I’ve thought about starting a Substack for a while now. I love consuming this kind of mostly raw content, where it feels like I am walking the path alongside the writer. I also have a lot to say - I just have not seemed to find the right place to say it.
For context, I’m Madeleine - the founder of Nelle Atelier. We are reinventing the petite category for the modern shopper. We started with denim but I plan on this being a lot more than that. As a flag waving member of the short gals club, I’ve always loved clothes but hated shopping. I was tired of seeing things that look amazing on a 5’11 model look insane on my 5’1 frame. So I decided to build it and hoped that they would come. Lucky for me, they have.
To kick us off, a couple things you can expect to find here in no particular order:
I want to talk about basically bootstrapping a business and what it’s like to build in a category that is so often overlooked. I want a place to celebrate wins, a place to get feedback, and a gentle place to examine my failures.
I want to talk about being a female founder and not wanting to be the face of my brand. Ironic, because I am here writing about it, but this paywalled space makes me feel a bit less exposed.
I want to talk about starting a company as a solo founder. Everyone says it’s a bad idea. I’m not quite sure how I feel about it yet. Seems to depend on the day.
I also want to talk about styling a shorter body. I plan on inviting some fun guests over for those episodes.
I plan on writing 1-2 times per week.
Mostly, I want to write because I don’t want to forget this part. Everything moves quickly when you are building a brand. It is so hard for me to appreciate the magnitude of what has happened without the nagging worry of what might happen next. Welcome to Winging It.
yay can’t wait!! 💕💕💕