appropriately. Where information is transferred outside the UK, we will ensure that any legally required safeguards are in place.
## 7. How we protect your information
We take reasonable technical and organisational steps to protect personal information against unauthorised access, loss, alteration or disclosure.
Access to interview materials and project files is limited to those who need the information to carry out the work or provide necessary services.
However, no method of electronic storage or transmission can be guaranteed to be completely secure. We will respond appropriately if we become aware of a personal data breach affecting information we hold.
## 8. How long we keep your information
We keep personal information only for as long as reasonably necessary for the purposes explained in this notice, taking account of legal, accounting and business requirements.
Our intended retention periods are:
- **Customer contact details and project correspondence:** two years.
- **Interview recordings and working notes:** two years.
- **Photographs and supplied documents:** two years.
- **Final magazine files and approved artwork:** five years.
- **Invoices and financial records:** for the period required by applicable law.
When information is no longer required, we will securely delete it or anonymise it where appropriate, unless we have a lawful reason to retain it for longer.
## 9. Your privacy rights
Under data protection law, you may have the right to:
- Request a copy of the personal information we hold about you.
- Ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete information.
- Ask us to delete personal information in certain circumstances.
- Ask us to restrict how we use your information in certain circumstances.
- Object to certain types of processing, including processing based on legitimate interests.
- Request the transfer of certain information to you or another organisation, where the right applies.
- Withdraw consent where we rely on consent.
- Complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).
These rights are subject to certain conditions and exceptions. For example, we may need to retain some records to meet legal obligations or establish or defend legal claims.
To exercise a right or ask a question, contact us at [insert business email address]. We may need to verify your identity before responding.
## 10. Personal stories, photographs and marketing
We understand that a Cover Story magazine may contain deeply personal memories and family information.
We will use the material you provide to create the agreed magazine and will take reasonable care when handling it.
We will not assume that permission to create a magazine also gives us permission to publish the story or photographs on our website, social media or in promotional material.
Any request to use identifiable material for marketing will be handled separately. Saying no to marketing use will not affect your purchase.
If a magazine includes information about other people, we may ask for additional permission or request changes where necessary to protect their privacy or comply with the law.
## 11. Cookies and our website
Our website may use cookies and similar technologies to make the site work, understand how visitors use it or provide additional features.
Strictly necessary cookies may be used where required for the website to function. Where consent is required for analytics, advertising or other non-essential cookies, we will seek your permission before using them.
For further information, please see [insert cookie policy link, if applicable] or use the cookie settings available on our website.
## 12. Links to other websites
Our website may contain links to third-party websites. Those websites have their own privacy policies and practices, which we do not control. Please review their privacy information when visiting them.
## 13. Changes to this notice
We may update this privacy notice from time to time to reflect changes in our services, the way we handle information or applicable law.
The latest version will be published on our website with the date it was updated.
## 14. How to contact us or make a complaint
If you have a question or concern about how we use your personal information, please contact:
**Lisa McSorley, trading as Make It Gorgeous**
Email: hello@makeitgorgeous.co.uk
Address: 1 Victoria Road, Hitchin SG5 2LS
You also have the right to complain to the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).
Website: https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint/
Telephone: 0303 123 1113
We would appreciate the opportunity to address your concerns first, but you can contact the ICO at any time.