Our stylish and visionary creative director, Nadja Solovieva, encapsulated the idea of 'female founder' before the term had been coined. Hailing from Moscow, an artistic childhood with a costume designer mother and finance based father, Solovieva was encouraged by her mother to explore the cultures and traditions of the world before arriving in London at 21 years. Following graduation from the prestigious Central St Martin's fashion design course, Solovieva brought together her childhood influences to launch Vassilisa in 2007 without any support programmes or incubators that are now available to women in business.

Whilst Vassilisa.com has enjoyed enduring and global success, garnering design acclaim, and a high profile, discerning following over more than a decade, Solovieva is in a unique position to understand the challenges female led start ups face, the value of mentoring and coaching and the support structure of women to women meet ups and communities.

As today female entrepreneurship hits a zeitgeist, Vassilisa is a company that aims to take inspiration from its founder by empowering and employing a diversity of female talent - through graphic design, manufacturing and creative process.

According to stats, in 2019 women were 55% more likely than men to cite fear of going it alone as a primary reason for not starting a business, whilst only 39% of women are confident in their capabilities to start a business compared to 55% of men. (This is a perceived gap in ability, rather than actual gap in skill sets)

Whilst in a recent report by GEM UK women who have undergone some form of enterprise training are twice as likely to be engaged in entrepreneurial activity.

Nadja Solovieva supports and partakes in multiple women in business support and women whom inspire groups,  panel discussions and is open to mentoring initiatives.