What got you interested in the idea of paint & sip, and when did you realise it was something you could turn into a business?

I am a professional wedding & event planner, and I was working for a destination wedding planning company, but was made redundant at the very beginning of the pandemic. It was a very difficult time for me because, at the same time, my husband was working overseas. So I was locked alone, at home, feeling lonely and sad that I lost my job at the beginning of the global crisis.

I was watching TV almost all of the time, and it was during this time that I came across an episode of Shark Tank where one of the participants pitched a paint & sip business. This was the first time I ever heard of a business like this, so I immediately googled it. I immediately fell in love with the concept, but I couldn’t see how I could do it myself.

As I was still jobless, I started looking for a job in the industry and luckily, I found a company that was looking for event coordinators. It was like a dream come true. […] In my cover letter, I offered to contribute with ideas for themed paint parties. […] A month later I received an email that my application had been rejected due to lack of experience. This was the turning point for me. I wanted to do this so badly, so I said to myself – “What lack of experience?! Mariella, you have over 16 years of experience planning stunning weddings and stylish events. Why don’t you just trust yourself that you can do this and make it happen.”

In my heart, I have always been an entrepreneur. I started my first business when I was 20 years old, and since then I have always been working for myself. But then the economic crisis in 2009 changed everything, and resulted in my family and I moving to the UK. I am not a native speaker of English, so I thought that it would make it difficult for me to start my own business here, but I felt so passionate about starting a paint and sip business that I decided I had to at least try.

Personally, I found the idea of paint and sip brilliant because I saw a great opportunity for me to plan events (something I absolutely love to do), and to get to be creative - as I style all our events in different themes. The other main draw for me was that it's an activity all about making people happy, which is the most inspiring thing for me. These events are not only for fun, but they can help people in many different ways – to provoke creativity, to calm the mind, relax, and genuinely to make you feel happier.

So, that's how everything started! I created my website and announced my first online event on the 30th of October 2020.


What was the hardest part of getting your business off the ground?

I started working on launching Merriment Atelier in September 2020. At that time none of us expected another lockdown. So, starting a business in the middle of the pandemic was certainly difficult.

Finding good artists to work with was a huge challenge as well. I am not an artist, so I wanted to find lovely talented people not only to work with me, but to also be a part of Merriment Atelier's success. It took quite a while to find the right people, but now I have 4 amazing girls working with me and they love Merriment Atelier as much as I do.

What encouraged you to join Obby as a business owner?

As I mentioned, I developed my own website. The website has to be user friendly, and also offer a straightforward process of selecting events and buying tickets. It's crucial, the ticket selling process to be perfect - because this is one of the most important points of contact with our brand before our guests actually meet us. I'd tried a few different things in the past, like plugins for WordPress, or platforms like Eventbrite.

When I found Obby, I liked how simple and easy this process can be. I like the way our events are listed in a calendar, as well as in separate classes. I can also provide as much as possible information about the workshop, which means I can add a lot of pictures, FAQs and so on. Another important thing is that the dashboard is very well organised so I, as a business owner, don’t need to spend hours listing my events and products.

What do you love most about your teachers?

My artists are wonderful. They love what we do and this makes them very good teachers, they help people feel welcomed and supported during a workshop. They are enthusiastic, friendly, talented, and most importantly ready to learn and are constantly improving their knowledge.

How does Obby make your life easier?

Listing all of our events and products is very time-consuming, but I found this process easy and quick with the Obby platform. It’s just me running the company at the moment, so I have to deal with many different things at the same time. Everything which can help me save time is super important and very helpful.

What tips do you have for other entrepreneurs wanting to make the leap to starting their own business?

Don’t listen to your inner voice which makes you doubt that you cannot do what you want to do. Believe in yourself and be your own dream maker.

Want to know more?

Interested in finding out more about our wonderful teachers? Check out some more blogs featuring Obby teachers and their stories below: