Just-Ene, “The History”

Obviously, the history of Just·Ene did not start years ago, at least not as Just·Ene…..  Just·Ene is more than an illusion, it is the materialization of a dream.

When someone asked me: “what would you do if you would win the big prize in the lottery”, I always responded: create companies without fear to go bankrupt. And, as may be clear the passed 22th of December, I officially admit that in the lottery as such I did not strike lucky.

After several unsuccessful tries to start enterprising adventures like making newspapers and sell them at 25 pesetas to our acquaintances (where would it have ended if it were not for my mom and dad?), gather pine seeds from the fallen pine cones with the illusion to sell them or putting a poster on the front-door offering menus to the neighbors with the never failing “today Tortilla”, (my favorite, let us say the only dish I could possibly cook being an 11 year old girl), finally, being 29, I found the project that filled my illusions, motioned me, and made me feel capable of doing anything to achieve it.

And this is what I did; after several years of training and working in the financial sector, I at times thought (and again I was mistaken) was going to be my work for a lifetime, I started to think of the idea of Just·Ene.

Just·Ene tries to be the answer to a common problem of many women. Who did not buy some day, with all the illusion of the world, that lovely dress for the occasion of a wedding or a party and go almost mad trying to find the perfect shoe? In my case –it may seem a sort of movie- I once spent weeks and weeks to find a pair of golden sandals for the wedding of my best friend. I don’t have any brother or sister, and she was my companion from the first day we went to the nursery, so you can imagine how important this event was for me.

But the bad luck was that, somehow, gold was not at all the trend of the season, at least it was not for the more accessible brands.

Luckily, after weeks looking around and searching at the price of 400€ (a tremendous effort for my economy) I found a pair that more or less fitted my style, and, of course, golden.

These shoes will always be on my mind: 1) for compressing my big-toe, that remained insensible for two weeks (what a relief they did not have to amputate it), 2) for the pain in my coccyx for another three weeks after I fell from the stairs of the courtesy-bus, and, last but not least 3) for being the start of Just·Ene. I must say that these weeks of pains were more than worth it. I really cannot understand, why one cannot have a pair of shoes like you want them… If we add my inclination and my obstinacy for the “do it yourself”, I thought: why isn’t there anyone who dares to put tacks on your brand-new shoes without fear to ruin an inversion of 90€?... And this is more or less the origin of Just·Ene

After months of talking to people to whom I will always be grateful for their support, impulse, confidence, motivation, knowledge, opinion and even door-slamming (why not recognize it?) and an endless list of many more things, I was prepared to make the, probably most important, decision of my life until today.

One day I woke up feeling desolate; there was something that really excited me, did ask me more, but I did not have enough time to realize. That very moment I saw it clear, and my first call was to tell my mom: “I quit from my job”. After her first reaction: “don’t rush”, “think it over, cool down”, she understood that this was what I had to do. And so I did. After working in the financial sector for 7 years, I took my box with my countless things from the office (I never saw my desk that clean), said good-bye, to great sorrow of my incredible companions, and, letting some little tear, said good-bye to the comfort-zone to make a dream come true. And still, until today, I do not regret it.

Less tan a year went by from then, and, little by little, the dream is becoming more of a reality. Today, but with time, dedication and effort, I managed to gather exceptional people around me, to whom I will be eternally grateful and in whom I trust completely to achieve the project, from design till manufacturing and technological development.

The same as, when I finally put my feet in a pair of Just·Ene, people I did not know at all, were asking me where I had them from, and for the first time in my life, made me feel as if Santa Claus and the Wise from the Orient had agreed to bring me all the presents of my interminable list of wishes.

And this is what is Just·Ene today, an experience, an illusion, a dream. A reality.