LYNNE Franks has a vision. After spending the last four years thinking very be about what it means woman, she has reinvented from being the absolutely fabulous PR queen of London to being absolutely serious about delivering anew message to the world.
Slowly sipping a mug of herbal tea, Ms Franks begins to talk passionately about her vision from God. And boy can she talk: rarely pausing to draw breath, Ms Franks is so focused on her message that only the phone is allowed to interrupt her train of thought
"Without sounding too hippy, women want a caring society. My vision is to replace a world based upon fear and greed to a world based upon love and spiritual values. I want women to have equal rights.
"I am passionate about women. I don't want women to be beaten up, tortured or raped. I don't want men to be either, but I don't believe in women becoming surrogate men. Mrs Thatcher is the epitome of what I don't want women to become," she says.
To create this new caring, equal world, Ms Franks is planning to launch a two day women's festival in Ireland next spring to ensure that women learn to get what they want out of this life. There will be seminars, workshops offering advice on everything from starting a business to contraception and legal rights, lectures and a huge pop concert.
"My vision is that Ireland is going to launch this to the world. I am going to do these events in Eastern Europe, in the Middle East, Asia and the most important thing is that we don't want to be showing that women want to take over the world or go against men, but how men and women can work together in a partnership. It is for women to find out what they want and they can to do, it is about the empowerment of women, she says forcefully.
A small, intense woman, Ms Franks (48) is famous for being the "PR from Hell". Better known than many of her former clients, she was the inspiration for the monstrous Edina in the television comedy Absolutely Fabulous. Yes, that vodka swilling, neurotic, fashion victim is supposedly Lynne Franks.
Any mention of the programme and, uncharacteristically, there is an awkward lull in the conversation. Not surprisingly Ms Franks is very defensive about this image, is now wary of the British press, and is keen to point out that she is teetotal and that her PR life was never as hectic as Edina's.
Just for the record, Ms Franks did not utter the word "fabulous" once, and I could not help but feel a little disappointed.
"It is interesting to see your life parodied on television, but I hope the Ab Fab image will not detract from my work in the future. "My vision for a worldwide organisation of women helping women," she stresses, through gritted teeth.
Raised in north London, where her parents ran a butcher's shop, Lynne was the elder of two daughters. She left school at 16 to work as a secretary on Petticoat magazine where she quickly gained a reputation for having her finger on the pulse. At age of 23 while working for a clothing catalogue, she met Katherine Hamnett, the fashion designer, who offered to pay her £20 a week to promote her business.
For the next 20 years Ms Frank reigned supreme as London's PR queen. She sold and packaged everything and anything from Swatch watches, Brylcreem and the Next Directory catalogue, to revamping images of comedian Lenny Henry and the Labour party.
She was that "burnt out superwoman" in the 1980s who famously boasted of not having time to cook a family meal for 15 years.
HOWEVER all this power and glory did not make Ms Franks a happy woman. "I was very powerful, with a big P. I ran a successful company, made a lot of money, I had my dream home, my big car, the lifestyle, and you think - so what? I don't know who I am any more because I've lost myself," she says.
After selling her company in 1990 for £2.6 million, Ms Franks began her journey for spiritual enlightenment, her "rebirth". Out went the £1.8 million house in west London, whose "absolutely over the top" decor was so vividly described by the media, and out went her husband of 22 years, although they still remain friends.
Instead Ms Franks embraced meditation and her new flat reflects this cleansing process with its white walls, unpolished wooden floors and natural colours. Ever the optimist, Ms Franks believes that by the 21st century the planet will have become feminised, but predicts that women will still have that old problem of trying to find a reliable man.
"I think the problems they will face will be finding the right man and searching for the perfect relationship that all women dream of she adds with a wry smile.