Founder's Diary - Ep. 1

I think moving countries as a child changes you forever.

Not always in dramatic ways. Sometimes it just quietly teaches you that life can change very quickly, that people disappear, that home can become a very flexible concept, and that you learn to adapt before you even fully understand what adapting means.

Maybe that’s also why I’ve spent so much of my adult life saying yes to things before feeling ready for them.

I was born in Colombia and moved to Spain when I was nine years old. My mum had a very good job before we left, and I think only now as an adult I fully understand the sacrifice behind starting over somewhere completely different. Watching her rebuild her life from scratch in Spain, doing whatever work she could to give my sister and I a better future, probably shaped me more than anything else ever has.

Because of her work, we moved around a lot when I was younger and I ended up going to around seven different schools throughout my life. At the time it felt exhausting always being the new person, always having to adjust, always trying to work people out quickly enough to survive another new environment. But looking back now, I think it accidentally prepared me for almost everything that came afterwards.

By the time I was sixteen, I had started a Tumblr blog from my bedroom in León, a small town in the north of Spain where honestly not much happened. Somehow brands in London started finding it and inviting me to events I could never afford to attend, and for the first time I became obsessed with the idea that maybe there was a bigger world out there waiting for me.

Then at twenty, I moved to the UK with completely broken confidence and blind confidence at the exact same time, which I think is probably the most honest way to describe your twenties?

I moved to Marlow first a small town outside London. I worked in hospitality for a couple of years while going into London whenever I could afford to, meeting people, going to events, trying to build a life inside industries that still felt very far away from me. Somewhere in the middle of all that, after one random last minute decision to help backstage at a fashion show, my entire life changed direction and I found myself working at JULIEN MACDONALD, and later building a career in fashion and luxury that genuinely would have felt impossible to younger me.

And I think because so much of my life has happened through survival mode, through movement, through constantly trying to build the next version of myself, I became very bad at stopping.

Very bad at enjoying things while they were happening.

Last year I started Cocktail and Book Club because reading was one of the few things that genuinely slowed my brain down. After years of constantly working, freelancing, building things, chasing opportunities and trying to prove myself, books became one of the only places where my mind felt quiet for a minute.

At first, this was genuinely just meant to be a small project between friends and people online who loved books, beautiful spaces, good conversation and cocktails. Because my background is in design and branding, I naturally started building a visual world around it too. I wanted it to feel cinematic and warm and nostalgic. The kind of place I wish existed more often in real life.

Then suddenly it started growing very quickly.

What has happened over the last few months honestly feels surreal sometimes. We now have over 500 members in the club, collaborations with incredible brands, our Inner Circle boxes, events, and soon even our own app. Most importantly though, I’ve met some genuinely amazing people through all of this. People who care about creativity and conversation and culture and connection in the same way I always have.

I think when something grows from a personal idea into something shared with thousands of people, there is naturally a responsibility that comes with that. You want to do things properly. You want people to feel proud to be part of it. You want to protect the feeling that made people connect with it in the first place.

And I think somewhere in the middle of trying to build all of that, I simply forgot to enjoy it a little.

Not because I’m ungrateful for any of it. Quite the opposite actually. I think I care about it so much that sometimes I place too much pressure on myself to make everything perfect all the time.

So I’m writing this partly as a reminder to myself that it’s okay to enjoy the thing you’re building while you’re building it.

It’s okay to slow down sometimes. It’s okay to be proud of what already exists instead of constantly worrying about what comes next.

Because the truth is, this club has already given me more than I ever expected it would. It has brought incredible people into my life, created opportunities I never planned for, and reminded me how much people are still craving real connection in a world that often feels very disconnected.

So if you’re here reading this, whether you joined last week or have been here since the beginning, thank you. Truly.

I think better days are coming, I can feel that very deeply.

Right now I’m just learning how to find balance between ambition and actually living the life I worked so hard to create, and I encourage you to do the same.

Alex xx