Vanessa Gabriel has done more than the average sophomore student. Everyone at CU knows that the business school students have it hard, so what if I told you Vanessa is a successful B-School student, and also the co-founder of an up-and-coming website? A website, aSociete, that has 4,000+ likes on their Facebook page after only being viral for a month? (Has your jaw dropped yet?) Get to know your peer Vanessa, she is only getting started.
What is aSociete?
aSociete is a website just for college students to get the best deals on top fashion brands/trends. We offer established/up and coming fashion brands for 50-80% off retail prices. Even with a limited budget you can still shop for your favorite brands and the hottest trends while saving tons of money.
When did it launch?
aSociete launched a little over a month ago on October 9, 2011!
What was your inspiration in starting aSociete? How did you start the company?
As an out of state freshman last year with no car, I quickly turned to the internet to shop from the convenience of my dorm. My aunt works for Zappos so I got to use her 40% off discount all the time but after a while I started to realize that what they offered didn’t really cater to my style and tastes. I started to wonder and think if there were websites out there that gave great discounts like what I got from Zappos that catered to my style and demographic. I stumbled upon sites like Beyond the Rack and Gilt Groupe which we’re offering just that but we’re still overpriced and catered to an older and more sophisticated market. That’s how aSociete was born with the purpose to serve college students everywhere offering the luxury to shop online for their favorite brands while saving them tons of money.
I started aSociete with the guidance of my father an entrepreneur himself and eventually I put together a team of college students that are ultimately creative geniuses. We worked hard over the summer traveling to fashion trade shows to network with fashion brands to tell them about aSociete and pulled numerous all nighters to build our website. It was amazing to receive positive feedback from people in the fashion industry and it just validated that we really had a great idea.
How big is your team?
Right now there’s a total of six of us. All ranging from 19-21 years old. Most are friends from high school and others we randomly crossed paths with. Jarrett Mattson is my best friend and right hand man when it comes to running things. Levi Lopez is our amazing photographer who takes all of the pictures of the merchandise for the site. Omar Jones runs our fulfillment/warehouse and is in charge of customer service. Liz Zepeda is our Women’s Fashion Director who puts up all the great brands for the women on the site. Lastly, David Yanez is our media director who edits and creates all of our videos.
How is balancing student life and still playing your part in the company?
It’s really really tough. Being a full time student is overwhelmingly enough for some people and to throw in trying to help run a business in the mix is pretty stressful. My days consist of school and aSociete and nothing else really. I’m really not your average college student It’s definitely been hard keeping my grades up but I manage to make both work. I try to do things for myself sometimes to keep the balance like going to the gym, attending church weekly, or reading a good book every so often. At the end of the day I just remind myself that this will all be worth it in the future when aSociete is successful.
What are some hardships you’ve encountered?
In the beginning when I first started aSociete i had a lot of trouble with sacrificing my time. I had to give up time with my family, friends, boyfriend, etc. Also, being out here in Colorado without my team is also really hard at times and lonely. At our warehouse back in California where they work its just a positive and creative environment that is hard to replicate in my apartment. There will always be people out there that don’t think your capable of such great things and my team and I have encountered our fair share of those people but everyday aSociete is running is a success story in itself.
What has been your biggest success?
I truly believe our biggest success has really just been getting the website up and running. Everyday its such a cool thing to see people come to the website and see that they love our products. We worked really hard to make the website perfect and we think its good enough to compete with a lot of sites out there right now. It’s also a really cool to see orders come in from all around the US and not just from Colorado or California.
Where do you see this company going?
I envision aSociete becoming known amongst college students all around the nation as the #1 website offering the best deals in fashion, life, and travel. Fashion deals are truly just the beginning for us and we want to expand into offering local campus deals and traveling discounts for students to really encompass the whole college culture and lifestyle. I see aSociete really revolutionizing the way college students shop and live their lives in the future.