VALA won a Wales StartUp Award!
I'm so excited to share with you all that VALA won the 'Rising Star' award at the Wales Start Up Awards earlier this month. We were one of 10 finalists and snagged the top spot along with our pals Suppliety, which is a brilliant food app also based in South Wales. Our award arrived today and I've held off sending this email as I wanted to take a photo with it in order to say a proper 'thank you' to you all.
VALA was born out of frustration nearly three years ago when I was unable to find a 100% natural gel for my partner to use during his marathon training. At the time I was working as an Art Director in London but my passion for creating this gel changed everything. Since then it's been a real whirlwind adventure that's involved moving back to Wales, going all in with VALA and retraining as a Personal Trainer to spread the message about the connection between gut/mental/physical health. There have been many highs and many challenges along the way, many of which I couldn't have predicted. These involved production setbacks, trademark oppositions, launching in the middle of a global pandemic and everything in between. However, through all of these our amazing community has made it all worthwhile.
Although I've been working on making our gels a reality for several years, I often forget that as a brand we only "officially" launched our gels just over three months ago. Looking back on this time, I feel so grateful that VALA has found so many incredible customers and followers that have become friends of the brand. I always say that I love VALA being an independent start-up because it allows me to interact with each and every person that follows us or buys from us. Before launching VALA, I knew that I wanted to create a brand that I could build a community around and I'm very thankful to have been given the opportunity to do so.
It goes without saying that this award also belongs to all of you lovely folk who have become our 'ride or dies'. Thank you for the messages, snaps of you using our gels in the wild and the many kind words of support. Thank you for sharing our ethos and gels with your friends, colleagues and family. Thank you for supporting us and for coming along on this wild VALA adventure. You're all part of the VALA family and have helped to bring this brand to life in ways that I could have never imagined.
So grateful for each and every one of you.
Keep it real,
Gem.
VALA was born out of frustration nearly three years ago when I was unable to find a 100% natural gel for my partner to use during his marathon training. At the time I was working as an Art Director in London but my passion for creating this gel changed everything. Since then it's been a real whirlwind adventure that's involved moving back to Wales, going all in with VALA and retraining as a Personal Trainer to spread the message about the connection between gut/mental/physical health. There have been many highs and many challenges along the way, many of which I couldn't have predicted. These involved production setbacks, trademark oppositions, launching in the middle of a global pandemic and everything in between. However, through all of these our amazing community has made it all worthwhile.
Although I've been working on making our gels a reality for several years, I often forget that as a brand we only "officially" launched our gels just over three months ago. Looking back on this time, I feel so grateful that VALA has found so many incredible customers and followers that have become friends of the brand. I always say that I love VALA being an independent start-up because it allows me to interact with each and every person that follows us or buys from us. Before launching VALA, I knew that I wanted to create a brand that I could build a community around and I'm very thankful to have been given the opportunity to do so.
It goes without saying that this award also belongs to all of you lovely folk who have become our 'ride or dies'. Thank you for the messages, snaps of you using our gels in the wild and the many kind words of support. Thank you for sharing our ethos and gels with your friends, colleagues and family. Thank you for supporting us and for coming along on this wild VALA adventure. You're all part of the VALA family and have helped to bring this brand to life in ways that I could have never imagined.
So grateful for each and every one of you.
Keep it real,
Gem.