María José (Pepita) Marín Rey-Stolle (Madrid, 1987) graduated in Business Administration and Management, with international specialisation, from the Comillas Pontifical University and Reims Management School (France). In 2011, aged just 23, and having spent one year working for a multinational consultancy, she cofounded We Are Knitters (WAK), an online brand that sells knitting kits and natural yarns all over the globe. In less than a decade, WAK, with Pepita as CEO, has grown into a company with 28 employees and an annual turnover of over 10 million euros, of which 94% come from sales outside Spain.

Through WAK, Pepita hopes to revive the ancient tradition of learning to knit, an enjoyable and relaxing activity which, for some years now, has been increasingly fashionable among the trendiest bohemian and cosmopolitan people in cities such as Paris and New York (the US market accounts for more than 30% of WAK’s revenue).