I’m Kathryn Howells, I am 23 and now live in Cardiff! I moved from Bristol nearly five years ago for University at Cardiff Metropolitan studying Events Management! After University I felt confused in what I wanted to next and that’s when myself and Emily (business partner) heard about Big Ideas Wales! We were lucky enough to apply and get through to attend a boot camp to business weekend in January 2014!

The challenge took an idea and turned it into Ells & Hers. Ells & Hers is an online women’s retailer aiming to be the ‘go-to’ place where aspiring fashionistas can visit when they want to have their pick of one off, individual pieces from past & present eras. We pride ourselves in hand-picking the most unique pieces from the most fashion forward cities across the country. All of the vintage that is individually chosen is of the highest quality & can be seen amongst the current trends of the fashion industry (just with a more affordable price tag!). 

I learnt more in the boot camp weekend, not just about business but about myself and since then we’ve achieved so much more than I ever thought we would have! Since December 2014 we have not only launched our own successful website but we now have an opened International boutique on ASOS Marketplace. We have also featured in the May 2014 issue of Cosmopolitan and have much more in the pipeline for this year! 

I love being part of Big Ideas Wales and would love to be able to help others like me develop their own ideas into a business and to let them know it’s really not as scary as it seems!