Privacy Policy

The Holding It Together Club

Last updated: 30th June 2026

1. Introduction

This Privacy Policy explains how The Holding It Together Club ("we", "us", "our") collects, uses, stores, and protects your personal information when you visit our website, subscribe to our service, write to us, or contact us.

The Holding It Together Club is operated by Lola Omo trading under the name "The Holding It Together Club." We are the data controller for the personal information we collect from you.

You can contact us at hi@holdingittogetherclub.com.

We comply with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018. 

2. What information we collect

We collect the following categories of personal information:

Information you give us directly:

• Your name
• Your email address
• Your delivery and billing address
• Your phone number (if you provide one)
• Your date of birth or birthday (where you choose to share it for the birthday element of the subscription)
• Payment information (processed securely by our payment provider — we do not store full card details ourselves)
• The name of the recipient if you're buying a gift subscription
• Any messages, letters, or correspondence you send us (whether by email, post, or social media)

Information we collect automatically when you use our website:

• Your IP address
• Browser type and version
• Device type
• Pages you visit and how you interact with the website
• Referring website (where you came from)
• Cookies and similar technologies (see Section 11)

Information from third parties:

• Order and payment information from our payment processor (Shopify Payments)
• Email engagement data from our email provider (Klaviyo)
• Information from social media platforms if you interact with us via them (e.g. tagging us, sending us a DM)

3. How we use your information

We use your information for the following purposes, on the legal bases shown:

Purpose	Legal basis
To process your subscription and send you envelopes	Performance of a contract
To take payment and issue refunds	Performance of a contract
To communicate with you about your subscription (dispatch notifications, account updates, problems with delivery)	Performance of a contract
To respond to your queries, letters, and provide customer service	Performance of a contract / legitimate interests
To send you marketing emails about new products, offers, or content	Consent (you can withdraw consent at any time)
To personalise the subscription experience (e.g. a birthday element)	Performance of a contract / consent
To consider letters you send us for inclusion on our podcast (only where you've given explicit, separate consent)	Consent
To prevent fraud and protect our website	Legitimate interests
To comply with our legal obligations (e.g. tax records, consumer law)	Legal obligation
To analyse website usage and improve our service	Legitimate interests

We will never sell your personal information to third parties.

4. Marketing communications

We will only send you marketing emails if you have opted in to receive them. You can opt in:

• When you create an account or subscribe;
• By signing up to our "Letters about the letters" email list;
• By updating your communication preferences in your account.

You can opt out at any time by:

• Clicking the "unsubscribe" link in any marketing email;
• Updating your preferences in your account;
• Emailing us at hi@holdingittogetherclub.com.

Even if you opt out of marketing emails, we'll still send you transactional emails (such as order confirmations, dispatch notifications, and information about your subscription). These are necessary for us to provide the service.

5. Letters you send to us and the Letters from the Club podcast

If you write to us, by post or by email, we treat your letter as personal information and handle it under this Privacy Policy. We will publish full Letter Submission Terms before we begin accepting mail, and those terms will set out the detail of how letters are handled.

In summary:

• We read every letter we receive.
• We may keep your letter for up to 12 months for editorial reference.
• We will never read, share, or publish your letter publicly without your explicit, written permission.
• If we'd like to feature your letter on our podcast, we will contact you separately with a Featured Letter Consent Form. You can decline, edit, or choose how to be credited.

If you send us a letter that suggests you are in crisis or in immediate danger, we may respond with support resources or, in rare cases of imminent risk to life, may share limited information with emergency services. This will be described in more detail in our Letter Submission Terms once published.

6. Who we share your information with

We share your information only with the following categories of third parties, and only where necessary:

Service providers who help us run the business:

• Shopify (e-commerce platform — stores order and customer data)
• Shopify Payments (payment processing)
• Appstle (subscription management)
• Klaviyo (email marketing and transactional emails)
• Royal Mail and international postal partners (delivery)
  
• Acast  — note: featured letters are only shared after we have your separate written consent.
• Google Analytics & Shopify's built-in analytics
• Meta / TikTok (advertising — only if you've consented to analytics/marketing cookies) 

All of these providers are bound by data protection agreements and only process your data on our instructions.

Legal and regulatory disclosures: We may disclose your information if required to do so by law, by a court order, or by a regulator (such as HMRC or the ICO).

Business transfers: If our business is sold, transferred to a new legal entity (such as when we incorporate as a limited company), or merged in the future, your information will be transferred to the new owner, subject to the same protections under this Privacy Policy.

7. Our store and Shopify

Our store and website are hosted by Shopify. As part of providing the hosting and store technology, Shopify collects and processes personal information about your access to and use of our website in order to provide and improve its services. Information you submit may be transmitted to and shared with Shopify, and may be processed in countries other than where you live. For some of these activities, Shopify acts as the party responsible for processing your personal information. To learn more about how Shopify uses your personal information and any rights you may have, see the Shopify Consumer Privacy Policy at https://privacy.shopify.com/en.

8. International transfers

Some of our service providers are based outside the UK or the European Economic Area (EEA). Where we transfer your personal data outside the UK/EEA, we ensure appropriate safeguards are in place, typically through:

• The UK International Data Transfer Agreement (IDTA) or Addendum;
• Standard Contractual Clauses approved by the UK or EU; or
• Transfers to countries deemed "adequate" by the UK government.

You can request more information about specific safeguards by emailing us.

9. How long we keep your information

We keep your personal information only for as long as necessary:

• Active subscribers: We keep your information for as long as you are subscribed, plus 7 years after the subscription ends (to comply with HMRC record-keeping requirements for tax purposes).
• Marketing contacts (no purchase): We keep your information for as long as you remain subscribed to our marketing list, plus 2 years after you unsubscribe.
• Customer service correspondence: We keep emails and correspondence for 3 years.
• Letters sent to us (not featured): We keep these for up to 12 months for editorial reference, after which we shred and recycle them, or destroy digital copies.
• Letters sent to us (featured on the podcast): We keep the letter, the consent form, and related correspondence for as long as the episode is publicly available, plus 7 years.
• Website analytics: Aggregated, anonymised data may be kept indefinitely. Identifiable data is kept for up to 26 months.

After the relevant retention period, we securely delete or anonymise your information.

10. Your rights under UK GDPR

Under UK data protection law, you have the following rights:

• Right of access: You can request a copy of the personal information we hold about you.
• Right to rectification: You can ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete information.
• Right to erasure: You can ask us to delete your information in certain circumstances (sometimes called the "right to be forgotten").
• Right to restrict processing: You can ask us to limit how we use your information in certain circumstances.
• Right to data portability: You can request your information in a structured, machine-readable format.
• Right to object: You can object to us processing your information for marketing purposes or based on legitimate interests.
• Right to withdraw consent: Where we rely on your consent, you can withdraw it at any time. This includes withdrawing consent for a letter to be featured on the podcast (the specific process will be set out in our Letter Submission Terms once published).
• Rights related to automated decision-making: We do not currently make decisions about you using automated processing alone.

To exercise any of these rights, email us at hi@holdingittogetherclub.com. We'll respond within one month (extendable to three months for complex requests). We do not charge a fee for most requests.

You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) if you're unhappy with how we've handled your data:

• Website: https://ico.org.uk
• Phone: 0303 123 1113
• Address: Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF

11. Cookies and similar technologies

Our website uses cookies, small text files placed on your device, for the following purposes:

Strictly necessary cookies: Required for the website to function (e.g. keeping you logged in, remembering your basket). These do not require your consent.

Analytics cookies: Help us understand how people use the website. We only set these with your consent.

Marketing cookies: Used by advertising platforms to show you relevant ads and measure ad performance. We only set these with your consent.

When you first visit the website, you'll see a cookie banner allowing you to accept or reject non-essential cookies. You can change your preferences at any time via the cookie settings link in the footer.

For a full list of the cookies we use, see our Cookie Policy. 

12. Children's privacy

The Holding It Together Club is intended for adult subscribers. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 18. If you believe we've inadvertently collected information about someone under 18, please email us and we'll delete it.

Some subscriptions may be gifted by adults to other adults, but the subscription account holder must be 18 or over.

13. Security

We take the security of your personal information seriously and use appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect it, including:

• SSL/TLS encryption for the website and all data in transit;
• Secure storage of customer data via Shopify (PCI-DSS compliant);
• Payment information handled exclusively by PCI-compliant providers (we never see or store your full card details);
• Restricted access to personal data, so only authorised personnel can access customer information;
• Secure physical storage of letters and consent forms received by post;
• Regular review of our security practices.

No system is 100% secure. If we ever experience a data breach that affects your personal information, we'll notify you and the ICO within the legal time limits.

14. Third-party links

Our website may contain links to third-party websites or services (for example, social media platforms or partner businesses). This Privacy Policy does not cover those websites, and we're not responsible for their privacy practices. Please check their privacy policies before sharing your information with them.

15. Changes to this Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. The "last updated" date at the top will reflect the most recent version. If we make material changes, we'll notify you by email or via a prominent notice on the website.

16. Contact us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or your personal information, please contact us:

The Holding It Together Club Email: hi@holdingittogetherclub.com Website: www.holdingittogetherclub.com