Starting YOU ROCK - My Personal Journey
I have been deciding to create my own brand long before I graduated from high school. I always felt that I needed to create and put my name out there. But first I studied International Business in Monte Carlo. My parents had moved to this wonderful state and I decided to join this journey. After my Bachelor degree in International Business majoring in finance, I decided to move to the US for a while and try my luck with real estate down in Atlanta, Georgia. A fantastic time, which I truly enjoyed and love looking back to. But after 2 years I came back to Monte Carlo and started my MBA program in the International University of Monaco, together with my best friend Nina. We had the best time and during our graduate program, we decided to create a brand; Nina Tina Monaco, which would produce luxury souvenirs. Souvenirs were ugly, cheese and yet still expensive so we emphasized on high quality t-shirts with great screen printing designs and Swarovski crystal stones. Business was going good, we worked for private- as well as International events (Yacht Show Monaco, Formula One Grand Prix, just to name a few), Yacht owners, Souvenir shops and had even projects together with the government. But then an opportunity came up for me to move to the UAE and open the famous restaurant franchise Stars’n’Bars from Monaco to Abu Dhabi. It was time for me to leave my beautiful Cote D’Azur and find a new place with new adventures and challenges. And so I did....I bought my plane ticket and moved to Dubai, a city so sparkly and fast moving I felt home right away. A few years in and after some successful restaurant openings, my head kept telling me, that I am an entrepreneur and that it is time for me to use what I learned over the years for my own brand. I would love to tell you a long story about how I got the name YOU ROCK, but I just knew one night. I woke up and wrote it down. It was such a strong brand name with an inbuilt tag line; I love it and was not even sure what I will sell, but I knew the brand name will have to be YOU ROCK.