Spending time with Lynne Franks is like getting up-close-and-personal with a human cyclone – she's a whirlwind of conversation topics, business ideas and constant, constant, constant activity.

Her dog, Noodle, an eight-month-old black Labrador/Jack Russell mix, is the first to greet me at her west London apartment, followed by her cleaner and finally Lynne, who's finishing some emails in what can only be described as organised chaos.

She's speaking at an exhibition at the end of the week, she tells me from her desk which is overflowing with paper, envelopes and boxes. There's International women's day coming up, she continues, and the expansion of SEED, the women's enterprise business she began in 2000 (more of which later).

Then she's up out of her seat, putting on the kettle, making green tea, pulling out biscuits, rummaging in her boxes for examples of her latest work. And it's more of the same for the next hour when, mid-conversation, she realises she has more urgent emails to send, and then one of her 'I'm a celebrity... Get me out of here!' jungle teammates drops in for a chat.

Turning 60 this month, Lynne Franks has no intention of slowing down. "Life is as crazy now as it was back in the 1980s and 1990s," she says, referring to the hectic years of running her high profile PR agency which she sold in 1995. "But I have a much better balance, a lot more 'me' time." One can only imagine what life was like back then.

Nor has Franks any inclination to let herself go. Just back from lunch with Eve Pollard, former Sunday Mirror editor, and her first boss at Petticoat magazine, she's looking fabulous in a black dress that celebrates her curves, a floaty black cardigan and a head of dark, auburn hair that tumbles down her back.

"'I'm a celebrity...' got me exaggerating. It was an exaggerated version of my existence, but I'm not going to blame the producers for that."

Not that she'll be happy with that description. Franks has complained in past interviews about why journalists insist on describing how she looks. "It wouldn't happen if I was a man," she's said.

And she has a point. Unless, of course, that man was renowned for launching London Fashion Week, or infamous for being the inspiration behind cult '80s comedy character, Eddy, in Absolutely Fabulous – which Franks is.

Lynne Franks has been in the media spotlight for years now. Leaving school at 16, she set up Lynne Franks PR from her kitchen table at age 21. By 30, it was Britain's foremost PR agency, managing campaigns for Swatch Watches and Brylcreem, while designers like Jean Paul Gaultier queued up to be represented by her.

So it's interesting that, 20 years on, her time in 'I'm a celebrity...' was a relative PR disaster as she clashed with fellow campers Janice Dickson and Rodney Marsh, former supermodel and footballer turned sports presenter, before being the third person voted off the show.

She still has no regrets about it. "The publicity at the time was revolting but I didn't read any of it. It was an interesting experience, I made good friends and I learnt things from it - like I'm not perfect, that's for sure, and I'm very grumpy with people I don't like.

"But none of us were behaving as we really are," she continues. "It was the artificial situation, we were taken out of our comfort zone, plonked down somewhere with strangers and didn't see things as they really were. It got me exaggerating. It was an exaggerated version of my existence, but I'm not going to blame the producers for that."

"The publicity was revolting but I didn't read any of it. It was an interesting experience, I made good friends and I learnt that I'm not perfect, that's for sure."

What Franks is most grateful for now is - yes, not having to spend any more time with 'horrible' Rodney and 'consummate reality show performer' Janice, but mostly for not damaging any of her work on SEED (Sustainable Enterprise and Empowerment Dynamics).

In 1992, Franks left her PR company, her marriage to Paul Howie (who was cheating with a family friend) and moved to the US for a change of scene and 'spiritual enlightenment', reportedly. Eight years on, she released The SEED Handbook: the feminine way to create business , which helps women start up businesses using feminine language, sustainable values, ethics and community.

Her vision for SEED has always been women helping women, and increasing the number of businesses set up and supported by women. "Working alongside and collaborating with men, of course," she adds, "but very much a women's community and women working together, moving on from competitiveness to collaboration."

Since 2000, she's been expanding SEED activities. Together with the handbook which was updated in 2005, SEED now has a coaching programme, where women are trained to help other women start up businesses. There's SEED circles, meetings of 10-12 women within communities who come together to support each other in small business and the SEED blended learning and education programme, which is being taught in prisons, further education colleges and which was launched recently to the public.

"It's been a lot of hard work because I was a little ahead of time in terms of its concept," admits Franks, who made her successful media career out of forecasting trends. "But I've finally got the balance right and we're really moving now."

For most people, this would be a life's work. But not for Franks. She has plans for the first of what she hopes will be four SEED business centres for women in the UK, is working on a corporate leadership programme to 'help women move into leadership roles using feminine values', and is about to launch her new 'GROW' workshops in June.

The workshops link to her book GROW: The Modern Woman's Handbook and are four one-day workshops aimed at women juggling careers and relationships, who want to reconnect with themselves. They focus on health, wellbeing, relationships and work – elements that resound in Franks' own life.

Meanwhile, her personal life also continues at hectic pace with her graphic designer partner, two grown-up children, grandchildren, Noodle and three homes in London, Oxfordshire and Majorca. But if anyone can do it all - and in sensational style - it's Lynne Franks. The saying currently goes 'Life begins at 40', but with Franks at the helm, that figure could be 60 soon.

Visit www.seednetwork.com or www.lynnefranks.com for more information on SEED books, coaching or to attend a GROW workshop.

By Barbara Walshe