When exploring the nature of business and entrepreneurship, most people think that one gender, specifically males, are only capable of achieving success. But as times change and life moves on, females are taking the markets by storm and showing everyone that both genders are capable of success in the business world. This was truly the case for Grace Beverley only 23 years old, who started 2 successful companies and even created an app. While studying at Oxford University, Grace had various thoughts about different ventures and decided to start small by creating a company by the name of “B_ND” in 2019. Not so small, B_ND is a fitness apparel store that sells premium gym equipment such as resistance bands, straps and pads. B_ND was taking various markets by storm and making Grace Beverley’s name popular in the business world. Deciding to expand, Grace pushed forth and even created a fitness app by the name of Shreddy that provides workout and meal plans that are personalized to each individual. This app also constituted much publicity and was very popular. While checking out Shreddy on the Apple app store, I found that this utility has a 4.7 star rating and very good reviews. After multiplying her success and creating a name for herself, Grace didn’t stop there. By the end of 2019, she had created yet another business named TALA. The interesting thing about this venture is that Grace not only created a clothing brand that sells various styles, colors, and designs of clothing, but that is environmentally friendly. TALA’s clothing is made from 92% reused materials that are from factory offcuts to plastic bottles. Where most clothing brands are only tailored to certain individuals, TALA makes clothing that fits any type of body shape and size.
After reading about Grace Beverley’s story I can say I learned a lot from her. What is so unique about Grace’s story however is that she didn’t settle for less. After creating B_ND, she didn’t stop there and settle, she moved onto bigger and better things. She has various interesting entrepreneurial traits but three that are most specific to her are looking for opportunity (TALA, making clothing that fits all women any size and body shape) persistent (not settling after creating one successful business), and self confidence (Not letting her gender define who she really was destined to be). In my opinion, what drives Grace Beverley the most is her passion for success and not letting anything stand in her way, especially her age. When looking at women’s activewear clothing companies, many huge names come to mind such as Nike, Lululemon, and Alala and many small ventures could feel threatened by these big brand names, but Grace didn’t. She created TALA and was self-confident that she could innovate the way women’s activewear was designed. What ultimately makes Grace’s ideas or business models interesting is that her products are tailored more toward women and not men. Many activewear companies only take into account that Men workout and leave women out of the picture, but Grace changed that. When going through TALA’s and B_ND’s websites, each section features all women of any race and size working out or just posing for a photo. You won’t see men on that website because Grace specifically tailored her products toward women. The reason that Grace’s ideas are innovating the activewear market is because she is designing different clothing with purposes behind them that aren’t just for profit. Finally, the principals I have learned from grace is to attack my ideas and have confidence in them. Far too many times, I will come up with ideas or business inventions that could revolutionize the way humans do things, but if I come to a point where I am stuck, I will rule it out and discard any further thoughts into it. Grace has inspired me to have principles of self confidence and to ultimately follow my ideas because you truly never know what business you could create out of that simple idea that you thought was stupid.
TALA Website:
B_ND Store: