Honour - Chloe Clover was listed alongside footballer Marcus Rashford on the Forbes list .
Clover leading the way for young entrepreneurs
Wander woman ! F
BY JULIE BURNISTON
orbes 30 Under 30 is the list that all young entrepreneurs dream of making . But for Chloë Clover that dream became a reality when she found herself celebrated alongside other young visionary leaders from across Europe .
Chloe - known as Clover to colleagues - is the creative director and co-founder of Middlesbrough-based video marketing agency Wander Films . She was listed alongside others who have made their mark on business and society in the past 12 months .
The European edition of the Forbes 30 Under 30 list is now in its sixth year and brings together 300 young people who are boldly redefining 10 industries across 32 European countries .
“ It ’ s just insane !” breathed Clover , who found herself cited alongside luminaries such as Marcus Rashford and The Crown actor Emma Corrin .
“ It proves that I ’ m doing something right because sometimes you ’ re just so focused on the work that you forget about the progress you ’ ve made .
“ I don ’ t think there have ever been any other Teessiders on the list , but someone called me the first Teesside LGBTQ + representative so I ’ ll take that !”
Wander co-director and partner Lou Tonner is mega proud of Clover ’ s achievement , as is the wider Teesside community .
“ The feedback has been incredible ,” Lou said . “ We ’ ve have had so much love from the business community and ( Middlesbrough-born TV presenter ) Steph McGovern tweeted about it too , which was pretty cool .”
The team at Wander laughingly call Clover the ‘ high school dropout ’ – a moniker given to her on her Forbes profile - but how she actually made the list remains a mystery .
“ I googled how to make the list , but no one really seems to know what the process is ,” she said .
“ Forbes were in touch a few times asking for pieces of information and the questions got more and more random , but I didn ’ t find out until the list had gone live that I ’ d actually made it !” Chloë remains astounded that she features alongside names she has long held in high esteem .
She said : “ Ben Francis ( Gymshark ) made the list in 2018 and he ’ s a huge inspiration because he built a global empire at such a young age . Then there is Steven Bartlett ( Social Chain ) who is also someone Wander looks up to and he made the list in 2020 .”
While allowing herself some glory , Clover remains adamant that the achievement is a team effort .
She said : “ One of Wander ’ s values – what we call The Seven Wanders of Our World - is Dreams Achieved by Teams . Whatever goal we set out to do , we make it happen together – even crazy goals like The Forbes list !” With big ambitions to be the go-to video marketing company in the world , Clover ’ s most recent achievement has already opened up some doors .
She said : “ We ’ ve had some cool enquiries from companies outside the area who saw the Forbes List , which is really cool , but there are a lot of great things happening on Teesside too . We are a region that is thriving and I ’ m proud that Wander is contributing to this in some way .” In fairness it seems as though Wander are unstoppable . “ Well , the past few months have certainly been crazy ,” laughs Lou . “ We have been working on some incredible projects and the team is really taking the content we produce to the next level . We ’ ve taken more office space in Boho 5 and we now have three extra people on the team .
“ We had everyone in the office the other day for manual handling training and it was a moment of ‘ Wow ! How and when did this happen ’? Things are moving so fast it feels like we ’ re on this path and as long as we keep focused and stay strong together , then yes , we are unstoppable .
“ Clover and I are so proud of the team and what they are achieving . Being part of their journey too is really special .”
For more details on Wander Films , visit Wander-films . co . uk
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