Exactly three years ago we both met during Freshers Week at university.
Exactly two years ago our bitching and moaning about DD+ bras went up a notch as our friendship grew.
Although we did not incorporate the company until October, September 18th is our appointed birthday. It was this date in 2013 that we prioritised Attollo over our other commitments, and today marks one year since we've been working constantly on Attollo, getting it closer and closer to launch each day.
A year ago we went to a business networking event at university with Lee McQueen, Apprentice winner 2008 and Levi Roots, Reggae Reggae sauce founder and Dragons Den successor as the speakers. We went to find out when we should start the company, how soon after university should we set up the company and how on earth we could create our dream company from the perspective of two very inexperienced third year Geography undergraduates.
Little did we know, that all these questions would answer themselves in the next 24 hours.
We networked for the first time, bluffing and smiling our way through conversations we simply did not understand, with terminology being thrown around while we were both trying to discretely get google to translate.
That night we got offered to meet two exceptional contacts the very next day. Like two little giddy children on Christmas Day we embarrassingly burst into tears. To us, that demonstrated how much Attollo was meaning to us and later our parents received very intangible conversations. The suggestion of business meetings the next morning did not go down at all well.
That night we worked round the clock, obtaining domains, email addresses, and obtaining the right to use social media under our name before our meetings in the morning. Meetings that went so well, it was time to leave our beloved teams; Fleurette left her beloved Cheerleading Squad, Alice left her beloved Hockey team, to focus on creating a business that would finally give us bras we could be proud to wear.
Although this year has been a whirlwind, full of ups and downs on a daily basis, we couldn't have asked for more support and encouragement from our friends and now our families.
We've met some incredible people and without the tireless support of our ever-growing team, we would not have taken Attollo where it is today.
It's also exactly a year since our parents knew we were completely serious about chasing our dream of making Attollo into a reality.
Today marks the half-way point; it is a year since we started Attollo and a year until we bring Attollo bras to all you lovely booby ladies.
In exactly a year's time we will be launching our first range. We cannot wait to see what the next year has in store for us but we know that we love our job more than ever and feel incredibly lucky to be not only create bras that we finally can love wearing, but most of all we get to work with our best friend and sister from another mister every day. Happy Birthday Attollo!
