Behind Banilla

Let’s begin by introducing James and Gemma, the creators of Banilla Box. We’re both from Glasgow, in our late twenties, and have been together since 2014. Little did we know, we would end up as business partners down the line but so far so good, no regrets.

A little about our background: 

James is a product design graduate from Strathclyde University (Yes, he is the creative one out of the two of us). He has always been a visionary, from starting a clothing line to creating greeting cards and prints, it’s easy to say he’s an entrepreneur. James has always been one to push himself to the limit, he is self-taught in photography and videography, which is very impressive so much so that we always get compliments on our social media content, and unfortunately for me, James takes ALL the credit for it. I don’t think Banilla would be where it was without his talent so thank you, James!

Then there’s myself, Gemma, I am currently in my fourth year of a BA (Hons) Management degree at the University of the West of Scotland. For anyone who knows me well, will know that I always thought I did not have the confidence and qualifications to even think about applying to do a degree but hey look at me now…best decision I have ever made! For Banilla, I would say I am the more organised one and deal with the administrative side of things since I wouldn’t leave it to James to do (Sorry not sorry). Over the years, I’ve dabbled with everything from working in the hospitality industry to doing administrative work in an office setting and now here I am running my own business, how has this happened?!

We are both very excited about growing our business even more and aim to take it to the next level. With the global pandemic and being in a national lockdown, which resulted in hundreds of companies closing, we felt compelled to help those we could.