Overcoming anxiety and repeating her first year to New York Fashion week

Like living proof of an inspirational meme, one University of Northampton graduate says if you believe in yourself, you can achieve your dreams.

When Laura Llewellyn (pictured top right) had to repeat her first year after anxiety stopped her attending lectures and seminars, she thought her dreams of following in her father’s footsteps into the automotive industry, and one day running her own business would never come true.

Almost 10 years since graduating with BA Hons In Business Management Laura has forged the way for future generations of women in a once male dominated automotive industry and is now soaring to success after a fashion side-line went viral during the Covid-lockdown.

Laura said: “I think when you start out there’s always an ambition to do something but sometimes you just don’t know how to get there.

“If you’ve got a goal, you’ve just got to know you can do it, regardless of your grades or if you’re having a bad time, you will get there in the end

“I used to see the UON success stories online back when I was at Uni and I thought that’s never going to be me.

“Now I’m having the best time ever, but at the start, it was definitely not like that. It was very bad.

“Luckily, I reached out to one of my tutors and he told me that there was support on the campus and he really helped me through that.

“I just didn’t think I was going to be able to get there, and he made me believe that I could do it. And that has always stuck with me.”

Laura’s career started with work placements through the University with BMW and in her first graduate job with Nissan she got to find out whether her dissertation on pay and satisfaction at Nissan matched the real world.

She said the automotive world has transformed during her time and said: “When I started at BMW, it was very much male-dominated with the banter you’d expect and you’d hear comments like ‘she won’t last five minutes here,’ and it was hard to fit in.

“But in my last role at Volkswagen, that was very much a 50/50 mix and the respect for women to become leaders was constantly growing.”

During lockdown online sales of Laura’s bespoke wedding garters took off, and with family and friends getting married, she saw a chance to finally set out on her own and start her own bridal wear business which she has called Lew Elle Bridal.

Her new take on the traditional garter caught the eye of British Vogue during lockdown and her work has since been featured in all the major fashion magazines.

Late last year she was invited to show her work by the organisers of New York Fashion week where all the major fashion houses launch a new season of clothes and in August Laura saw her work on show alongside that of Burberry, Versace and Vera Wang and was invited to speak at a fashion event to talk about her growing success.

Off the success of the garters and given that she now lives with husband Christopher in Houston, Texas, she has launched two new product lines, wedding cowboy boots and a veiled Fedora and in the future she hopes to design and sell her own line of wedding dresses.